1 = KMSCON Release News =
4 * TSM, font and text subsystems have been extended to support
5 multi-width fonts (via wcwidth(3)). This allows using CJK characters
6 if your font provides the requested glyphs.
8 * COLORTERM is now set to "kmscon" to allow applications to detect
9 whether they run in kmscon.
11 * /bin/login is now called with -p by default to reset the environment.
12 This prevents kmscon from passing weird environment variables to the
13 clients but still allows to start KMSCON with a customized
15 The new --reset-env variable controls this behavior (default: on).
17 * Add kmsconvt@.service systemd template. This replaces the
18 kmscon@.service template and can now fully replace autovt@.service
19 which is provided by systemd-logind.
21 * The DRM3D backend now uses gbm-surfaces and now longer depends on the
22 custom EGL extensions. Everything is now handled inside of mesa so we
23 are safe if the extensions are changed in the future.
25 * Modularize kmscon. Most of the dependencies can now be loaded during
26 runtime and are no longer mandatory. This allows package-managers to
27 provide the kmscon binary as default package and all the backends in a
28 separate package to avoid huge dependencies.
29 Please note that this modularization still needs to be applied to
30 uterm so you shouldn't split the package yet, but instead wait for the
33 * Freetype2 backend is now deprecated. Use the built-in 8x16 backend,
34 the unifont backend or the fully-featured pango backend.
36 * bblit renderer is now built-in. You cannot deselect it, anymore.
38 * libuterm reads boot_vga values now via udev. libpciaccess is no longer
39 needed and was removed entirely.
41 * uterm video backends are now split into different modules. They still
42 need to be selected during compile-time, though. The next kmscon
43 release will finish this uterm split.
44 The dumb-video backend was renamed to drm2d. The drm-video backend was
47 * libeloop now supports ONESHOT idle sources
49 * Experimental cairo+pixman renderers. These should not be used in any
50 production systems! They are only provided for performance-testing and
51 to show how cairo/pixman modules can be included.
53 * unifont font backend is now enabled by default. The build was heavily
54 improved to avoid long compilation times.
56 * Symbol-versioning was added to all libraries. Library interfaces are
57 still not considered stable so don't package them separately! Feel
58 free to link them statically.
60 * An experimental unfinished version of the UVT library has been added.
61 Use it only for testing purposes. The next kmscon release will include
62 documentation and more.
63 UVT implements virtual terminals in user-space. It will soon replace
64 the cdev-sessions in kmscon.
69 * Allow arbitrary paths with --vt (kmscon)
71 * xkbcommon is now mandatory. We need it to handle keyboard input
72 properly and since xkbcommon-0.2.0 is released, there is no reason to
74 We also removed the plain-input backend with this change.
76 * Snap window to console/font-size on resize (wlterm)
78 * Adjust to new libwayland-1.0 (wlterm)
80 * Many new command-line options for wlterm including --term, --login,
81 --palette, --sb-size and many --grab-* options.
83 * fake-VTs no longer react on SIGUSR1/2. This was always broken and now
86 * --switchvt works again and is now enabled by default.
88 * --xkb-model was introduced. The other --xkb-<rmlvo> options also use
89 system-defaults instead of us-keymap as default value now.
91 * wlterm works properly in maximized and fullscreen mode now
93 * key-presses are now properly marked as "handled" so it is no longer
94 possible for two subsystems to handle the same key-press.
96 * wlterm can now zoom the font size with ctrl+Plus/Minus
98 * TSM now supports screen selections. wlterm is hooked up with this and
99 supports this, too. However, the VTE layer has not seen this yet so
100 everything is computed in the terminal for now. Next kmscon release
101 will include client-side mouse-protocol support.
103 * Copy/Paste now works with wlterm
105 * Key-repeat has been reworked and now allows adjusting repeat and delay
108 * Session support allows for multiple terminals (sessions) inside of
109 each seat. You can switch between the sessions, kill them and create
110 new terminals via keyboard shortcuts. Also several other sessions than
111 terminal sessions were introduced. However, all of them are
112 experimental and shouldn't be used.
114 * TSM now supports alternate screen buffers. They're enabled by default.
116 * Configuration handling has been reworked. Multiple config-files can
117 now be parsed and each seat has its own configuration file in
118 /etc/kmscon/<seat>.seat.conf.
120 * The build-tools have been reworked. They should now work properly with
121 any option-combination imaginable.
123 * --login option can now be used in config-files.
125 * We print hints if keyboard-shortcut names are written with wrong
128 * Improve systemd integration
130 * CDev sessions emulate enough of the VT API to make X-Server run as
131 kmscon session. You can even run kmscon in default-mode as client in
132 another kmscon manager.
134 * Bold fonts are now supported.
136 * kmscon.1 manpage is available now.
138 * ... and a lot of bugfixes
141 * Idle sources are now faster registered and unregistered so they can
142 be used for any scheduling tasks
144 * eloop got pre- and post-dispatch hooks to integrate external
147 * Added pkg-config files for eloop, tsm and uterm
149 * Added xkbcommon-keysyms.h as fallback
151 * fakevt got removed. It is now integrated into kmscon core and is no
154 * Cleaned up unicode, console and vte layer. It is now a fully
155 independent library calles TSM.
157 * All helpers were prefixed with SHL_* and can be used in any project
158 inside of this repository. They are linked statically and mostly
161 * VTE layer now handles ALT key
163 * fbdev devices are automatically used if they are not run by DRM
164 drivers. Use --fbdev to force the use of fbdev devices only.
166 * --vt=<num> now selects the TTY to use by kmscon on seat0
168 * Added wlterm, a native terminal emulator for Wayland
170 * Lots of bugfixes! Thanks to all the bug-reporters!
173 * The "conf" subsystem was modularized so we can use it in other
174 binaries as well. It is also much easier to add new parameters now.
176 * Remove internal dependencies. Several subsystems will be split into
177 separate libraries (like eloop, uterm, vte+console) so we should avoid
178 any internal dependencies between these. This shouldn't affect
181 * New --seats argument which allows to specify what seats kmscon is
184 * The old vt.[ch] subsystem is now merged into uterm_vt.c and a fake VT
185 backend was added. This allows to activate/deactivate kmscon via
186 keyboard shortcuts. This is for debugging only, though.
188 * The VTE layer was extended a lot to support more advanced control
189 sequences and fix several bugs.
191 * --dumb now forces kmscon to use non-accelerated rendering
193 * The scrollback buffer now works. You can specify keyboard shortcuts
194 via --grab-* options. Default is: <Shift>Up/Down/Prior/Next
196 * GL_EXT_unpack_subimage is not required anymore.
198 * _Lots_ of speed improvements in the rendering path.
200 * The unifont font backend was added. This is similar to 8x16 but has a
203 * ... and a lot of bugfixes
205 CHANGES WITH 3: (development release)
206 * VTE support has been improved greatly. vt220 should be supported fully
207 except for multi-line characters.
209 * glib dependency removed. Hashtables and unicode support is now
210 implemented in kmscon.
212 * Configfiles are now supported. /etc/kmscon.conf and ~/.kmscon.conf are
213 read by kmscon on startup. They can include the same options as the
214 command line options of kmscon. However, command-line options have
217 * Multiple video objects are now supported per seat. That is, if you
218 have more than one graphics card per seat, all of them will be used by
219 kmscon. Multiple displays were supported from the beginning.
221 * Modularized input backend. The XKB backend is fully optional and can
222 be activated/deactivated during runtime. The Dumb backend has been
225 * The eloop library is fully documented and should be API stable from
228 * The font renderer subsystem has been rewritten and replaced with a new
229 subsystem which can load different font-renderers during runtime.
230 Several backends including static 8x16 backend has been added. It is
231 possible to compile kmscon without freetype2/pango dependencies now.
233 * 2D blitting to framebuffers has been improved greatly. More devices
234 are supported now and blending is available, too. The 3D devices have
235 been updated to support these blitting operations via OpenGL. This may
236 be slow on older devices, though.
238 * New text renderer subsystem has been added. It can load multiple
239 different text-renderers during runtime. The default renderer (bblit)
240 uses 2D blitting operations to render text. However, the gltex
241 renderer is also available (optionally) which renders with OpenGL
242 textures. This can improve performance greatly on modern devices.
244 * Gcc optimizations are now enabled by default to improve rendering
247 CHANGES WITH 2: (development release)
248 * Build scripts were improved and simplified. They also allow much more
249 control about the build process now. The source was split into several
252 * Added llog.h helper for logging in libraries.
254 * Eloop was moved into separate library and supports more more
255 use-cases now. It can be used as a standalone project.
257 * Terminal emulator (vte.c) was improved a lot and can run vim now.
259 * Console layer was rewritten and is now much faster and much more
262 * Uterm monitor was added. The monitor uses udev and systemd-logind to
263 watch the system for new seats and devices. This allows us to run on
264 multiple seats simultaneously and being hotplug-capable.
266 * Uterm vt layer was added. This simply wraps the older VT layer so we
267 can switch to different VT systems on-the-fly.
269 * New uterm video backends: The fbdev backend is now fully functional
270 kmscon can run on any fbdev device now. Furthermore, the dumb backend
271 was added which is simply an unaccelerated DRM backend that should
272 work even without EGL, GL, gbm, etc.
274 * New 2D rendering API. In case OpenGL is not available, we now allow
275 blitting images into the framebuffer. This is used for fbdev and dumb
278 * Font renderer now depends on pango. This is is needed only until I get
279 the time to rewrite the freetype backend. But for now we depend on
280 pango so have full font support.
282 * lots of small fixes
284 CHANGES WITH 1: (development release)
285 * First kmscon release. For testing purposes only. Includes a rendering
286 pipeline and a very rudimentary terminal emulator.