• Full support for freedesktop.org Extended Window Manager Hints (EMWH) Specifications. This means that E now works excellently with both KDE 3.x and Gnome 2.x desktops and their applications.
• Automatic menu generation updated to work with Gnome 2.x and KDE 3.x menus.
• Support for software cursors in XFree86 4.3 or higher
• Numerous bugfixes including focus issues, Epplets and more

As mentioned in the last news update, large amounts of the EFL are nearly complete and from this point on CVS updates and any API or format changes will become of interest to people beyond the development team and testers. And as such, we're going to be making more complete news postings of changes that occur, summerizing CVS commits of interest and changes that will effect work that is happening outside of the immediate project.

Kim "kwo" Woelders has released Enlightenment DR16.6-pre8 to the world. Changes since -pre7 include: fixing focus issues with dock style windows and making them sticky, fixing some seg faults, moving control of the FX (Ripples/Waves) to the FX Settings dialog, and we no longer have to see the stupid FX Startup dialog ("You have enabled Ripples") every time you start or restart E. You can find source, SRPMs and RPMs in the files section of SourceForge Group Number 2.

On the EFL front, we are happy to announce that Ecore has been merged! This means that all the current lib code can be found in the main branch (HEAD), and you don't need to fish into SPLIT anymore.

The rest of the CVS activity was as follows....

RbdPngn has been hard at work on EWL changing to default theme to rephorms "Winter" theme, as well as committing a slew of updates to EWL, including the removal of some remaining Ebits in the code base, some misc bug fixes and improvements. RbdPngn also committed some fixes and improvements to the EWD list code, and made EET Efence friendly.

Raster besides merging Ecore, added basic cursor support to Ecore's X module, he may be adding XCursor support as well down the road. Raster also made a minor change to the Imlib2 Makefile adding libm.so to the link arguments, which has been a minor irritation on some platforms. He also removed some useless linking from the makefiles of e16keyedit and e16menuedit.

Rephorm has released elicit 0.7 newly Edjified, and has commited Elicit into E CVS (e17/apps/elicit/). Also, remember his Iconbar code has been Edjified and is in E CVS as well. He commited an Edje API change that now causes edje_object_file_set() to return an int value for failure or success. Rephorm has also been hard at work on a new library which you can find in CVS, but we'll hold out on saying too much for the time being.

Atmos made more commits to entrance than I can summerize here. Azundris commited to Ecore a temporary solution to a problem keeping servers from working with ecore_main_loop_iterate(). Gilbert added a patch by Birger Nissen to CamE that enables a single shot mode allowing execution to just nab a shot and exit. And finally, xcomputerman made a minor commit to entrance modifying the font paths, and commited spelling and grammerical correntions to the page you read now.

There you have it, an overview of the last 3 weeks of CVS commits. Let no one say we're lazy. Raster has been in Singapore on business for the last week and should be back around this week. If you have feedback on these types of updates, please send them our way.

After months of restraint heres the big update as to where E is and is going. Enlightenment DR17, the window manager currently in e17 CVS, is dead. As was mentioned in the State of E address awhile back the current WM code needs a complete rewrite, and thus the current code is nothing but a test platform. There is currently no publicly available WM code for DR17, but the initial CVS commit will be coming in the next month or two.

Many lessons were learned from the WM code that currently exists in CVS, namely that even in CVS we stretched the limits of what Ebits could do. This prompted Raster several months ago to scrap it and start work on Edje. Edje is essentially Ebits2 in concept, but is drastically different from the original Ebits implementation. Edje uses EET instead of EDB which Ebits uses, and truly does what Ebits hoped to do: abstract completely an applications interface from its code base. Edje theming doesn't just put a new image in place of the default. It actually can completely change the feel of the user interface, rather than just its appearance. On top of this Edje supports animation! This means that DR17 will not be just another static looking window manager, it will have smooth animations and effects -- from simple fades and bounces to window borders that consist of swirling colors.

Also, at the time the State of E address was released, there was uncertainty about Etox: would it be merged into Evas or just silently die? I'm happy to report RbdPngn has been working hard on the library, and now it has solidified its place among the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries permanently. Among Etox's more interesting abilities is automatic wrapping of text, properly handling of newlines in text strings when displayed, and koolest of all, reacting to obstacles!

In other news, on the EVAS front, EVAS now has a GL back-end! This is in addition to the existing Software/X11 back-end, DirectFB, Plain FB and Qtopia back-ends.

Note that due to the retirement of Ebits all apps based on it are being retired as well, notably Etcher, Ebony and the Ebg library. Equivalents for Edje will probably emerge in the future but there is no current firm commitment right now. There are plans for an Etcher equivalent for Edje but we don't know what the final form of it will be and when it might pop up.

At this point in time Imlib2, EVAS, Edb, EET, Ecore, and Edje are effectively complete. Updates and new features are still being added to Ecore and Edje, but no major changes particularly to the API are intended. This is good news for the many of you who have wanted to jump in and play with the EFL but were scared off by warnings of impending rewrites. Most of the libs are documented using Doxygen at least partially. Documentation is now under way to ensure there are plenty of resources for an eventual release. Tutorial writers and code-building example authors are encouraged.

We're happy to report significant progress toward an eventual release. Anyone who has ever written a GUI application will find the EFL a real treat so please take a look. Expect changes to this website over the next week reflecting the new addition of Edje and updates to various component pages detailing the features mentioned above.

As summer comes to an end everyones trying to keep on the pace. By now most people have seen or heard about Raster's Imlib2 vs XRender benchmarks, if you haven't you can see the report here including the benchmark suite, and you can see the ensuing display of idiocy which ironically happened while raster was on vacation skiing.

kwo has released DR16.6-pre7 which among other things fixes problems involving setting windows slightly off screen sticky. And Raster has released Imlib2 1.1.0 which most interestingly now has Freetype2 support as added by Yuri "glassy_ape" Hudobin. Please see the changelogs in the tarballs of each release for a complete list of changes.

For publishers and writers you'll be interested to note that the black and white E logo is now avalible in SVG on the logos page.

The Enlightenment website has undergone an update. It probably looks awful on anything that doesn't handle CSS well or PNG's. but it does match the Enlightenment documentation style now.

We've looked and looked for someone to pick up DR16 and start working on it, handling upgrades and small fixes here and there, and we got just want we wanted. Kim Woelders (kwo) has taken over as the owner and maintainer of DR16. He's been working hard and released pre3 to the world and is asking all the testing we can give, so grab it and report back to the e-devel mailing list with bugs if you find them. You can get 16.6-pre3 on the SF files page. There are numerous changes, so please read the change logs or browse CVSweb, but some highlights include: De-iconify to current desk and viewport, Native cursor support, Many tweaks and bug fixes for Extended Window Manager Hint code (i.e. GNOME2/KDE3 compatibility), Unshade shaded windows when selected from window lists, and fixes for hidden theme buttons... and thats just the highlights of changes since -pre2.

Raster has decided to put some push behind the XCB project. You can see his original message here. So run over and grab the source, play with it, and get crackin'.

And don't forget, we are still seeking a variety of developers of various different skill sets, particularly to work on EWL. Work is being done on DR16.5 for a possible 16.6 release, so patches are welcome and encouraged, but get them in soon. And as always, the more code written using the libs the more there is for others to benefit from, so grab the libs (Ecore and EVAS particularly) and just build some kool apps.

Enlightenment 1.0 is now out. Please get it here. (OK It's April fools. It's now over. Back to work!)

In an act to try to answer some of the common questions like "How's E-17 coming along?" and the like, Raster has written up a comprehensive status update on the state of various "next-generation" E-17 components.

Read all about it here.

A link has been added in regards to the project undertaken by rephorm, Eprog. Eprog is a convenience library for EVAS. Just as Ecore simplifies the process of interacting with X, Eprog simplifies the process of getting an EVAS. The best description for Eprog so far was "damnit, just give me a canvas!". Potential programmers who think EVAS is over their heads will definitely want to take a look. Rephorm (original contributer of the Iconbar code) has also written an iconbar in Eprog, which can be used with almost any window manager, so if you only want to run DR17 for the snazy iconbar, check it out while you wait for Enlightenment DR17 to mature.

If you're still running DR16 but sick of your old themes, you should check out the themes created by pixelhead. He's been creating some really impressive themes for DR16.5 and has brought a breath of fresh air to an aging collection of vintage themes. You can find his themes here and here. For more themes, don't forget to dig thru the theme section at Freshmeat and Theme Depot. No matter how many other window managers there are, E is still the king of kool.

SPLIT has been merged. This means that as of last week, SPLIT is effectively dead. All checkouts should occur from the primary branch (known as HEAD). The only current exception is Ecore. Ecore is currently in a re-write process by raster, so if you want the "old" Ecore, HEAD is the place to go, but if you want to test or sneek a peek at the new API, grab it out of SPLIT.

Ecore is so far the second major rewrite to occur, EVAS being the first. In a desire to make DR17 a perfect release, raster wants the libraries to be as complete and full featured as possible before any type of release. Once Ecore is done, and it nearly is, Ebits will be next on the chopping block. The current theming model will be laid away and replaced with a vastly improved system based on the concepts and experiences of Ebits. Enlightenment, the window manager, that is currently in CVS (e) will also be laid away and completely re-written from scratch based on the experience and concepts of what we currently have. The rewrite for E itself is a ways off, but you should be prepared for it now.

The best way for anyone wanting to help now is to use and explore the libraries we currently have. Whether you are advanced or a beginner something is there for you to get your teeth into. Please try them out, get a feel and let us know how you like them. No major changes are anticipated for Imlib2 or EVAS moving forward and Ecore's new API is stabilizing in SPLIT . Anyone who has ever tried to use X directly will greatly enjoy Ecore's "just give me a window damnit" approach and easy handling techniques, so please give it a try and let us know how you like it.

For all E junkies there are now PANTS ON T-shirts available Here. Remember to keep your pants on while using Enlightenment. It can be dangerous not to. This was just too good to leave alone.

It's been a long year for the team, but a fruitful one. DR16.5 is still in heavy usage and will stay so for many years to come. DR17 has seen the bulk of the back-end work done. EVAS has picked up a following and gained some press. While at the same time we've seen several developers leave the project as they move onto different parts of their lives.

As this project is constantly fighting the "is E dead?" battle, it's important to point out that this project has always been as much, if not more so, about libraries than the window manager that we all know and love. Imlib is still in heavy usage, Imlib2 has become a critical part of many projects. EVAS is going to be a significant force in the future, and will be as big a hit as Imlib. Not only that, our library collection includes a full widget library (EWL) based on EVAS, several convenience libs (Ecore, Eprog, EWD), libraries for text rendering in EVAS (Etox, Estyle), a packaging and distribution format (EET), a database (EDB), and a revolutionary themeing scheme (Ebits, Ebg). Not to mention tools for EDB (e_gtk_ed, Ebindings, etc), and Ebits/Ebg (Ebony, Etcher). We've got the file manager backend completed (EFSD). We've got a widget daemon (Ewidgetd), one of the nicest image viewers ever written (Entice), and two file managers (Essence, Evidence). And there is more than that! We're running out of words that start with E. For the last 2 years the E project is closer in scale (not goal) to KDE and GNOME than any other of the desktop projects. E will be a complete desktop shell, and we've been laying the groundwork toward that end.

To take a look at where we are, go to the CVS sources page and check out the SPLIT branch. In the last year, E broke CVS into two branches the so-called "stable" main branch for users (known as HEAD) and the development branch which has been very unstable (known as SPLIT). As code becomes more stable it is planned to be merged back into HEAD, but most of this hasn't been completed yet. So far EVAS (formerly known as EVAS2) and EET have been merged back into HEAD, so keep an eye on the CVS sources page to make sure you are using the correct current code. Before checking out the source please read the build notes and README's for each codebase since they have very specific requirements. As usual, the E team doesn't support ANYTHING in CVS... everything is still in heavy development and subject to changes at any time.

And speaking of changes, EVAS programmers who haven't looked at EVAS lately should. EVAS was reworked completely in the SPLIT branch as EVAS2 and recently merged back into HEAD. This rework includes some major API changes. Any coders who have used EVAS in their projects at some point should take a look and update your applications. The EVAS2 code in SPLIT is now dead, and EVAS proper in HEAD is current. For other updates regarding EVAS look at Raster's news page.

While the window manager isn't complete yet, you can clearly see that any programmer has plenty of toys to play with. The common joke is that when we're done the window manager will be written in 5 lines of C. Some truly great things are coming thanks to all the hard work from Raster, Rephorm, Atmos, RbdPngn, Tillsan, Vac, and many others.

Happy New Year from the Enlightenment crew!

A new and happy addition has been made to the Enlightenment family, mind has started a series of user support forums to aid in the support of E. It should be noted that these forums are unofficial and not backed by the Enlightenment project or its core developers, but we're glad to see users taking an active intrest in helping where they can. Check them out and post post post.

In other news, as many have no doubt read, Raster was recently interviewed and the story made it to slashdot. Please, if you have not already, read Raster's comments on the interview. You find things greatly clarified.

As development goes right now, we're trucking along. Many of the big changes are being put on hold while Raster is overhauling EVAS. The progress of EVAS is amazing, and can only be appreciated properly when you've seen what it can truely do. Once EVAS is completed many of the other compontants of DR17 which are based on EVAS will get worked on, building upward toward E DR17 itself over time.

Elsewhere, a few OSDN folks finally got tired of the sorry state themes.org was in, and moved it. Our part of the new themes.org (which is really part of freshmeat) can be found here. They're calling on theme authors to "claim ownership" of their work, and for people to help them get the site on track and fully converted over to using the fm][ codebase. More information on the announcement can be found on freshmeat.

Some of the real magic is happening right now on the components that will form the file management aspects of DR17, which will be isolated from the E package directly. Originally these functions were to be built directly into E, however the developers felt it would be wiser to build separate libraries to handle these functions to allow for easier maintenance and expansion, and hence a cleaner more distinct back end. For people who have used DR17 and wondered why they can't do much more than copy files between views, this is the work that will interest you.

The development that I just mentioned is currently happening in a separate branch of CVS. The reason being that the developers realized that many people are currently using and experimenting with DR17 from CVS, and their work is going to break most of the modules for a while as they get the core work done, this allows them to work without bothering users. We should all be thankful that they did this, so we can all continue to enjoy DR17 while they work. There is currently, as always, no time frame as to when they will be done, and there will naturally be some problems, but when the development gets to a point that the developers feel it's ready, they will be integrating the code back into the main CVS modules. Until then it is recommended that anyone developing based on current CVS be aware that any changes they make could be impacted by the merge when they are done and to be prepared for any conflicts, should they occur.

DR17 has progressed to a point now where its time for interested parties to start lending a hand. Etcher and Ebony are still under development, but the tools are very usable. It's time to start getting themes ready for Enlightenment and EWL. This is by no means a suggestion that Enlightenment or EWL are ready for wide use, but if you are one of the people who always wanted to get involved in a project but didn't know how you could help, here is your cue. You can find a tutorial on Etcher and Ebony on the docs page. You'll find Etcher intimidating at first, but will quickly learn to love it and the possibilities and ease it provides. Enjoy.