Update on what happened across the GNOME project from August 14 to August 28.GNOME Core Apps and LibrariesSophie (she/her) announcesThe GNOME 51 Flathub SDK is now based on the Freedesktop SDK v26.08. The GNOME Beta SDK is available from Flathub Beta as org.gnome.Sdk/x86_64/51beta and GNOME Nightly as org.gnome.Sdk/x86_64/master.You might need to update the sdk-extension and append-path in your Flatpak manifests to newer versions like LLVM 22, and install newer versions of the extensions on your local system like org.freedesktop.Sdk.Extension.rust-stable//26.08beta.Mutter ↗A Wayland display server and X11 window manager and compositor library.Toluwaleke announcesHello everyone! I’ve been working on GPU reset recovery in Mutter through the summer, under the mentorship of Jonas Ådahl, Robert Mader, and Carlos Garnacho.Previously, a GPU reset would take the whole session down, crashing or freezing it. That’s no longer the case: Mutter now detects a reset and recovers automatically, restoring windows, background, cursors, and text, all in an instant. The work isn’t fully done: GNOME Shell doesn’t recover completely yet, and real hardware testing has been trickier than expected, but the implementation is up as an upstream MR for review, and I’ll keep working on it after GSoC.Full details, demos, and some of the more entertaining debugging stories are in my wrap-up post.Python Bindings (PyGObject) ↗Python language bindings for GNOME platform libraries.Arjan announcesToday I release PyGObject 3.58.0.This is modest release, which contains some quality of life improvements:Generic annotations for Async.Path separator (/) support for Gio.File objects, similar to pathlib.Path.Updates to tutorials and examples.Behind the scenes, this release includes an update to the marshalling code. Now it’s easier to clean up after a call is dispatched from Python to C or visa versa.Lastly, the ability to find libraries automatically on Windows has landed in this release. Before, you had to call os.add_dll_directory() for each directory which contains DLLs you want to use. Now, a default directory are added, relative to where PyGObject is installed.PyGObject can be found on PyPI and the GNOME download server.GNOME FellowshipGlycin ↗Sandboxed and extendable image loading and editing.Sophie (she/her) announcesLibglycin 2.2.beta.1 has been released. This release brings two important workarounds. The first avoids triggering a memory leak in gtk-rs that has been fixed upstream but where a gtk-rs bugfix release isn’t available yet. The second workaround avoids using the async Gio.File API in libglycin’s sync API. The Gio.File internals rely on at least one thread being available in the Gio.Task thread pool. However, it is currently common practice to starve the complete Gio.Task thread pool via Gio.Task.run_in_thread() when using sync APIs. Therefore, libglycin now internally uses Gio.File’s sync API for executing blocking functions like Gly.Loader.load().Sophie’s work is funded by the GNOME Fellowship program. You can support the fellowship program via a donation.Sovereign Tech Agencyswick reportsTogether with Modal, I’m happy to announce that the Sovereign Tech Agency is investing nearly €510k into Flatpak development. The focus is on closing gaps in Flatpak’s sandboxing story: new portals for audio, networking, VPNs, and spell checking, plus infrastructure work on entitlements and intents.I’ll be leading the technical side alongside Adrian, with organizational support from Kateryna and Cade. We’ve brought on a great team and the project will ramp up over the coming months through the end of 2027.Read the full announcement on the Modal blog.Prototype Fundverdre reportsI’m happy to announce that Test Center is available on Flathub now 🧪️✨️https://flathub.org/en/apps/cx.modal.TestCenterTest Center is a new native app to manage experimental versions of apps (flatpak) and system components (systemd sysext, only available on GNOME OS), similar to Apple’s Test Flight. The initial version we just released supports installing and managing both types of experiments, but we have a lot more planned including a built-in feedback workflow, updates, expiration dates, and an integrated “first-run” dialog for experimental apps.If you want to give the app a spin, here’s a fun merge request to try, adding interactive screenshot UI to Epiphany: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/epiphany/-/merge_requests/2129After the initial release, our next focus for Test Center is adding “studies”, i.e. developer-curated experiments with a custom name, icon, testing instructions, etc. This requires metadata that is not part of the merge request itself, which means more complexity in the developer workflow. To get your input on this we’re having another community call on Thursday, September 10 at 13:00 UTC.See the full agenda and sign up here: https://pad.gnome.org/K1MftsinR2-uruO\_4KWnLQGNOME Circle Apps and LibrariesBrage Fuglseth reportsLast week Bazaar was accepted into GNOME Circle.Bazaar is a new app store for GNOME with a focus on discovering and installing apps and add-ons from Flatpak remotes, particularly Flathub.Congratulations!Tuba ↗Browse the Fediverse.Evangelos “GeopJr” Paterakis 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 saysTuba v0.11 is now available, with many new features and bug fixes!✨ Highlights:Tuba moved to Codeberg!Full Mastodon quotes supportCollectionsHashtag ListsUnifiedPushAndroid buildsBetter custom emoji pickerImproved media viewerMore compact narrow layoutCustom thumbnail support for mediaFont-size sliderRegularly update stats in threads and check for new repliesSupport for Mastodon’s new profile tabs settingsFormal AI policyMuch much much more!Read more and see all the changes in action on the (very) informative changelog!Graphs ↗Plot and manipulate dataSjoerd Stendahl reportsGraphs is now available in the GNOME nightly repo. You can get the latest build straight from the main branch by adding the GNOME Nightly repo using flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists gnome-nightly https://nightly.gnome.org/gnome-nightly.flatpakrepo, after that you can just install Graphs like you’d usually do.The current nightly includes some enhancements, such as a further optimized codebase and a much improved math parser. But also the handling of very large data files. Instead of crashing or locking up the application, Graphs now uses a LOD-based approach and downsamples large datasets visually to a maximum of 5000 datapoints, still drawing over one datapoint per pixel even at 4K resolutions. This behaviour can be turned off for each item for the sake of scientific accuracy.Another major feature that already has landed in the nightly build is the implementation of fills. This enables you to add visually pleasing fills above, beneath or between curves, or use a fill area to e.g. show error margins. Fills can be coupled to any number, equation or even to another item in Graphs.I’ve also been experimenting a bit with implementing free variables, as well as the introduction of support for date-time datapoints. But there’s no set ETA for that as yet, and both features need some rethinking so edge-cases are dealt with more cleanly. Such features will hit the nightly first though. Note that the nightly version is always in active development, and is purely meant for testing purposes. You can expect things to break from time to time, and project data might get corrupted. Do not use the nightly for mission-critical work.Third Party ProjectsJan-Michael Brummer saysFor those of you looking for a modern mail suite dedicated to GNOME, here is Stamp.Over the last two years I’ve been working on Stamp as a modern replacement for Evolution’s user interface, suitable for both private and business accounts. It is based on the Evolution Data Server backend, combining its proven reliability with a modern Adwaita interface.Besides standard mail features, Stamp also supports a number of Microsoft 365 features such as Internal/External identifiers and Categories, which are quite common in enterprise environments. Thanks to its Adwaita-based design, it also works well on mobile devices.Mail and Contacts are already integrated, and Calendar support is available in a pending merge request based on GNOME Calendar as a library. Future versions will make these components pluggable, allowing Stamp to be shipped as a standalone mail client or as a complete personal information suite.Got your interest? Check it out: https://gitlab.gnome.org/jbrummer/stamp or download it via GNOME NightlyFrancesco Caracciolo saysNewelle 1.5.0 released!Newelle, AI assistant for Gnome, has received a new major update, which brings a lot of UI refinements, improved agentic capabilities and other interesting features.Highlights(I have written personally with my keyboard every single character of this description. Emojis are indicative of what is each feature, stop complaining under each post)🖥 Improved terminal tool, Newelle can now manage persistent Terminal sessions and interact with TUIs💫 Mode switching: users can now create custom “modes” that quickly change prompts, tools and skills (ex. Planning mode)📲 Added a curated catalog of MCP servers that can be used to connect your applications to Newelle🌐 Added citations, the LLM can now state the source of an information➕ You can now add LLM providers directly from the UI (OpenAI/Ollama/Anthropic compatible)🚀 Improved text generation animation🔻 Added “Compact Mode” for tool calls and input bar🧩 You can now download and explore new extensions and skills directly in Newelle✏️ Added a Skill editor to create and edit Newelle Skills directly from NewelleFull changelog:https://github.com/qwersyk/Newelle/releases/tag/1.5.0Download:https://flathub.org/en/apps/io.github.qwersyk.NewelleAnton Isaiev saysRustConn 0.21.0 is out - connection manager for SSH, RDP, VNC, SPICE, Telnet, Web and Zero Trust (GTK4/libadwaita).New features: portable encrypted credential store you can sync through a cloud folder, with tools to copy stored passwords between any two backends and to change the passphrase; a jump host that can be set once on a group or for the whole application and is inherited by SSH, SFTP, RDP, VNC and SPICE, with a per-connection Direct override; window sizing for the external RDP client; an option to reveal the session toolbar on hover or on click only; connection names in split panes; a flat accent Shell button in the header bar instead of the oversized pill; Georgian translation, so 17 languages now.Fixes: the sidebar context menu opened and vanished within a frame on GNOME Wayland, and did not open at all when there was no room below the pointer; the terminal started at 24x80 in Flatpak instead of its real size; telnet, ssh and serial processes stayed alive after quitting, and quitting from the tray tore nothing down at all; a jump host set on a group or globally was stored and shown as inherited, then dropped at connect time; the Secrets page could stay empty and a KeePass operation could freeze the window with no way out, so every credential-path subprocess now has a deadline; SPICE asked to install virt-viewer on machines that already had it; Simplified Chinese had never loaded in any package; minimizing to tray silently killed port forwards, recordings and external viewers; nine dependency advisories are gone along with the GTK3 binding stack that the macOS tray was pulling in.Thanks to everyone who uses RustConn, reports bugs, contributes or supports the project. If you’d like to support development - the repo has a Sponsor link.https://github.com/totoshko88/RustConnhttps://flathub.org/apps/io.github.totoshko88.RustConnhttps://snapcraft.io/rustconn/Tanay Bhomia reportsWhisp v1.4.1 - Exporting and Better OCRWhisp is a minimalist, folder-less note-taking application built for speed and simplicity. Designed around a fluid, gesture-driven interface, it features powerful text-expansion capabilities to help you capture and organize your thoughts without the friction of a traditional file system.This week, we released Whisp v1.4.1, bringing several productivity enhancements and UI polish to the app:Instant Export: You can now instantly export your current note to a file directly from the main menu.Native Markdown Lists: Creating lists is faster than ever—typing - or * followed by a space now automatically formats the line as a list item.Smarter OCR: The Smart Paste image-to-text engine now correctly preserves hard indentation and paragraph structures from the original images.GNOME HIG Polish: We replaced the old update popup with a sleek, non-intrusive update banner, and fixed a responsive layout bug that caused the Preferences dialog to clip on narrow screens.LinksDownload - https://flathub.org/en/apps/io.github.tanaybhomia.WhispWebsite - https://tanaybhomia.github.io/Whisp/Source Code - https://github.com/tanaybhomia/WhispDonate - https://tanaybhomia.github.io/Whisp/donate.htmlBouncer ↗Bouncer is an application to help you choose the correct firewall zone for wireless connections.justinrdonnelly saysBouncer 50.2.0 has been released! This release brings closer alignment with the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines, including the ability to undo changing a network’s firewall zone or forgetting a network, more consistent controls, and clearer empty states. Bouncer also handles more edge cases and error conditions, with improved feedback and recovery options when saved networks or firewall information cannot be loaded. Spanish translations have been added, and Occitan and Danish translations have been updated. The new release is available on Flathub.Shell ExtensionsJust Perfection announcesThe extension port guide for GNOME Shell 51 is ready, and we are now accepting 51 packages on EGO.If you need any help with your extension you can ask us on GNOME Extensions Matrix Channel.Daniel Elia saysThe Calendar Reminders extension has been released! It replaces the Evolution reminder notifications with ones that fit GNOME Calendar better, which allows you to join virtual meetings straight from the notification itself, open the GNOME Calendar app to the event, or snooze the notification.You can get the extension from EGO here!🇧🇷️ Fabito02 saysChromaLeon v2.2.0 has been released with new styling options and a significant restructuring of the theming logic for GNOME Shell.ChromaLeon is an extension I created that can change the accent colors of GNOME Shell and applications based on the wallpaper’s colors, as well as apply tinted styles, generate a dynamic icon pack, and more.The focus of the v2.x.x updates was to resolve structural issues and simplify maintenance, thereby extending the extension’s lifespan and improving contrast standards relative to the GNOME interface.Key improvements in this version include:New style application logic: ChromaLeon now applies Shell styles as a theme rather than an overlay stylesheet. This resolves any conflicts with other extensions.Simplified maintenance: All styles are now based on a copy of the default GNOME Shell theme. This makes it easier to track changes in new GNOME Shell versions, preventing conflicts or missing styles.Improved contrast: ChromaLeon previously had methods to adjust contrast for very light colors, but issues remained with very dark colors. ChromaLeon now also adjusts very dark wallpaper colors to ensure optimal contrast with the dark theme.New fully light style: This option applies a light style to the entire Shell, unlike the default GNOME light theme, which keeps the overview and app grid dark.Better contrast in the light theme: The light theme now offers improved contrast for interface elements compared to the default GNOME light theme for the Shell.Additionally, many bugs reported in the repository or identified by me have been fixed, resulting in greater stability during use.I would also like to give a special thanks to the developer of the Luminus extension. The “fully light” style was based on it.Leandro Rodrigues saysAurora Shell is making its first appearance in TWIG 🎉. It is a modular extension for GNOME Shell 50 with a configurable dock, Clipboard History, Capture Tools for screenshot annotation and local OCR, Tray Icons, Meeting Clock, Weather Clock, and privacy helpers. Each module is optional and managed from the same preferences window.Version 50.12 is mostly about the dock. It can now sit on the bottom, left, or right edge of the screen. Users can set a maximum icon size from 16 to 64 pixels and turn on live window previews with window actions. Window Previews is off by default and can be enabled under Dock & Panel → Dock.Outside the dock, Meeting Clock now extracts conference links from redirect and tracking URLs and requests another banner when an active alert fires again. Tray Icons now loads icons supplied as absolute SNI paths.Aurora Shell 50.12 is available on EGO. Read the full announcement or visit the GitHub release.That’s all for this week!See you next week, and be sure to stop by #thisweek:gnome.org with updates on your own projects!