Many developers probably use GTK+ today, without realizing it. The toolkit began as part of the GNU Image Manipulation Program, affectionately known as The GIMP. GTK+ also has a place in the Gnome desktop as its foundation.

The CGI Directory news site posted an announcement of the release of GTK+ 2.10.0, the latest stable version released by the organization. It is free software, and licensed under terms of the Lesser General Public License, making it a more reasonable prospect for graphical user interface developers working on proprietary software.

GTK-Perl information may be obtained online at Sourceforge. It is recommended that Perl users interested in the GTK+ bindings join the mailing list or the IRC channel to ask questions of the authors.

The GTK project suggests using the Glade interface builder along with GTK+ to speed up those GUI development efforts using Perl and the new toolkit. GTK’s authors have noted they built the toolkit from the ground up to work with languages like Perl and Python as well as the usual C/C++ suspects.

GTK+ 2.10.0 adds some new features along with improving some others. Printing support includes a portable high-level API, along with a lower-level Unix-specific one; GTK supports cups and lpr.

The toolkit can store and display list of recently used files, stored in the format explained in the Desktop Bookmarks specification. There is also drag-and-drop support between GTK notebooks; new widgets and cell renderers; updates to the text view and entry widgets; and other changes.

Due to its strength as a toolkit, and free availability under LGPL terms, the GTK+ team believes its software offers a solid options for UI developers.

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

By including search functionality in the Deskbar, users of the GNOME desktop’s latest release can search their computers or the Internet without having to switch to a browser or other application.

Said GNOME in its release notes: “New to GNOME is the Deskbar. Power users, keyboard enthusiasts and users of the old panel command line will find this replacement incredibly powerful and easy to use. Deskbar uses plugins (written in Python) to provide search functionality for programs, files, folders, bookmarks, contacts and much more. Deskbar can also use the live search functionality of Google Live, Yahoo and Beagle.”

Users can enter a term into a search box, then select from a panel of search options. Those options can trigger a desktop event, like a program launch, or be used to search online sources like Google, Yahoo, and Answers.com.

As newer versions of popular Linux distributions like Ubuntu, Debian, and others become available, GNOME 2.14 will be included as a desktop option.

The GNOME Foundation also noted in a statement how its desktop is in use in some of the biggest government deployments of Linux in the world, such as those in Extremadura, Spain, and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

With this release, the GNOME project has as of the current version a suite of administration tools available. It includes several tools to help administrators at enterprise-level businesses manage remote desktops, and improves access to PC lockdown tools.

The Pessulus lockdown editor puts a graphical interface on top of GNOME’s existing lockdown capabilities. Admins can prevent users from gaining command-line access to a machine, or keep them from shutting it down or rebooting.

Also, GNOME included the Sabayon profile editor. Admins can set up profiles and personalize them based on user roles in the business. Once created, the profiles can be deployed to machines destined for a user with a particular role.

Since the profiles are maintained centrally, admins can change them as needed in one place to affect all users of that profile.

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

In order to facilitate the open source movement’s growth, Google has launched the Summer of Code initiative, which aims to introduce open source development to coders and students. By using this program, Google is promising students they will return to school with open source development experience and some extra cash in their pockets.

A description provided by Google gives an indication of the program:

This Summer, don’t let your programming skills lie fallow…Use them for the greater good of Open Source Software and computer science! Google will provide a $4500 award to each student who successfully completes an open source project by the end of the Summer.

In order to assist coders who lack open source experience, Google is promising to team up novice coders with the following participating establishments:

The Python Software Foundation (ideas)
The Perl Foundation (submission guidelines & ideas)
The Apache Software Foundation
Ubuntu Linux (ideas)
The Mono Project (ideas)
The Gnome Foundation (ideas)
The Wine Project (ideas)
The Subversion Project (ideas)

As indicated by Google, those who complete an open source project will be rewarded $4500. The deadline to sign-up for the Summer of Code program is June 24. For more information, please read Google’s FAQ. If you are considering becoming a mentor, Google also has information to assist you: Mentoring Organization FAQ.

Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest search news.