Mir 1.8.0 Release

Mir
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Mir 1.8.0 Release

We are pleased to announce the release of Mir 1.8.0.

For Ubuntu, Mir is available from the Mir PPAs.

It is also available as a source tarball

Summary

This release we focused HiDPI support and portability.

HiDPI

For windows to appear the correct size on high resolution outputs, everything on screen needs to be scaled. For them to appear crisp Mir must request the app render their windows at a higher resolution. Mir has long had the infrastructure to support output scaling, and now we have implemented all the bits to make this work with Wayland clients. Fractional scaling and individual scales for each output are supported. There are still some rough edges and open bugs, but we think the current state is already useful.

Portability

Some disto-specific problems have cropped up in the last few months, and this release resolves a number of them. Specifically, it fixes problems with our startup and launcher logic on Fedora and Arch.

Changelog

ABI summary

  • mirplatform ABI bumped to 18

Enhancements

  • [Mir-on-X] Allow specifying scale for fake outputs
  • [MirAL] Implement a “no active window” state
  • [geometry] Allow division by a scaler
  • [Mir-on-X] Enable --display-config option
  • [Mir-on-X] Disable host X11 cursor on Mir window
  • [Mir-on-Wayland] Correct scaling on HiDPI
  • [mir-shell] Scale background correctly
  • [mesa-kms] Support scaled outputs
  • [Wayland] Support scaled clients
  • [graphics] Fix side-by-side display config for scaled outputs
  • [mir-shell] Support launching GNOME Terminal on all platforms
  • [Mir-on-Wayland] Only connect if wayland-host is configured

Bugs fixed

  • [mir-shell] First Ctrl-Alt-T for gnome-terminal takes ~30s (#1319)
  • [mir-shell] GTK apps make at-spi2-registr hog CPU (#1321)
  • [mir-shell] Hangs on exit when run with multiple X11 windows (#1327)
  • [X11] Cursor input sometimes “goes through” the top window (#1275)
  • [renderer] Flicker and crashes with multiple outputs (#1317, #1332)
  • [graphics] Crash when software cursor changed rapidy (#1347)
  • Fedora support (#1382, #1384)
  • [mirclient] Do not send events to windows after they are release
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One thing that didn’t get called out above is that the mir-demos package adds a new “Mir Shell” login to the greeter. (The same place you can choose between X or Wayland user sessons.) This isn’t intended as a GNOME or <insert your favorite desktop> replacement, but to demonstrate that Mir can be used in this way.

As part of the portability effort I’ve been using the new “Mir Shell” login on Fedora for a few days. Not a great user experience with lots of normal shell features missing, but works well enough for a demo. Almost everything needed for my usual workflow now works fine on Mir on Fedora. (The exception being I had to use epiphany instead of firefox.)

3 Likes
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I know I’m rather late to the game here, but an unlucky series of events made it so that I only was finally able to get Mir 1.8.0 out the door in Fedora this week.

It’s now available in Fedora 31 and up (including Rawhide).

2 Likes