Gajim 2.0 is here and it comes with a big upgrade 🎉 Gajim migrated its user interface toolkit to GTK 4, which brings performance improvements and sets the ground for great features to follow. Additionally, this release brings improved image previews, better tools for fighting spam, and much more. All of these changes were only possible by touching a lot of Gajim’s code base, and we appreciate all the feedback we got from you.

What’s New

Toolkit Upgrade

Switching Gajim’s major version from 1.x to 2.x is a step reserved for big changes. Upgrading from GTK 3 to GTK 4 is a great change, because it touches a big portion of Gajim’s code base. GTK is Gajim’s user interface toolkit. It provides building blocks, like windows, buttons and labels. Version 4 of this toolkit brings performance improvements to Gajim, e.g. faster rendering of user interface elements. Additionally, switching to GTK 4 allows Gajim to use newer widgets, like nice drop downs. Gajim 2.0 sets the ground for great features to follow.

A note for Windows users: At the time of writing, there are some issues with emoji rendering on Windows. That’s why there is no release of Gajim 2.0 for Windows yet. This issue should soon be resolved and we will post an update once Gajim 2.0 is released on Windows.

Contact List

Historically, Gajim used a “buddy list” (internally called “roster”) for displaying chat contacts. Group chats were displayed in that list as well, forming a large tree view. Gajim moved away from that concept with Gajim 1.4, because it did not offer what users expect from a modern chat app, and because its user experience wasn’t really great. However, a basic version of that “roster” view still remained on Gajim’s account page for contact management purposes. In Gajim 2.0, all contact management actions are bundled in a new “Manage Contact List” window. The old “Synchronize Accounts” window has been integrated there as well.

Spam Fighting Tools

With a growing community, the chance of witnessing spam increases. While the XMPP community develops measures to suppress spam effectively on the server level, clients can offer tools to assist moderators. Gajim now provides moderators with an improved voice request management and with an action to moderate all messages of a spammer at once.

Jingle File Transfer and Audio/Video Calls

Both Gajim’s Jingle File Transfer (direct peer-to-peer file transfers) and audio/video call implementations haven’t seen a maintainer for a long time. This lack of maintenance lead to what is called “bit-rot” in tech jargon, meaning these features stopped working properly over time. We decided to hide and disable both features until they have been reimplemented properly. File transfers via HTTP Upload (through your provider’s server) are of course still available.

More Changes

New

• Message composing: You can now compose messages while being offline
• Group chats: A ‘Direct Message’ menu item in the participants menu allows you to send messages directly
• Chat filters: Filter chats of your chat list or in “Start Chat” by account, chat type, or group
• Gajim features a new completion popover for inserting emojis (triggered by :emoji:) and mentioning group chat participants by their nickname (triggered by @nickname)

Changes

• Windows: On Windows, images are stored in the user’s Downloads folder to avoid issues with the MS Store release
• Chat history export: Gajim now allows exporting individual chat history directly via its chat menu
• Performance and styling of Gajim’s file preview has been improved thanks to @mesonium

Fixes

• Text wrapping issues in connection with some characters have been resolved
• Message input: Issues with the message input scrolling out of view while adding newlines have been resolved
• Passwords: Showing the password dialog for multiple accounts simultaneously has been fixed

And much more! Have a look at the changelog for a complete list.