Specto 0.2.2 released2 min read

This release sports the basic set of features that you can expect from Specto’s goals. We consider this release an ALPHA release. That means Specto works very well for us and we are providing this to you in the hope that it will be useful to you, but we are not guaranteeing that it it will be perfect just yet. At the time of this writing, there are three (3) known defects in the bug tracker.
Packages for Ubuntu are not yet available, but should be soon, and will appear in Debian sid and Ubuntu 7.10’s Universe repository.

What is new in this release:

• Port (network socket) watch
• Use the current GTK theme icons everywhere
• Scalable vector graphics for the notification area icon
• Scalable vector graphics for the notifier window titlebar (looks better with Avant Window Navigator)
• Working “Murder” dialog!
• Action button for libnotify balloons
• Add a hidden gconf key, “follow_website_redirects” to allow disabling of HTTP redirects handling
• There actually are default gconf values, so the settings will make a lot more sense out of the box (like actually having a toolbar)
• Add a short delay between updating the tray and notifying (prevents misplaced balloons)
• Changes to the email counting logic, and more info for POP3 watches
• A statusbar now tells the user if there is no network connection detected
• Don’t screw up when opening files/folders with spaces
• Work around evolution being really braindead
• Translation updates, bug fixes

Known issues in this release:

• You cannot “import” a watches.list from the file menu
• It is still possible to corrupt one’s watch list! Sadly enough, we don’t know why it still happens and it will be looked at for the 0.3 series. In the meantime, we recommend that you backup ~/.specto/watches.list once in a while.
• There is not much information provided. You will not know who sent you an email, or what exactly changed in a website. This will come eventually. Or maybe sooner than we expect if someone wants to tackle the challenge!
• We have some really hacky/ugly code. Feel free to correct us 🙂
• Issues: #1, 11, 12, 13, 14, 20, 31, 33, 36, 37, 39, 42, 44, 48, 51, 54, 55, 63

What will be next?

• A really huge code cleanup. No, for real, this time.
• Hopefully, more information provided by watches?
• Core/UI split, maybe some D-BUS fancyness
• A watch list that doesn’t corrupt itself