I'm pleased to announce Browser Switchboard releases 3.3-1 (stable, for Diablo) and 3.3-1fremantle1 (beta, for Fremantle). Packages are now available in extras (for Diablo) or extras-testing (for Fremantle) and on the Garage download page.

Highlights of the changes since the 3.2 release:

• In the Control Panel applet, only offer browsers that are actually installed.
• Fall back to MicroB instead of silently failing if the configured default browser is not installed.
• [Fremantle] An overhaul of the MicroB launching process, which should greatly increase the robustness of Browser Switchboard with MicroB on Fremantle. When MicroB is selected as the default browser, the user experience should be identical to that when Browser Switchboard isn't installed; MicroB will still behave differently when another browser is selected as the default (see the known issues for details).
• Listen on the D-Bus system bus as well as the session bus, to accommodate applications (like some versions of Hermes and witter) which send link opening requests on the system bus. (Application developers: the system bus isn't for user programs, you should be using the session bus.)
• [Diablo] Continuous mode is now the default mode of operation.
• [Fremantle] Continuous mode is now forced on regardless of the setting of the config preference; this change is required to make sure applications can find us on the system bus.
• [Fremantle] Browser Switchboard is now started on startup; this change is required to make sure applications can find us on the system bus.
• [Fremantle] By default, MicroB is now prestarted on startup, and remains in memory even when no browser windows are open, if MicroB is the default browser. This behavior can be configured via a new autostart_microb preference.
• Update the package description to mention that there's a control panel applet in the package, to help out users who don't read documentation (and therefore won't find this thread). Thanks to Emanuele Cassioli for the suggestion.
• Rename the MicroB option in the control panel to "MicroB (stock browser)", as some have pointed out that the MicroB name isn't used anywhere and is therefore not familiar to many users. Better wording suggestions are welcome.
• Provide a command-line tool for configuring Browser Switchboard which can be used by browser developers to set their browser as the default. See the commit message for more information. This interface isn't set in stone, so if you have comments, please let me know.

There have been no changes since 3.3 beta 2.

For more information on the changes in this release, see the changelog for the release and for the packages (Diablo, Fremantle); for excruciating detail, see the revision history in Git.

Known issues:

• [Diablo] No "Loading" message (startup notification) is displayed when you open the MicroB menu entry.
• [Fremantle] When MicroB is not the default browser, opening the MicroB menu entry causes a blank window to load in MicroB instead of the bookmarks window to be displayed.
• [Fremantle] When MicroB is not the default browser, a bookmarks window will open in the background whenever MicroB is started, even when loading a URL.
• [Fremantle] When MicroB is not the default browser, Browser Switchboard kills MicroB after the last browser window closes, even if a bookmarks window is still open.

Fremantle users: This release has been pushed into Extras-testing. If you feel this package meets the extras-testing QA criteria (see the link), please vote for it in the extras-testing queue! (If you don't, please do let me know what needs improving, either on this thread or via email.)