The latest version of the popular desktop environment GNOME, 46.2, has just been released with a host of updates and enhancements across many of its core applications and libraries.
This update brings bug fixes, performance improvements, and several key updates to its modules, so let’s take a look at them.
GNOME 46.2: Core Application Updates
Evince, the Document Viewer, has advanced to version 46.3, bringing a notable improvement in language support with additions such as Hindi, Greek, Hungarian, and Portuguese. A critical typo in a URL has been corrected, enhancing functionality and user interaction.
One of the desktop’s core components, GNOME Shell, has been updated to version 46.2, addressing several usability issues, including enhancements to the workspace switcher and fixes to handling invalid TLS certificates. Moreover, GNOME Shell Extensions also received updates, improving accessibility and adding minor bug fixes.
GNOME’s integrated development environment, Builder, now prevents terminals from spawning in /run/, which improves compatibility with GVFS remote mounts and other enhancements that streamline the developer’s workflow.
Lastly, one of GNOME’s low-level system libraries, GLib, has seen critical security and bug fixes in version 2.80.2, such as the resolution of regression with IBus and the installation directory fix for the GVariant specification.
Visual and Accessibility Improvements
Of course, the new update also considers aesthetics. In light of this, the default icon theme, Adwaita, has been updated to be more opaque and legible, especially the microphone icons in the shell’s top bar, enhancing visibility and aesthetic appeal.
In addition, GTK 4.14.4 and GTK+ 3.24.42 have both received updates. These include more efficient symbolic SVG loading, improved accessibility features, and fixes in handling transparency and resizable window edges on different platforms such as Wayland and macOS.
Other Noteworthy Updates
- GNOME Remote Desktop received security hardening improvements, expanded client compatibility, and a specific fix for CVE-2024-5148, which tightens security regarding session handovers at the login screen.
- GNOME 46.2 fixes several issues in the GNOME window manager Mutter, including corrections for hardware cursor handling with non-atomic KMS drivers and enhancements to night light functionalities.
- GNOME Online Accounts and GNOME Maps have received minor but crucial bug fixes and updates, contributing to better stability and user experience.
- Librsvg and Tracker, which are important for graphic rendering and file indexing, respectively, have seen updates that enhance performance and fix bugs.
For more detailed information on all the changes, visit the release announcement.
In the coming days and weeks, GNOME 46.2 is expected to appear as an update (Fedora already has it) in the repositories of Linux distributions offering v46; as usual, rolling-release ones like Arch, openSUSE Tumbleweed, etc., will get it first.
