When will Diodon be stable for Oneiric?

Projects,

I have found a few request in my Inbox today pointing out this question. I’m very happy to hear that so many are keen to use a stable Diodon version on Oneiric. I can tell you: So am I ;).

However I hope this blog post will clarify why Diodon is not already available for Oneiric in the stable ppa.

Firstly, you might say, the easiest and safest way would be to build and upload the latest stable release 0.5.0 for Oneiric. Yes it would be. Unfortunately, due to API changes in Unity this version does not even compile.

Such compile errors have been fixed while updating to a new plugin system. However this has brought about a lot of refactoring and therefore needs good testing. (read more about it on this blog post).

So before a stable release will be available, I need some more feedback of testers whether the new version has any regression or bugs.

For this checkout the daily ppa. Leave a comment on this post if everything runs smoothly or otherwise report a bug.

You can also take a look at the milestone 0.6.0 for an overview of open issues which need to be fixed before the stable release.

I’m working hard so a stable Diodon version will be available for Oneiric as soon as possible.

Ramping up plugin system for Diodon

Projects, ,

I’ve been working on a plugin system for Diodon for quite a while. Now, finally, it is ready for testing in the daily ppa.

Before you go ahead testing the new version please remember that this code is in development state and therefore should not be used on a production system.

This said, let’s talk about what has really changed:
Basically Diodon still works as usual. However, under the hood a lot has changed.
First is to mention the update to gtk3 and dconf/GSettings. This changes bring about two consequences:

  • All your customized settings will be lost on a upgrade. So please check the preferences dialog.
  • Diodon will only be installable on Oneiric or higher (and of course on any other distribution with gtk3 support but then from source). Older versions of Diodon will still be available for older Ubuntu versions.

Furthermore, a lot of refactoring was needed to have a clean API for the plugin system. A blog post how you can develop your own plugin for Diodon will follow soon.
If you cannot wait 🙂 you might take a look at Libpeas which is the library Diodon uses for its plugin system.

Currently, Diodon has two plugins. One is the application indicator which is installed and activated per default with the diodon package.
Additionally is there a diodon-plugins package which currently only contains the Unity Lens Plugin.
When installed the Unity Lens is not activated per default and needs to be enabled in the Preferences Dialog of Diodon.

I will soon write a few other posts about the new plugin system. However this should do for now ;).

Looking forward to hear what you think about this move.

Blog merger with code.esite.ch

General

The esite.ch and code.esite.ch blogs have been existing side by side for quite a while. esite.ch for mainly the purpose of posting about some projects I’m involved, code.esite.ch more like a knowledge base for developers. However, there has always been a very fine line between those two. So after all, I have decided to merge those two blogs into esite.ch.

But no worries. For the purpose if someone wants to only read about a specific project or only the knowledge base I have reorganized all posts in categories and tags.

New are there only three categories called General, Knowledge Base and Projects whereas all posts which had usually been posted on code.esite.ch are now available in the knowledge base category.

Furthermore are now tags added to all posts. Read the WordPress Feed Guide if you only want to subscribe to a single tag or category.

Hope this readjustment will help you find or subscribe to the posts you really want to get informed about. Let me know when you have any comments.

GemRB heading for Oneiric

Projects,

Finally the new GemRB version 0.6.5 released on July 2011 is now available for Oneiric and of course other Ubuntu versions such as Natty,Maverick and Lucid.

The release notes states the following:
two new config options (off by default):
UseSoftKeyboard: Toggle use of software keyboard on devices that support one. It pops up when text input is required
TouchScrollAreas: Toggles a wider and visible gutter around the screen for scrolling the game area. Intended for devices with a touch interface.

You can find the package as always on my ppa.

More details see http://www.gemrb.org.