Banshee 2.9.1

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Banshee 2.9.1 is the culmination of five months’ work by 17 developers, 21 translators and dozens of bug reporters and testers. It is a development release, the second of the 2.9.x releases leading up to our future stable release Banshee 3.0.

New features

GStreamer 1.x compatibility

This is the first official upstream release compatible with versions of GStreamer 1.0 or newer.

Production-ready GStreamerSharp playback-engine backend, now default

Our managed backend (that already allowed us to have playback working in the Windows platform) has been migrated to work with the revamped GStreamerSharp bindings (GObject-Introspection based, and capable of binding GStreamer 1.0 or newer) and is now the default one for all platforms.

This paves the way to finish the long-standing goal of completely removing lower-level languages like C from our codebase, to lower the barrier of entry to new contributors, reduce complexity and increase stability.

You can still use the optional unmanaged GStreamer backend, but before doing so we encourage you to provide us any feedback that you may have about the managed one (reporting bugs or writing to our forums or mailing lists), because we will deprecate this one very soon.

New “MediaPanel” UI, formerly called “MeeGo MediaPanel”

The MeeGo specific UI has been now been renamed to MediaPanel and you can use it in your desktop environment now, just by clicking in the Media Panel option under the View menu (this extension is now enabled by default). There are still some visual issues to be addressed, but it is already usable. This is a sample screenshot:

New MediaPanel UI

Other Enhancements

  • Notifications: use notify-sharp-3.0 in the system if available
  • bgo#690010: enable tests by default if NUnit dependency is found
  • WebBrowser: drop dependency on ‘libsoup-gnome’, which was deprecated
  • Video: default smart playlists are now invisible when empty, like Music ones

Notable Bug Fixes (35 fixed since 2.9.0!)

  • bgo#692374: require dbus-glib-1 to make sure to avoid GConf crashes
  • bgo#725870: avoid hang when disconnecting Nexus 5
  • bgo#724635: don’t crash at iPod sync
  • bgo#726336: avoid redundancy in submenu label text
  • bgo#725185: avoid importing non-readable files
  • bgo#696520: avoid pointless long->int runtime casts
  • DBus: don’t try to connect in GrabDefaultName() if dbus is disabled
  • bgo#724730: avoid aborting MTP access when busy
  • bgo#724678: tracks which were in nested folders under Music/ not shown
  • bgo#724656: fix potential crashers when ejecting DAP source
  • bgo#724645: fix crash at shutdown if MTP was mounted
  • bgo#627391: [gapless] fix smooth transition for Repeat-Single mode
  • bgo#671221: fix Repeat-All mode if there are less than 3 tracks and Shuffle is ON
  • bgo#724515: fix Repeat-OFF mode when Shuffle is ON
  • bgo#723889: avoid notifications-related warning printed in the log
  • bgo#723040: DapService: avoid freezing Banshee when unmapping device
  • bgo#679938: [gapless] Repeat always on
  • bgo#674293: [gapless] Banshee ignores “stop when finished”
  • bgo#621222: [gapless] Playcount shouldn’t be incremented as soon as song plays
  • bgo#723005: fix path of image referenced in Help
  • bgo#722731: avoid highlighting wrong track after invalid track was played
  • bgo#636992: avoid misleading [gapless] token in log
  • bgo#722565: advice about nunit-console not available instead of failing
  • bgo#720359: avoid ‘URI too large’ errors at LastFM scrobbling
  • bgo#722947: prevent a crash when dealing with Nexus4
  • bgo#722209: avoid crash when connecting Nexus4
  • bgo#722219: avoid crash when disconnecting Nexus4
  • bgo#664887: fail faster if –enable-tests used and NUnit was not found
  • bgo#721203: CD audio source doesn’t show up when inserting it
  • bgo#712656: pkg-config files were still pointing to GTK2 instead of GTK3
  • bgo#710266: PlayQueue: fix another GtkCRITICAL at shutdown
  • bgo#710423: Fix build of the SoundMenu extension
  • bgo#710475: fix build in Osx by avoiding optional parameters
  • bgo#710266: avoid GtkCRITICAL in the console at shutdown
  • bgo#709717: fix ListView scrolling with mouse wheel (regression from GTK2)

Known issues

Unfortunately the major architectural change to GTK3 caused some problems that we’re still looking into:

  • bgo#709617: No alternating colors in the ListView
  • bgo#709619: ListView header decoration do not match regular TreeView
  • bgo#666452: Drag and drop crashes banshee on gtk3 branch
  • Ubuntu: No text on the main (left) source switching pad when selecting a source (fixed already in Ubuntu 13.10).

Banshee has a lot more to offer! Check out the previous major release notes…

Dependencies

  • Mono 2.8.2 (.NET 2.0 Profile / gmcs)
  • SQlite 3.4
  • Gtk# 2.99.1
  • GStreamer 1.0.0
  • GStreamerSharp 0.99.0
  • GLib 2.22
  • dbus-sharp 0.7
  • dbus-sharp-glib 0.5
  • Mono.Addins (mono-addins) 0.6.2
  • TagLib# (taglib-sharp) >= 2.0.3.7
  • Required to build default feature stack:
    • libmtp >= 0.3.0
    • mono-zeroconf >= 0.8.0
    • webkit-1.0 >= 1.2.2
    • gdata-sharp-youtube >= 1.4
    • gio-sharp >= 2.99.1, gudev-sharp and gkeyfile-sharp
    • libgpod-sharp >= 0.7.95
    • Mono.Upnp >= 0.1
    • dbus-glib >= 0.80
  • Run-time requirements for default feature stack:
    • udev
    • media-player-info
    • Brasero >= 0.8.1
    • Avahi
    • gst-plugins-bad (providing the bpmdetect GStreamer plugin)

Community

Contributors For This Release

The following people directly contributed to the release of this version of Banshee. Without their help, there would be no release!

Andres G. Aragoneses, Andrey Gankov, Bertrand Lorentz, Chow Loong Jin, Dmitriy Petukhov, Frank Ziegler, Marcin Kolny, Michael Catanzaro, Michael Foster, Michał Sawicz, Mirco Bauer, Nicholas Little, Olivier Dufour, Phil Trimble, Roderich Schupp Sebastian Dröge, Stephan Sundermann.

The following people contributed updated translations to this release. Without them, our project’s reach would be much more limited.

Andika Triwidada, Antonio Fernandes C. Neto, Aurimas Černius, Benjamin Steinwender, Balázs Úr, Cheng-Chia Tseng, Daniel Mustieles, Dimitris Spingos, Enrico Nicoletto, Fran Diéguez, Jordi Mas, Marek Černocký, Martin Srebotnjak, Matej Urbančič, michaeljayt, Мирослав Николић, Piotr Drąg, Rafael Ferreira, Ricardo Barbosa, Seong-ho Cho, Tiago S.

Contributors In Past Releases

Aaron Bockover, Abner Silva, Adam Lofts, Age Bosma, Alan McGovern, Alban Crequy, Alberto Gonzalez, Alex Bennee, Alex Kloss, Alex Launi, Alex Mauer, Alex Willmy, Alex Willmy, Alexander Hixon, Alexander Kojevnikov, Alexandros Frantzis, Alp Toker, Anders Petersson, Andre Klapper, Andrea Cimitan, Andreas Neustifter, Andreas Nilsson, Andrew Conkling, Andrey Gankov, Andrés G. Aragoneses, Andrés G. Aragoneses, Andy Midgette, Andy Street, Aran Cox, Arthur Carli, Arun Raghavan, Aurélien Mino, Aydemir Ulaş Şahin, Ben Maurer, Benjamín Valero Espinosa, Bertrand Lorentz, Bill Dawson, Bob Copeland, Bojan Rajkovic, Brad Taylor, Brandon Perry, Brian Lucas, Brian Nickel, Brian Teague, Carlos Sanchez, Chase Geigle, Chow Loong Jin, Chris Howie, Chris Jones, Chris Lahey, Chris Toshok, Chris Turchin, Christian Hergert, Christian Krause, Christoph Burgdorf, Christopher James Halse Rogers, Claude Paroz, Cody Russell, Corec, Cosmin Banu, Dan Wilson, Dan Winship, Daniel Munkton, Daniel Siegel, David Nielsen, David Spreen, David Stone, Diego E. Pettenò, Diego Fernandez, Dinh Ngoc Tu, Dmitriy Petukhov, Dougal Stanton, Dustin C. Hatch, Eitan Isaacson, Elena Grassi, Eoin Hennessy, Eric Butler, Erik Schmidt, Fabian Jost, Fabrice Bellet, Felipe Almeida Lessa, Felipe Castillo, Fernando Casanova, Florent Thoumie, Frank Ziegler, Fredrik Hedberg, Félix Velasco, Gabriel Burt, Garrett LeSage, Ghislain Lacroix, Götz Waschk, Haitao Feng, Hajime Mizuno, Hans Oesterholt, Hans Petter Jansson, Harold Schreckengost, Iain Lane, Igor Guerrero Fonseca, Ilya Konstantinov, Ivan N. Zlatev, Jack Deslippe, Jakub Steiner, James Boocock, James Otting, James Willcox, Jan Arne Petersen, Jason Conti, Jason Taylor, Javon Harper, Jeff Tickle, Jeff Wheeler, Jensen Somers, Jeroen Budts, Jo Shields, Johannes Koch, Johannes Kuhn, John Millikin, Jonas Urth Olsen, Jordi Mas, Jorge Castro, Julien Moutte, Juri Pakaste, Ján Sokoly, Jérémie Laval, K. Vishnoo Charan Reddy, Ken Vandine, Kentaro KAZUHAMA, Kevin Anthony, Kevin Duffus, Koichi Akabe, Konstantin Oshiyko, Larry Ewing, Lauri Kotilainen, Lukas Lipka, Mackenan Grassi, Marcin Kolny, Marijn Ros, Mark Busby, Mark Saunders, Martin Pitt, Matt Enright, Matt Sturgeon, Michael Catanzaro, Michael Farrell, Michael Foster, Michael Kaiser, Michael Martin-Smucker, Michael Monreal, Michael Monreal, Michał Sawicz, Miguel de Icaza, Mike Gemünde, Mike Urbanski, Mirco Bauer, Moritz Schallaböck, Nathan Palmer, Neil Loknath, Nicholas Doyle, Nicholas Little, Nicholas Parker, Nicolò Chieffo, Nils Naumann, Nuno Araujo, Oben Sonne, Okano Takayoshi, Olivier Dufour, Oscar Forero, Pacho Ramos, Patrick van Staveren, Paul Cutler, Paul Lange, Pavel Antonov, Pavol Babincak, Pepijn van de Geer, Pete Johanson, Peter de Kraker, Phil Trimble, Pratik Patel, Przemysław Grzegorczyk, Raimo Radczewski, Rashid Khan, Robin Stocker, Roderich Schupp, Rodney Dawes, Romain Tartière, Ruben Vermeersch, Ryan Collier, Samuel Gyger, Sandy Armstrong, Scott Peterson, Sebastian Dröge, Shaun McCance, Sjoerd Simons, Stephan Sundermann, Tim Fisken, Tim Yamin, Timo Dörr, Timothy Arceri, Tobias Arrskog, Tobias Mueller, Todd Berman, Tomasz Maczynski, Travis Glenn Hansen, Travis Patterson, Travis Reitter, Trey Ethridge, Udesh Liyanaarachchi, Valentin Sawadski, Victor Vargas, Will Farrington, Will Thompson, William Friesen, William Pettersson, William Witt, Wouter Bolsterlee, Yuuto Tokunaga, Zhou Ting.

Reporting Bugs, Joining the Community

If you encounter any bad behavior with this release, please do not hesitate to file bugs!

We welcome new contributors - developers, translators, artists, writers, support gurus - to join our community. Join us!

Copyright 2014 Banshee contributors. Banshee is a registered trademark of Novell.