Preliminary steps for the development of the next release are finished,

including continuous-integration build jails, a Linux-Libre 4.4 based

kernel, a bootstapable system and now functional Live images available

at http://jenkins.trisquel.info/makeiso/iso/

The image has many of the basic components that will be the base for

Flidas. The default desktop environment will be MATE 1.12.1, a fork of

GNOME 2 that brings back all the functionality and quality level of

previous Trisquel releases. The panel, file manager and control center

are already looking polished. This decision comes from the current

editions of GNOME requiring 3D acceleration even in fallback mode, a

requirement that in many cases forces the user to choose between a

degraded user experience and performance, or the usage of non-free

graphics drivers. Instead, we aim to provide a fully functional, highly

performing desktop for all users.

The main tasks that need to come next are:

- Software selection. Starting with the current list of preinstalled

applications (which we want to preserve if possible), we need to decide

which need replacement, and what is the best program to include instead.

We can also add some new programs, but keeping in mind not to bloat the

system. We do not preinstall two applications that do the same thing.

- Adding missing programs. The current image is missing many programs,

such as Pidgin, Gimp, etc. They haven't been compiled yet, in most cases

their helper scripts need to be reviewed and upgraded.

- The desktop environment still needs some polish, in particular to

iron some kinks in the GTK theme.

- Fixing well-known faults in Trisquel 7 such as the AT-SPI issues,

printer integration, and hardware composition.

- Making the Live installer.

- Making the netinst/text-mode installer.

- Set up alternative architecture build jails.

- Design the new artwork.

From a project management perspective, we also need:

- To start and track a list (in the wiki) of known issues and pending

independent tasks, and update it though new releases.

- Clean up the merge request queue. This will be my next high priority.

- Make sure that contributors can build packages to test on the

development iso images, and contribute their improvements.

Now that my job has normalized into a more manageable routine I will be

going back into a weekly schedule of hacking sessions and progress

reports. On top of that, from this point on (thanks to the

Gitlab+Jenkins instance at https://devel.trisquel.info) the

participation of contributors should be much easier, which would

accelerate the development by making me less of a bottleneck.

Happy testing!