Hi everyone.
DDRescue-GUI 2.0.0 has been released!
This is a really big new version, with lots of improvements, bug fixes, and a few new security features. This is probably the biggest update I have ever released for DDRescue-GUI, so there’s plenty to be excited about 🙂
Where can I download DDRescue-GUI?
You can download it by using the bar at the top of this page (Downloads -> DDRescue-GUI), or from launchpad.net. I recommend you update your existing systems for this new release, because I think you’ll like it a lot. See below for screenshots and the changes.
Major Changes
There are a lot of changes, so I’ve split them into sections. Here are the most important changes:
Python 3 and wxPython 4 support!
This is perhaps the biggest change. I’ve wanted to support Python 3 for ages. In fact, pretty much since I started writing DDRescue-GUI back in 2013. There was a problem though, which is that the GUI toolkit I use, wxPython, hasn’t supported Python 3 until January this year (2018), which was a huge problem for me. They had betas out, and I tried to package them for my PPA, but I had little to no success, so I just had to wait. So now, finally, there is Python 3 and wxPython 4 support for all supported platforms:
- All supported versions of Fedora (27 and higher).
- Ubuntu 18.04 and higher.
- macOS (all supported versions).
Yep, the macOS version comes with Python 3, which is awesome, and fixes a fair few UI bugs.
Using the GetDevInfo module.
I released this new module earlier this year, and it is now used by the program instead of having it bundled in a folder like before. This is good because I can fix bugs in GetDevInfo without making a new release for each of my programs that depends on it 🙂
Screenshots
Here are some screenshots on both Linux and macOS.
DDRescue-GUI 2.0.0’s Main Window (Linux)
DDRescue-GUI 2.0.0’s Settings Window (macOS)
DDRescue-GUI 2.0.0’s Disk Info Window (Linux)
DDRescue-GUI 2.0.0 In Action (macOS)
New Features and improvements
This isn’t a complete list; there are a lot of changes in this release:
- Better UI integration on macOS, thanks to wxPython 4.
- A check for updates feature (unobtrusive).
- I’ve made an effort to make this non-annoying, because lots of these types of things get in the way of using the UI.
- This is primarily here so I can make people aware of any security fixes or major new versions.
- Runs as normal user on macOS and Linux now for better security, only escalating privileges when needed.
- This uses policy kit on Linux, which integrates well, and means the GUI works better on Wayland.
- This greatly improves startup time and security on macOS.
- Use of terminal notifier on macOS for native notifications!
- Various fixes for the output file mounter – faster and more reliable on all platforms.
- General improvements to security on both platforms.
- General improvements to the UI clarity on both platforms.
- There’s a link to the user guide in the menu now.
- Changes to some terminology used.
- Improved user guide with clearer font sizing and icons.
- Developer documentation (incomplete, but will get there over time).
So, while that’s the end of this post, I have quite a few more in the works, so stay tuned.
Hamish
