Users of KDE Plasma 5.7 need to upgrade as soon as possible

Jul 12, 2016 15:26 GMT  ·  By

Today, July 12, 2016, the KDE project has announced the general availability of the first point release for the KDE Plasma 5.7 desktop environment, bringing multiple fixes and improvements.

The KDE Plasma 5.7 release is the most advanced version of the acclaimed desktop environment used by many GNU/Linux operating systems by default for their users, but this doesn't mean that it's perfect, and bug reports are submitted every single day.

Just yesterday, we talked about many KDE Plasma 5.7 users complaining about multi-screen support not working properly, and the first point release, KDE Plasma 5.7.1, is already here with many fixes and improvements for the most important components.

Looking at the changelog, we can notice better microphone increase and decrease volume actions, support for opening file and folders on the desktop using the right-click context menu, as well as several improvements to the new system tray area, such as scripting shell support.

Additionally, KDE Plasma 5.7.1 comes with a fix for KWin's shadow rendering calculations, adds DVI support for KScreen, and it looks like it fixes the window preview activation/close button for single-window tooltips on the Plasma desktop.

"Today KDE releases a bugfix update to KDE Plasma 5, versioned 5.7.1. Plasma 5.7 was released in July with many feature refinements and new modules to complete the desktop experience," reads today's announcement for KDE Plasma 5.7.1.

KDE Applications 16.04.3 coming later today

Also today, KDE should release the third and last maintenance update for the KDE Applications 16.04 software suite for the KDE Plasma 5 desktop, so we will have a separate announcement on the website when it's officially available.

On the other hand, the development cycle of the KDE Plasma 5.7 desktop environment will continue with a second point release, KDE Plasma 5.7.2, which should hit the streets next week, on Tuesday, July 19.

Then, the KDE Plasma 5.7.3, 5.7.4, and 5.7.5 maintenance updates will land on August 3, August 23, and September 27, respectively, hopefully fixing many of the issues reported by users. After that, KDE Plasma 5.8 LTS is coming October 18, 2016.

KDE Plasma 5.7.1 is available today for all GNU/Linux distributions, so we recommend that you monitor the main software repositories and update as soon as possible. Arch Linux users should be the first to get it later in the day.