1 = KMSCON Release News =
4 * Allow arbitrary paths with --vt (kmscon)
6 * xkbcommon is now mandatory. We need it to handle keyboard input
7 properly and since xkbcommon-0.2.0 is released, there is no reason to
9 We also removed the plain-input backend with this change.
11 * Snap window to console/font-size on resize (wlterm)
13 * Adjust to new libwayland-1.0 (wlterm)
15 * Many new command-line options for wlterm including --term, --login,
16 --palette, --sb-size and many --grab-* options.
18 * fake-VTs no longer react on SIGUSR1/2. This was always broken and now
21 * --switchvt works again and is now enabled by default.
23 * --xkb-model was introduced. The other --xkb-<rmlvo> options also use
24 system-defaults instead of us-keymap as default value now.
26 * wlterm works properly in maximized and fullscreen mode now
28 * key-presses are now properly marked as "handled" so it is no longer
29 possible for two subsystems to handle the same key-press.
31 * wlterm can now zoom the font size with ctrl+Plus/Minus
33 * TSM now supports screen selections. wlterm is hooked up with this and
34 supports this, too. However, the VTE layer has not seen this yet so
35 everything is computed in the terminal for now. Next kmscon release
36 will include client-side mouse-protocol support.
38 * Copy/Paste now works with wlterm
40 * Key-repeat has been reworked and now allows adjusting repeat and delay
43 * Session support allows for multiple terminals (sessions) inside of
44 each seat. You can switch between the sessions, kill them and create
45 new terminals via keyboard shortcuts. Also several other sessions than
46 terminal sessions were introduced. However, all of them are
47 experimental and shouldn't be used.
49 * TSM now supports alternate screen buffers. They're enabled by default.
51 * Configuration handling has been reworked. Multiple config-files can
52 now be parsed and each seat has its own configuration file in
53 /etc/kmscon/<seat>.seat.conf.
55 * The build-tools have been reworked. They should now work properly with
56 any option-combination imaginable.
58 * --login option can now be used in config-files.
60 * We print hints if keyboard-shortcut names are written with wrong
63 * Improve systemd integration
65 * CDev sessions emulate enough of the VT API to make X-Server run as
66 kmscon session. You can even run kmscon in default-mode as client in
67 another kmscon manager.
69 * Bold fonts are now supported.
71 * kmscon.1 manpage is available now.
73 * ... and a lot of bugfixes
76 * Idle sources are now faster registered and unregistered so they can
77 be used for any scheduling tasks
79 * eloop got pre- and post-dispatch hooks to inetgrate external
82 * Added pkg-config files for eloop, tsm and uterm
84 * Added xkbcommon-keysyms.h as fallback
86 * fakevt got removed. It is now integrated into kmscon core and is no
89 * Cleaned up unicode, console and vte layer. It is now a fully
90 independent library calles TSM.
92 * All helpers were prefixed with SHL_* and can be used in any project
93 inside of this repository. They are linked statically and mostly
96 * VTE layer now handles ALT key
98 * fbdev devices are automatically used if they are not run by DRM
99 drivers. Use --fbdev to force the use of fbdev devices only.
101 * --vt=<num> now selects the TTY to use by kmscon on seat0
103 * Added wlterm, a native terminal emulator for Wayland
105 * Lots of bugfixes! Thanks to all the bug-reporters!
108 * The "conf" subsystem was modularized so we can use it in other
109 binaries as well. It is also much easier to add new parameters now.
111 * Remove internal dependencies. Several subsystems will be split into
112 separate libraries (like eloop, uterm, vte+console) so we should avoid
113 any internal dependencies between these. This shouldn't affect
116 * New --seats argument which allows to specify what seats kmscon is
119 * The old vt.[ch] subsystem is now merged into uterm_vt.c and a fake VT
120 backend was added. This allows to activate/deactivate kmscon via
121 keyboard shortcuts. This is for debugging only, though.
123 * The VTE layer was extended a lot to support more advanced control
124 sequences and fix several bugs.
126 * --dumb now forces kmscon to use non-accelerated rendering
128 * The scrollback buffer now works. You can specify keyboard shortcuts
129 via --grab-* options. Default is: <Shift>Up/Down/Prior/Next
131 * GL_EXT_unpack_subimage is not required anymore.
133 * _Lots_ of speed improvements in the rendering path.
135 * The unifont font backend was added. This is similar to 8x16 but has a
138 * ... and a lot of bugfixes
140 CHANGES WITH 3: (development release)
141 * VTE support has been improved greatly. vt220 should be supported fully
142 except for multi-line characters.
144 * glib dependency removed. Hashtables and unicode support is now
145 implemented in kmscon.
147 * Configfiles are now supported. /etc/kmscon.conf and ~/.kmscon.conf are
148 read by kmscon on startup. They can include the same options as the
149 command line options of kmscon. However, command-line options have
152 * Multiple video objects are now supported per seat. That is, if you
153 have more than one graphics card per seat, all of them will be used by
154 kmscon. Multiple displays were supported from the beginning.
156 * Modularized input backend. The XKB backend is fully optional and can
157 be activated/deactivated during runtime. The Dumb backend has been
160 * The eloop library is fully documented and should be API stable from
163 * The font renderer subsystem has been rewritten and replaced with a new
164 subsystem which can load different font-renderers during runtime.
165 Several backends including static 8x16 backend has been added. It is
166 possible to compile kmscon without freetype2/pango dependencies now.
168 * 2D blitting to framebuffers has been improved greatly. More devices
169 are supported now and blending is available, too. The 3D devices have
170 been updated to support these blitting operations via OpenGL. This may
171 be slow on older devices, though.
173 * New text renderer subsystem has been added. It can load multiple
174 different text-renderers during runtime. The default renderer (bblit)
175 uses 2D blitting operations to render text. However, the gltex
176 renderer is also available (optionally) which renders with OpenGL
177 textures. This can improve performance greatly on modern devices.
179 * Gcc optimizations are now enabled by default to improve rendering
182 CHANGES WITH 2: (development release)
183 * Build scripts were improved and simplified. They also allow much more
184 control about the build process now. The source was split into several
187 * Added llog.h helper for logging in libraries.
189 * Eloop was moved into separate library and supports more more
190 use-cases now. It can be used as a standalone project.
192 * Terminal emulator (vte.c) was improved a lot and can run vim now.
194 * Console layer was rewritten and is now much faster and much more
197 * Uterm monitor was added. The monitor uses udev and systemd-logind to
198 watch the system for new seats and devices. This allows us to run on
199 multiple seats simultaneously and being hotplug-capable.
201 * Uterm vt layer was added. This simply wraps the older VT layer so we
202 can switch to different VT systems on-the-fly.
204 * New uterm video backends: The fbdev backend is now fully functional
205 kmscon can run on any fbdev device now. Furthermore, the dumb backend
206 was added which is simply an unaccelerated DRM backend that should
207 work even without EGL, GL, gbm, etc.
209 * New 2D rendering API. In case OpenGL is not available, we now allow
210 blitting images into the framebuffer. This is used for fbdev and dumb
213 * Font renderer now depends on pango. This is is needed only until I get
214 the time to rewrite the freetype backend. But for now we depend on
215 pango so have full font support.
217 * lots of small fixes
219 CHANGES WITH 1: (development release)
220 * First kmscon release. For testing purposes only. Includes a rendering
221 pipeline and a very rundimentary terminal emulator.