Changes/Xfce-4.20

Xfce-4.20

This is a proposed Change for Fedora Linux.
This document represents a proposed Change. As part of the Changes process, proposals are publicly announced in order to receive community feedback. This proposal will only be implemented if approved by the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee.

Summary

Xfce 4.20 is a stable release with proven components, provide features to both new and power users alike. This change proposal is submitted to sync fedora packages with the latest upstream release.

Owners

• Name: Mukundan Ragavan, Kevin Fenzi
• Email: nonamedotc@fedoraproject.org, kevin@scrye.com

Current status

• Targeted release: Fedora 42
• Last updated: 2024-12-03
• Announced
• Discussion thread
• FESCo issue: #3297
• Tracker bug: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
• Release notes tracker: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>

Detailed Description

This change migrates Xfce desktop environment (DE) to the latest version provided by upstream developers. This release brings, amongst others, experimental support for Wayland.

Xfce 4.20 is expected to be released on 2024-12-15.

Xfce 4.20 roadmap: https://wiki.xfce.org/releng/4.20/roadmap

Some notes about Xfce 4.20 pre1 release - https://alexxcons.github.io/blogpost_11.html

Benefit to Fedora

Updating Xfce to 4.20 will provide Fedora Xfce users stable but latest versions of upstream software. We will also be able to provide timely bug fixes.

Scope

• Proposal owners:
  • Update core xfce packages to 4.20
  • Rebuild plugins once core packages are build

• Other developers: N/A (not a System Wide Change)

• Release engineering: [1] (a check of an impact with Release Engineering is needed) -->
  • List of deliverables: N/A (not a System Wide Change)

• Policies and guidelines: N/A (not a System Wide Change)

• Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)

Upgrade/compatibility impact

N/A (not a System Wide Change)

How To Test

Users and testers can report bugs that they encounter based on day-to-day usage. No special tests needed.

User Experience

• A fresh install should have fully functional Xfce DE
• Upgrade from Fedora 41 or older should be mostly seamless

No special configuration or hardware needed.

Dependencies

N/A (not a System Wide Change)

Contingency Plan

• Contingency mechanism: (What to do? Who will do it?) N/A (not a System Wide Change)

• Contingency deadline: N/A (not a System Wide Change)

• Blocks release? N/A (not a System Wide Change)

• Blocks product? N/A (not a System Wide Change)

Documentation

N/A (not a System Wide Change)

Release Notes

Fedora 42 ships with Xfce 4.20.