Hello
This last few months we have published important new versions of Kiwix
Desktop (rich ZIM reader for Windows & GNU/Linux), Kiwix Tools (with
HTTP daemon Kiwix Serve) and the underlying Libkiwix (for all Kiwix ports).
This has been a really long time since we talked here about our Kiwix
flagship softwares. Actually, these releases are the result of almost 18
months of work. We are not proud to take so long to make new releases
but the resources are tight and major changes have been done which
needed a high level of coordination and a long standing effort.
We finally have released:
* Kiwix Desktop 2.1 & 2.2 (93 tickets closed)
* Kiwix Tools 3.2 (21 tickets closed)
* Libkiwix 10 (123 tickets closed)
In a Nutshell here are the main improvements:
* Support of new libzim7 API and ZIM format
* Numerous improvements and bug fixes around fulltext search and suggestions
* Major improvements in the library mgmt
* Many UI design improvements in Kiwix Desktop
* Few fixes around GNU/Linux appimage version of Kiwix Desktop
* Revamp the welcome page in Kiwix Serve and allow filtering
* Strong development of the OPDS API in Kiwix Serve
* Lots of smaller bug fixes and new features
* ... You can go to https://code.kiwix.org to get the complete
changelogs and for more details.
Go to https://kiwix.org to download latest versions of Kiwix!
In the next 18 months, more releases of these pieces will be done. 2020
and 2021 have been busy with core improvements and this is now over (at
least for a bit ;). We are quite happy with our low-level libraries. We
will - from now - focus more on the UX around books in Kiwix, in
particular around the local/online library (something we would already
have done in 2021 but we have been too short on time).
I want to emphasize that this part of our work would not be possible
without the strong commitment of the WMF. The WMF, with his financing,
secures a baseline maintenance of the core software pieces in openZIM
and Kiwix. For the rest, we rely on the time & talent of C++ volunteer
developers.
Happy WE!
Kelson
--
Kiwix - Wikipedia Offline & more
* Web: https://kiwix.org/
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/KiwixOffline
* Wiki: https://wiki.kiwix.org/
Hi
I remark that it seems it makes a year a half that we don't have post
posted here news about Kiwix JS. It is a pity, because this is one of
our most active code repository!
On the top of this, we just have released version 3.3.1 of all Web
Browser extensions (Firefox, Chrome & Edge) and Kiwix JS for Windows.
You can find the latest version of Kiwix JS Browser extensions:
* Chrome:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/kiwix/donaljnlmapmngakoipdmehbfci…
* Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/kiwix-offline/
* Edge:
https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/kiwix/jlepddlenlljlnnhjin…
Here are the recent changelogs:
Kiwix-JS v3.3.0
* FIX: Improve packaging for the Ubuntu Touch app
* FEATURE: Provided a workaround to enable Service Worker mode in
Firefox extensions (via a PWA)
* NEW: App now defaults to Service Worker mode if accessed directly as a
PWA (does not apply to browser extensions)
* NEW: Support for non-http URLs in img and link tags (e.g. data:
javascript:) in JQuery mode
* NEW: Added helpful tooltips to icons and settings in the app
* FIX: Scrolling to anchor targets in JQuery mode
* FIX: Caching of ZIM assets now includes any required query string in
SW mode
* FIX: Any favicon declared by the ZIM is now extracted and attached in
JQuery mode
* BUGFIX: Incorrect processing of titles with question marks or hashes
prevented display of some articles
Kiwix-JS v3.2.0
* NEW: Support latest format of ZIM archives (with no namespace)
* NEW: Optimization of title search by eliminating redundancies
* NEW: Support new format of title listings (v1) in no-namespace ZIM
archives
* NEW: Use fast binary WASM decoders with fallback to ASM if necessary
* UPDATE: Clearer and more extensive documentation for end users in About
* BUGFIX: Issue with calculation for selection of random articles
Kiwix-JS v3.1.0
* NEW: Low-level block cache significantly improves binary search speed,
and can speed up resource loading in most browsers
* NEW: Archives with WebP-encoded images are now decoded in legacy
browsers via a polyfill
* UPDATE: Images are now extracted sequentially in jQuery mode from the
top of the DOM
* BUGFIX: Running binary searches are now cancelled completely if user
enters new search term or navigates away
The full Changelog can be found here:
https://github.com/kiwix/kiwix-js/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md
We have already started to release ZIM files "without namesapces" and
this version 3.2.0+ is mandatory if you want to enjoy them with Kiwix JS.
All our Windows apps based on Kiwix JS have been updated in Microsoft
App Store too. You can enjoy our apps on all Windows
based devices (mobiles, tablets, PC, Xbox, ...):
* Wikivoyage:
https://www.microsoft.com/fr-ch/p/wikivoyage-by-kiwix/9n5sb90q4jbj
* Wikimed: https://www.microsoft.com/fr-ch/p/wikimed/9phjsnp1cz8j
* Kiwix: https://www.microsoft.com/fr-ch/p/kiwix-js/9p8slz4j979j
Please report any problem. Work continues on our forge at
https://github.com/kiwix/kiwix-js and
https://github.com/kiwix/kiwix-js-windows.
Regards
Emmanuel
--
Kiwix - Wikipedia Offline & more
* Web: http://www.kiwix.org
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/KiwixOffline
* more: http://www.kiwix.org/wiki/Communication
Dear WOW, there is an ongoing discussion on Meta about how affiliates
should participate in board elections.
---------- Forwarded message ---------
Please follow this link to make proposals and discuss these questions
<https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_of_Trustees/Ca…>
:
1. How can we ensure diverse representation among elected candidates?
The Board of Trustees noted the importance of selecting candidates who
represent the full diversity of the Wikimedia movement.
2. What are the expectations for the candidates during the elections?
Board candidates have traditionally completed applications and answered
community questions. How else might we get insight into candidates?
3. How should affiliates participate in the elections?
Two seats of the Board of Trustees due to be filled this year were last
filled in 2019 through the Affiliate-selected Board seats process. A change
in the Bylaws removed the distinction between community and affiliate seats
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bylaws&type=revision&dif…>.
How should affiliates be involved in the selection of new seats?
The Board is seeking feedback about this last question especially from the
affiliate community. Everyone is invited to share proposals and join the
conversation.
Hi,
We have released the first minor release of libzim7 branch: libzim 7.1.0.
Nothing really big, here is the changelog:
* Fix dirent test on 32 bits architectures (@mgautierfr #632)
* Fix compilation on Alpine - with musl (@amirouche #649)
* Don't crash if ZIM without illustration nor X/W namespace
(@mgautierfr #641)
* Switch default suggestion operator to AND (@maneeshpm #644)
* Add a new method Archive::getMetadataItem (@mgautierfr #639)
* Better indexion criterias (@mgautierfr #642)
* Avoid duplicated archives in the searcher (@veloman-yunkan #648)
* Fix random entry (@veloman-yunkan #650)
* Various improvements.
- CI @mgautierfr #640, @kelson42 #638, @legoktm #654
- Doc @rgaudin #646
A new Python-libzim using it will be released soon and we are still
working on the libzim7 Node.js binding.
A small minor release 7.2.0 is already in the pipe and should be
released next week.
More info at: https://github.com/openzim/libzim
For the Kiwix team
Kelson
--
Kiwix - Wikipedia Offline & more
* Web: https://kiwix.org/
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/KiwixOffline
* Wiki: https://wiki.kiwix.org/
Hi,
After announcing the libzim7 release a month ago, we are proud to
release the version 3.0.0 of the Zim-tools. The Zim-tools is the
swiss-knife for manipulating ZIM files.
Actually this release has been made available already a few weeks ago
and here again this is major release. It makes almost a year we have
been working on this new release which mainly brings support of libzim7
and major improvements to the zimcheck tool.
Here is the complete changelog:
* zimwriterfs: Do not allow zimwriterfs to overwrite a existing zim
file (@asashnov #193)
* zimcheck: Make zimcheck print json output with option `--json`
(@veloman-yunkan #206)
* zimcheck: Make zimcheck multithreaded (@veloman-yunkan #194)
* zimcheck: Add an option to check for redirection loops (@shashwat1002
#218)
* zimrecreate: Add an option `-j` to not create fulltext index
(@data-man #234)
* zimrecreate: Add option `-J` (--threads) to set the number of threads
to use (@data-man #235)
* remove zstd compression options. We are now always creating zim file
with zstd (@kelson42 #261, 264)
* zimwriterfs: Do not use the extension of file as mimetype (@mgautier
#265)
* zimcheck: Improve performance of detection of the kind of url
(@veloman-yunkan #179)
* Support new protocols xmpp, news and urn (@kelson42 #205)
* zimdump: zimdump now print the favicon and mainentry path instead of
the index (@kelson42 #220)
* zimdump: Add a option to create html redirect insteal of symlink
* zimdump: Fix issue where zimdump crash depending of the stored path
of redirection (@maneesh #211)
* zimdump: Fix argument --ns not working (@maneesh #216)
* Add zimcheck unit tests (@veloman-yunkan #215)
* zimdump: Fix http redirect (@veloman-yunkan #225)
* Adapt zim tools to new libzim api (@mgautier @veloman-yunkan @maneesh)
* Compile zimsearch binary only if libzim is compiled with xapian
(@mgautier, #201)
* Docker : Better open zimtools image (@rgaudin #209)
This new release is an important milestone in our global QA effort
around ZIM files. Latest Zimcheck has been already integrated in our
Zimfarm and its new machine readable output can now be checked in our
(currently being build) CMS.
From a more general point of view, improving the Zim-tools is essential
to allow hackers to easily deal with the ZIM files and maybe even
produce their own. More infos at https://github.com/openzim/zim-tools.
Happy coding!
Kelson
--
Kiwix - Wikipedia Offline & more
* Web: https://kiwix.org/
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/KiwixOffline
* Wiki: https://wiki.kiwix.org/
Dear offline community,
We've been remiss in keeping the Wikipedia 1.0 Editorial Team page (WP1) up to date on the English Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Version_1.0_Editorial_Team
This is not too surprising, because most of the work nowadays is done in Github or at Kiwix, and WP1 is much more automated. But this rather small group is still the one that coordinates all the collation of assessment data on the English Wikipedia, and writing the new bot over the last couple of years has involved writing 15,000 lines of new code (by people much smarter than me).
There is now a vote to delete or make the main WP1 page "historical":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Miscellany_for_deletion/Wikipedia_1…
Please feel free to share your opinions there.
Thanks,
[[User:Walkerma]]
Prof. Martin A. Walker
Chair, Dept. of Chemistry
SUNY Potsdam
Potsdam, NY 13676 USA
+1 315 2672271
walkerma(a)potsdam.edu
ORCID: 0000-0001-9202-0356
Hi,
After announcing the libzim7 release a few days ago, we are proud to
release the version 1.0.0 of Python-libzim. Python-libzim is our Python
binding for the libzim and the version 1.0.0 supports fully the libzim7.
Here is the complete changelog:
* [breaking] Uses new libzim 7-based API for both reader and writer
* No more namespaces
* Defaulting to zstd compression
* Python 3.9 support
* Uses libzim's own test ZIM files to test reader
* Code-coverage now includes Cython code as well
* macOS releases are signed and notarized
* Early-failure on invalid destination ZIM path
The Python-libzim is a pretty recent software library which has been
launched in 2020 and allows easily any (Linux/macOS) Python developer to
read and write ZIM files. You can easily install it with "pip", more
details at: https://pypi.org/project/libzim/
Almost all our openZIM scrapers (but not the Mediawiki one) are written
in Python and many of them rely already on the Python-libzim. If you are
a Python expert or beginner, your help is welcome to improve it... or
relying scrapers. Here is where to start:
https://github.com/openzim/python-libzim.
Happy coding!
Kelson
--
Kiwix - Wikipedia Offline & more
* Web: https://kiwix.org/
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/KiwixOffline
* Wiki: https://wiki.kiwix.org/