8th August 2003 by Derek Kite

This Week...

The Kopete developers release a new version. Kmail message threading is improved. Knode, a news reader, is integrated into Kontact. Korganizer printing gets improved. Koffice uses the new version of WvWare for MSWord import. Juk playlists are improved. Plus many bugfixes.
Stanislav Visnovsky had news about KBabel:
Here comes the 3rd preview of the new version of KBabel. KBabel is a powerfull, easy to use editor for localization files (GNU gettext, Qt Linguist).

There are substantial improvements over KBabel 1.1 (a support for GNU gettext plural forms, validation plugins, a support for multiple file formats, a CVS support etc). This version should be full-featured and if there are no showstopper bugs, we would like to release KBabel 1.2 in the near future. This beta follows 1.2beta2 because there were important speedups in the core of KBabel.

We would like to hear your opinions, comments etc. You can reach us at kbabel@mail.kde.org or you can use KDE bugzilla http://bugs.kde.org.

Homepage: http://i18n.kde.org/tools/kbabel
Download: ftp://i18n.kde.org/tools/kbabel/kbabel-1.2beta.tar.bz2

Requirements:
  • Qt version 3.1
  • KDE libs version 3.1
  • Berkeley Database IV is recommended
Enjoy! The KBabel team Changes since 1.2beta2:
  • internal structures speedup (Stanislav Visnovsky)
  • do single word rough translation for all words, the last one was skipped (Stanislav Visnovsky)
  • when mailing files, store files relatively to the PO base dir (Marco Wegner)
  • word wrapping enabled, fix #53832 (elonen at iki.fi)
  • spellcheck from the current message to the end of file, wishlist #50937 (Marco Wegner)
  • mark/unmark files in catalog manager using wildcards, wishlist #48840 (Marco Wegner)
  • XML entities can contain dots (Stanislav Visnovsky)
Major changes since KBabel 1.1:
  • GNU gettext plural forms (Stanislav Visnovsky)
  • Msgstr2plural
  • copy single text into plural forms (Stanislav Visnovsky)
  • Validation tools are plugins now
  • integration into Catalog Manager as well (Stanislav Visnovsky)
  • Non-breaking space is shown differently (Stanislav Visnovsky)
  • Import/export plugin framework to load/save files. (Stanislav Visnovsky)
  • Ported GNU gettext load/save to the new plugin framework (Stanislav Visnovsky)
  • Qt Linguist load/save plugin (Marco Wegner)
  • It is not possible to edit raw header anymore (Stanislav Visnovsky)
  • Character selection tool (Stanislav Visnovsky)
  • CVS support in Catalog Manager (Marco Wegner)
  • Mark/unmark using wildcards (MarcoWegner)
  • KBabelDict module lookup using standard KDE KTrader (Stanislav Visnovsky)
  • Autosave feature (Marco Wegner)
  • DataTool to check for translations with only whitespace (Dwayne Bailey)
  • Word wrapping (elonen at iki.fi)
  • Internal structure speedup (Stanislav Visnovsky)
  • Bugfixes
Matt Rogers announced a new version of Kopete, the KDE Instant Messenger
KOPETE 0.7 ADDS FEATURES, INCREASES STABILITY

The latest version of Kopete, the KDE Instant Messenger, is released today.

Incorporating a host of changes that increase usability and consolidate its position as a leading open source messaging client, Kopete 0.7 is another step towards the all-purpose chat program for the K Desktop Environment.

The user is the center of this new version, and Kopete 0.7 promises to give the user a greatly improved chat experience that is more stable and reliable, while also offering a number of exciting new features.

A high proportion of new users have many existing IM accounts and found the previous Kopete limitation of only one account per protocol restrictive. A new architecture has been developed that allows the user to have as many accounts as they wish, and icons can be dynamically recolored to the user's taste to differentiate between accounts.

Many features in Kopete 0.7 can be customised, such as new text effects and window color schemes, which makes it more friendly and flexible and enables users to make the client reflect their personalities.

New additions such as spell checking and an auto-replace facility demonstrate the advantages of a multi-protocol client, because rich features can now be enjoyed without having to familiarize oneself with a number of single system clients.

To allow contact with other instant messaging systems, an all-new Yahoo plugin is now available and the IRC plugin has been completely re-designed and integrated with the rest of Kopete. Other plugins, including Gadu-Gadu and Jabber, have matured and are fully supported in this release.

Matt Rogers, Kopete developer, comments: "Kopete 0.7 builds on the improved code of version 0.6 and adds a number of key features to enhance usability, marking a further stage in Kopete's growth in popularity. We're delighted with how the program is developing and we're sure users will not be disappointed with this latest release."
Stephan Kulow posted a note referring to a KDE statistics page:
I'm not sure why I didn't know about the following before I googled for something completely unrelated ;)

http://libresoft.dat.escet.urjc.es/cvsanal/kde-cvs/ is really worth to browse at.

E.g. http://libresoft.dat.escet.urjc.es/cvsanal/kde-cvs/index.php?menu=
Graphs&module=kdelibs&graph=LOCs
The i18n translators were busy this week. Arash Zeini, the top committer is the Farsi team coordinator. Toplica Tanaskovic, with the most lines modified, is one of the Serbian team coordinators.
Speaking of i18n, Stephan Kulow had the temerity to remove i18n-i-klingon from kdenonbeta. It seems that free software developers unflinchingly charge into battle with anyone from sleazy lawyers to multinational corporations. But there are limits. Antonio Larrosa wondered, fearing the worst:
What have you done?!?! Now all the klingons out there will be upset at us!
Rob Kaper also objected, adding a number of phrases to the translation. His conversation with Stephan Kulow went something like this:
jIyaj.
yIDoghQo'
Stephan, bIjatlh 'e' yImev
jej. jiSagh
This elicited a comment from Zack Rusin, perhaps echoing those who listened in on the great debates between philosophers in ancient Greece:
Man, I don't think I ever felt so ungeeky in my life. What did you guys just say?

Statistics

Commits 1390 by 161 developers, 124503 lines modified, 614 new files
Open Bugs 4647
Open Wishes 4313
Bugs Opened 432 in the last 7 days
Bugs Closed 361 in the last 7 days

Commit Summary

Module Commits
kde-i18n
388
 
kdenonbeta
241
 
kdebase
102
 
kdepim
94
 
kdebindings
76
 
kdelibs
72
 
kdevelop
67
 
kdeextragear-2
45
 
www
40
 
kdegraphics
37
 
Lines Developer Commits
757
 
Arash Zeini
96
 
1007
 
Alexander Kellett
44
 
1902
 
George Staikos
40
 
6612
 
Stephan Kulow
38
 
14052
 
Toplica Tanasković
33
 
619
 
Laurent Montel
30
 
7928
 
Stefan Asserhäll
30
 
330
 
Rob Buis
29
 
2048
 
Gilles Caulier
28
 
345
 
Olivier Goffart
28
 

Internationalization (i18n) Status

Bug Killers

No commits found