GTK+ 3.0.0 released (original) (raw)
- From: Matthias Clasen
- To: gnome-announce-list gnome org, gtk-devel-list gnome org, gtk-app-devel-list gnome org, gtk-list gnome org
- Subject: GTK+ 3.0.0 released
- Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2011 15:53:53 -0500
GTK+ 3.0.0 is now available for download at:
http://download.gnome.org/sources/gtk+/3.0/ ftp://ftp.gtk.org/pub/gtk/3.0/
sha256 sums: ec0729bf28f09a16e0b0a6a588556c7cee091f40426505b3694a9488bf6cbf67 gtk +-3.0.0.tar.bz2 d294155389c9ba4765c0b26805967f2dae1d84565f5d4095d489f94619406df9 gtk +-3.0.0.tar.gz
What is GTK+
GTK+ is a multi-platform toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces. Offering a complete set of widgets, GTK+ is suitable for projects ranging from small one-off tools to complete application suites.
GTK+ has been designed from the ground up to support a range of languages, not only C/C++. Using GTK+ from languages such as Perl and Python (especially in combination with the Glade GUI builder) provides an effective method of rapid application development.
GTK+ is free software and part of the GNU Project. However, the licensing terms for GTK+, the GNU LGPL, allow it to be used by all developers, including those developing proprietary software, without any license fees or royalties. GTK+ is a 100% free-of-cost, open source, industrial-strength GUI toolkit available today.
Since its origins as the toolkit for the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP), GTK+ has been used in a wide range of software. Notably, GTK+ is the foundation of the GNOME desktop; GTK+ 3 will be incorporated into version 3 of the GNOME desktop.
What's new in GTK+ 3
GTK+ 3 is a major new version of GTK+, containing far too many changes to list them all here. The major highlights include:
Cairo drawing throughout. GDK no longer wraps the antiquated X11 drawing API; we've made a clean break and exclusively rely on cairo for all our drawing needs now. This has also enabled us to remove several other X11-centric concepts such as GCs, colormaps and pixmaps.
Modern input device handling. The input device handling in GDK has long been a sadly neglected area. This has changed; with 3.0, GTK+ steps into the modern world of XI2 with full support for multiple pointers, keyboards and other gizmos.
A new theming API which sports a familiar CSS syntax for theme configuration and other improvements such as animated state transitions.
More flexible geometry management, with support for height-for-width, for both widgets and cell renderers.
Multiple backend support for GDK. With GTK+ 2.x, you had to recompile your application to have it work with a different GDK backend. In GTK+ 3, multiple GDK backends can be built into a single library and selected at runtime.
Easy application support. With the integration of D-Bus support in GIO, we could finally add a GtkApplication class that handles a lot of the platform integration aspects of writing an application, such as keeping track of open windows, ensuring uniqueness, exporting actions, etc.
Of course, there's some new widgets as well, such as a switch and an application chooser.
Where to get more information about GTK+
Information about GTK+ including links to documentation can be found at:
An installation guide for GTK+ 3 is found at:
http://library.gnome.org/devel/gtk3/3.0/gtk-building.html
Common questions:
http://library.gnome.org/devel/gtk3/3.0/gtk-question-index.html
GTK+ 3 is a major new version of GTK+, changing the ABI and the API compared to GTK+ 2.x. This means that GTK+ 2.x applications will need some adjustments before they can be used with GTK+ 3. The migration guide at
http://library.gnome.org/devel/gtk3/3.0/migrating.html
gives an overview of what is involved in porting to GTK+ 3.
Contributing
GTK+ is a large project and relies on voluntary contributions. We are actively searching for new contributors in various areas and invite everyone to help project development. If you are willing to participate, please subscribe to the project mailing lists to offer your help and read over our list of vacant project tasks:
http://live.gnome.org/GtkTasks
Thanks
GTK+ is the work of hundreds of contributors, far too many to list them all here. But I want to take the time to thank some people who contributed in a major way:
Carlos Garnacho (lanedo), for his work on XI2 support and the new theme system
Benjamin Otte (Red Hat), for his work on GDK and cairo drawing
Tristan Van Berkom (Openismus), for his work on geometry management
Colin Walters (Red Hat), for his work on GtkApplication
Ryan Lortie (Codethink), for his work on dconf, GSettings and GtkApplication
Javier Jardón, for tireless code, build and documentation cleanup
February 10, 2011 Matthias Clasen
[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Thread Index] [Date Index] [Author Index]