A new unstable release of photo manager Shotwell is now available.
Shotwell 0.27 introduces a small set of new features and improvements, as well fixes for a number of bugs.
Notably, Shotwell 0.27 no longer has F-Spot import support, a feature that the photo management and editing app added way back in 2010. The removal of this feature is of no great loss of course as the F-Spot app was last updated 6 years ago.
Shotwell replaced F-Spot in Ubuntu 10.10, fact fans.
This release also makes Tumblr upload support a part of the client’s core plugin set. This means Tumblr upload is now available by default alongside the Facebook, Flickr and other supported upload services when you click, you guessed it, the Publish button.
Colour transformations are now said to be a wee bit faster, there’s a new command-line utility to test image transformations, and the background colour you see when viewing .png files or small photos in a large window is now configurable.
If you like to use your keyboard to access options you can now press F2 to change photo title of a photo, and F3 to open up the comment box.
Shotwell 0.27 change-log in brief:
- Photo background is now configurable
- F-Spot import support removed
- Tumblr now part of the default plugin set
- Command-line utility to test image transformations
- Color transformations ‘sped up’
- Add –fullscreen/-f option for Shotwell photo viewer
- App now requires GTK 3.18+
- Bug fixes
- Code cleanups
You can see a full list of changes in the NEWS file on GNOME Git.
Upgrade to Shotwell 0.27 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and up
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and up ship with Shotwell 0.22 out of the box. If you fancy upgrading to the latest unstable snapshot you can do so by adding the official Shotwell Development PPA to your software sources:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yg-jensge/shotwell-unstable
Remember to back-up of your Shotwell library before upgrading, then run:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install shotwell
Given that Shotwell 0.27 has only just been released the PPA does not contain Shotwell 0.27 at the time of writing, but it will likely be added to this PPA in the next few days (it’s even name checked in the release announcement). Besides, there’s no harm in upgrading to Shotwell 0.26.x now while you wait.
Do these changes make Shotwell worthy of staying on as Ubuntu’s default photos app in Ubuntu 17.10, or would a switch to GNOME Photos be welcome? Let us know below, and by casting a vote in our GNOME apps poll.