GObject/C, GTK, GNOME, and Xfce 4.18’s Improvements
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Emmanuele Bassi: Writing Bindable API, 2023 Edition
First of all, you should go on the gobject-introspection website and read the page on how to write bindable API. What I’m going to write here is going to build upon what’s already documented, or will update the best practices, so if you maintain a GObject/C library, or you’re writing one, you must be familiar with the basics of gobject-introspection. It’s 2023: it’s already too bad we’re still writing C libraries, we should at the very least be responsible about it.
A specific note for people maintaining an existing GObject/C library with an API designed before the mainstream establishment of gobject-introspection (basically, anything written prior to 2011): you should really consider writing all new types and entry points with gobject-introspection in mind, and you should also consider phasing out older API and replacing it piecemeal with a bindable one. You should have done this 10 years ago, and I can already hear the objections, but: too bad. Just because you made an effort 10 years ago it doesn’t mean things are frozen in time, and you don’t get to fix things. Maintenance means constantly tending to your code, and that doubly applies if you’re exposing an API to other people.
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GNOME Console Devs Add a Useful New Feature
Console’s tab overview speeds-up switching between terminal tabs by giving you a top-level look at all your open tabs and running process. Like a bird to a worm, you can spot the one you need and click on it (or select it with the keyboard) to swoop in and interact.
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Xfce 4.18’s Improvements Include Thunar and Under the Hood
These days, Xfce is hard to miss. In some distributions, it is the default desktop environment, and few do not offer it as an alternative. In user polls over the last decade, it is consistently a close second to KDE’s Plasma. Advertising itself as fast, lightweight, visually appealing and easy to use, Xfce has become one the leading Linux desktops, with a popularity that shows no sign of waning.
It wasn’t always that way. Founded in 1996 and originally based on the Common Desktop Environment (CDE), Xfce spent half its existence as a distant third to GNOME and KDE which constantly vied for first and second for popularity in user polls.