GNOME 3.38 Beta, final release on September 16th

GNOME 3.38 is expected to be released within a month of writing this article, on September 16, 2020. GNOME 3.38 Beta marks the beginning of UI Freeze, Feature Freeze and API Freeze, which means that no new features will be added until at the final launch.

"This is the first beta version towards the final 3.38. It also marks the beginning of the UI, the API function and freezing (collectively known as The Freeze), said Abderrahim Kitouni on behalf of the GNOME launch team. If you want to test GNOME 3.38, this is the best time to start testing applications or extensions. ”

- GNOME 3.38 will add support for pre-authentication in VMware environments , provide better support for sandboxed applications with multiple .desktop files, and improve the size of the on-screen keyboard in portrait orientation for mobile devices such as running PinePhone postmarketOS.

- The new " Startup Options " option has been added to the " Restart " dialog ,

- The Epiphany web browser (GNOME Web) now supports self-hosted sync servers, GNOME Maps now offers improved navigation and an adaptive user interface for the sidebar, and the Nautilus file manager now works automatically with NTFS and exFAT files.

- GSettings-Desktop-Schemas activates USB protection by default.

The upcoming GNOME 3.38 desktop environment will see its next beta sometime later this month and a likely candidate in the first week of September.