The KDE community has announced “Codename,” which is actually the code name for KDE 4.1.2, the latest version of the popular free desktop for Linux.
Officials at KDE, the nonprofit organization that represents the KDE Project, said KDE 4.1.2 is a bug fix and maintenance update for the latest-generation KDE desktop, the 4.1 series. The new release comes just one month after the last update, KDE 4.1.1, and just over two months after the last major release of the desktop, KDE 4.1, which became available at the end of July. The community is shooting for monthly updates of the technology.
And, thus far, the KDE community is on a roll. KDE 4.1 was released on July 29, KDE 4.1.1 followed on Sept. 3, and KDE 4.1.2 followed on Oct. 3. KDE 4.1.1 was essentially a stabilization release for KDE 4.1 and delivered bug fixes, performance improvements and translation updates.
KDE 4.1.2, or Codename, is a monthly update to KDE 4.1, which ships with a basic desktop and many other packages, such as administration programs, network tools, educational applications, utilities, multimedia software, games, artwork and Web development tools. KDE’s award-winning tools and applications are available in more than 50 languages.
According to KDE officials, the most significant changes in Codename are:
- Deleting files got a 32X speedup.
- There are many bug fixes and improvements in KHTML and its new JavaScript bytecode interpreter Frostbyte.
- “Stop animations” is back in Konqueror.
- The Kopete Instant Messenger team fixed crashes in the ICQ, Yahoo and Gadu-Gadu protocols.
- There are Comicbook back-end fixes in the document viewer Okular.
- There are new fixes in Gwenview’s thumbnailing.
- There are new crash fixes in KGpg, the PGP security utility.
KDE officials said KDE 4.1.2 is a recommended update for users running KDE 4.1.1 or earlier. The community will continue to issue new updates over the next months and ultimately reach a new feature release, KDE 4.2.0, in January 2009.