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December 1, 2004 - AfterStep 2.0.1 released!

This release features tons of fixes to different minor and major bugs.
Wharf animation now works for any configuration. Mouse cursor are handled properly over titlebar buttons. Fixed focusing/unfocusing of windows in Pager. Pseudo transparency fixed for windows that are partly off-screen. Added configure option --disable-data-reinstall for faster reinstall. And many more.

September 28, 2004 - AfterStep 2.0 Final released!

This release is considered very stable and fast, as the result of extensive debugging and optimization efforts.
Ident module was implemented to aid in compilation of database entries. All the installed files are now catalogued in HTML format, so that user can see the list of available images/fonts/etc. Documentation was updated for many parts, and will be installed in HTML and man formats for local browsing. Menus now allow navigation with keyboard. Wharf animation should now be smooth. Numerous bugs and crashes had been fixed. Remaining modules and documentation updates will be implemented and made available on bi-monthly schedule as point releases.

August 17, 2004 - AfterStep 2.0 beta 5 released!

This release includes new advanced image storage to minimize memory footprint and fragmentation, which results in 90% memory use reduction.
Several new features are implemented, including outlined fonts, alpha sorted winlist menu, hiliting of focused Wharf button.
Wharf animation should now be smooth. Tiff format support had been significantly improved. Lots of stability fixes and improvements.
Another great development is new automated documentation module - ASDocGen. Configuration options are documented using pregenerated xml templates, and many different doc formats then could be generated automatically, including website docs in PHP format, HTML, man pages, XML, etc.
Animate module now works.
This should be the last beta release. Next stable release 2.00.00 is planned for early September. Only critical bugfixes and documentation updates will go in before then. All the missing features, such as ascp and modules, will be implemented after that, in point releases. AfterStep proper seems to have reached production level stability now, so there is no reason to delay stable release any further.

March 5, 2004 - AfterStep 2.0 beta 4b released!

This is a critical update to beta4 fixing segmantation fault on systems with LANG set to non-empty string. Segmentation fault manifests itself in AfterStep not being able to start any module.

March 4, 2004 - AfterStep 2.0 beta 4 released!

Continuing ironing out issues in AfterStep 2.0. Most interesting fixes include :
• WinList and Pager no longer fight with each other for the space. Logic for AvoidCover windows had been greately improved.
• Java windows now show up with its entire area properly rendered. No more of this gray area on the bottom and right. There is still an issue with java not remembering its previous position properly, but that can't be helped. One way to possibly fix this is to use DefaultGeometry setting in database file for specific windows.
• Logic had been implemented to run root background drawing without hindering responsivness of AfterStep, thus making desktop switching faster. Desktop switching is still somwhat slow due to conservative memory utilization approach, that AfterStep employs. I may implement additional code for caching root backgrounds on the X server, which should make things very fast at the expense of memory utilization.
• AfterStep now exports 2 more environment variables IMAGE_PATH and FONT_PATH based on its Base configuration. That allows you to view those XML image files using ascompose without much hurdles. just type:
  ascompose -f filename
  In any of term windows.
• ascompose can now run in interactive mode, allowing for animations to be displayed. Banner module had been replaced with shell script to utilize that. See this script for example of how ascompose could be used. Oh, yes, new banner had been designed - see if you like it.
• Default screenshot compression ratio had been reduced to allow for much higher wuality screenshots to be generated.
• Numerous bugs were user had to select window to run functions had been fixed and now function will be automatically run on focused window.
• Old AfterStep 1.8 look had been ported to 2.0 and you can now select it from Looks menu as look.Legacy.
• Annoying cursor disappearance bugs had been fixed by moving Cursor defitions back to feel file.
• feel.ICCCM had been ported from AfterStep 1.8. It has no additional key bindings making it Emacs friendly.

Documentation is still in dire need of being cleaned up and updated, and the plan right now is to convert it all into DocBook XML. Anybody willing to help - let me know.

You can get this latest release from ftp.afterstep.org/devel/AfterStep-2.00.beta4.tar.gz. Bug reports and feedback are always welcome.