OpenXplorer 2.0.5

What's Changed

• fix(ci): stop waiting 10 s on zombie processes after each test binary by @AKolenda in #90
• feat(drag): move a plain drag within a drive and copy it across drives by @addition-official in #91
• feat(properties): show Size on disk like Windows Explorer by @addition-official in #93
• feat(rename): ask before a rename changes a file's extension by @addition-official in #94
• feat(integration): let Super+E open OpenXplorer on KDE Plasma by @addition-official in #95
• feat(files): make a new folder at once and rename it in place, as Windows does by @addition-official in #100
• fix(menus): disable New and Paste in a folder you cannot write to by @addition-official in #101
• fix(views): make Apply to all folders apply the choices in the dialog by @addition-official in #103
• fix(notifications): make Show after a delete open the Recycle Bin by @addition-official in #102
• chore(deps): bump next from 16.3.8 to 16.4.0 by @dependabot[bot] in #96
• chore(deps-dev): bump wrangler from 4.147.0 to 4.148.0 by @dependabot[bot] in #97
• feat(files): name copies like Windows Explorer ("name - Copy", "name - Copy (2)") by @addition-official in #92
• fix(views): let Apply to all and Reset cover Downloads' Group by by @addition-official in #104
• fix(views): let an empty folder take right-click, paste and drops by @addition-official in #98
• feat(views): show an empty folder as Windows Explorer does by @addition-official in #99

Packages

Download them from the assets below.

Package	For
openxplorer_2.0.5_all.deb	Zorin OS 18, Ubuntu 24.04 and newer, Debian 13 (OpenXplorer 1.1.x offers it in Check for updates)
openxplorer-2.0.5-1.fc*.x86_64.rpm	Fedora
openxplorer-2.0.5-1.opensuse_tumbleweed.x86_64.rpm	openSUSE Tumbleweed
openxplorer-2.0.5-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst	Arch Linux
io.winspace.Development.flatpak	Any distribution with Flatpak
openxplorer-2.0.5-source.zip	Corresponding source (AGPL-3.0-only)
SHA256SUMS	Checksums of every file above

Full Changelog: v2.0.4...v2.0.5

OpenXplorer 2.0.4

What's Changed

• ci(repo): Require Conventional Commits pull request titles by @AKolenda in #78
• fix(dialogs): keep shares from blocking, say why Save can't save, filter both panes, guard Close by @addition-official in #73
• chore(deps-dev): bump wrangler from 4.145.0 to 4.147.0 by @dependabot[bot] in #79
• ci(repo): Require a Model line in PRs and protect the release runner and Cloudflare token by @AKolenda in #83
• ci(release): Retry failed release and deploy jobs on main by @AKolenda in #84
• fix(views): keep a folder's expand arrow inside its row's highlight by @addition-official in #86
• fix(views): show item check boxes as Windows 11 does by @addition-official in #85
• feat(settings): lay out the Settings page anew by @addition-official in #82
• fix(security): run a dropped-on file only when it really is a program by @addition-official in #89 (GHSA-9x68-px3w-xgg8)

Packages

Download them from the assets below.

Package	For
openxplorer_2.0.4_all.deb	Zorin OS 18, Ubuntu 24.04 and newer, Debian 13 (OpenXplorer 1.1.x offers it in Check for updates)
openxplorer-2.0.4-1.fc*.x86_64.rpm	Fedora
openxplorer-2.0.4-1.opensuse_tumbleweed.x86_64.rpm	openSUSE Tumbleweed
openxplorer-2.0.4-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst	Arch Linux
io.winspace.Development.flatpak	Any distribution with Flatpak
openxplorer-2.0.4-source.zip	Corresponding source (AGPL-3.0-only)
SHA256SUMS	Checksums of every file above

Full Changelog: v2.0.3...v2.0.4

OpenXplorer 2.0.3

2.0.3 — 2026-10-06

Windows Explorer's Group by, safer copies and archives, drives that are
read-only or gone, and Open and Save dialogs that no longer freeze or get
stuck.

• Group by, as in Windows Explorer: Sort > Group by groups a folder apart
  from its sort, so a folder grouped by date modified can be sorted by name
  within each group. The choices are Name (A - H, I - P, Q - Z), Date
  modified (Today, Yesterday, ... A long time ago), Type, Size, Date
  created, Same as sort (the former Show in groups) and (None). Downloads
  is grouped by date modified until another choice is made there. The Sort
  menu now matches Explorer's: Name, Date modified and Type, with Size and
  the further keys under More. The first group's heading is no longer
  hidden when a grouped folder opens.
• No more crash when Details columns change while groups are shown, such as
  going Back from the Recycle Bin to Downloads grouped by date.
• Group headings keep their counts right ("Today (3)") as files are added
  or removed, and date groups move on at midnight: today's files become
  Yesterday's without opening the folder again.
• Turning groups off in a long Details list no longer crashes with GTK 4.22
  ("gtk_list_item_manager_ensure_items"), so (None) is saved and the groups
  go away. The headings now come off before the list changes and go back on
  after, whenever the grouping changes.
• Choosing an item in a side menu, such as Sort > Group by > Date
  modified, closes every menu, and a click anywhere in the window closes
  any menu still open. On KDE Plasma the Sort menu could stay on screen
  until a window of another app was clicked.
• An Open or Save dialog can no longer get stuck with Save, Cancel and
  Escape doing nothing:
  • "Replace it?" is asked inside the dialog, not in a window of its own
    that could open out of sight and take every click and key.
  • The dialog answers only once its window really closes. A window that
    refused to close (an update installing, files being written in it)
    used to keep a dead dialog after answering; now it says why and the
    dialog stays usable.
  • No tab can be moved into a dialog, which made closing it ask about
    tabs.
  • Escape cancels with Caps Lock or Num Lock on.
  • Opening a window no longer waits for the Recycle Bin's watch, which
    could hold the whole app, an open dialog included, while a network
    share or drive stopped answering.
• An Open or Save dialog opened by another application now belongs to that
  application's window on Wayland, as Windows' dialog and KDE's own do: it
  stays above the window, and the window cannot be used until the dialog
  is answered or cancelled. The other OpenXplorer windows stay usable. This
  needs a compositor with xdg-foreign and xdg-dialog (KDE Plasma 6.1 or
  newer) and GTK 4.22 or newer; under X11 the dialog is a window of its
  own, as before.
• A drive Linux mounted read-only, such as the Windows drive of a
  dual-boot computer while Windows is hibernated or used Fast startup,
  is noticed: New, Paste, Cut, Rename, Duplicate and Delete are turned
  off there and say why, Copy still works, and the status bar shows
  "Read-only drive" with what to do (shut Windows down fully, then mount
  the drive again). A write that still fails there says the drive is
  read-only instead of the bare "Read-only file system".
• Copying to a Windows drive (NTFS), or to a FAT or exFAT stick, no
  longer creates names Windows cannot use. A device name such as CON,
  PRN, AUX, NUL, COM1 or LPT1 (also with an extension, like nul.txt)
  and a name ending in a dot or a space are asked about like names with
  forbidden characters: Rename gives the item a name Windows opens
  (_nul.txt, notes_), Skip leaves it out, and "Do this for all such
  items" covers the rest of the copy.
• A tab showing a USB drive that was unplugged, or a share or disk that
  was unmounted by another program, no longer keeps showing the old
  files. Every tab and split pane on it drops them and says "This
  location is unavailable: the drive or network share that holds this
  folder was disconnected", with Try again, which lists the folder once
  the drive or share is back.
• The Checksums tab no longer hangs on a named pipe (FIFO): a pipe, a
  device or a socket is refused at once with a message, since it has no
  contents to sum and reading a pipe waits forever for a writer, which
  Cancel could not stop. Closing a window now also stops its folder-size
  scan and the work of its Properties dialogs, which kept running.
• Copying or moving a folder no longer fails as a whole when one file
  inside it cannot be read (a locked or protected file, a socket, a pipe
  or another special file). As in Windows Explorer, OpenXplorer asks about
  that file by its path inside the folder: Retry copies only it again,
  Skip or Skip all leave only it out, and the rest of the folder is
  copied. The files left out are listed at the end, and a move keeps them,
  with their folders, where they were.
• Copying files out of a ZIP opened like a folder no longer fails because
  of one bad item elsewhere in the ZIP, such as a symbolic link: only the
  items you copy are checked. A link or special file inside a copied
  folder, which the folder view hides, is left out, and the message says
  so. Extract all still refuses a ZIP with such items.
• TAR archives get the ZIP safety limits they were missing. A compressed
  TAR that unpacks to over 1,000 times its size (a "TAR bomb") is refused
  before anything is extracted, as such a ZIP is: each file counts its
  share of the archive's compressed size. A crafted size near the largest
  number a header can hold is a damaged archive instead of a crash in
  debug builds. And a TAR's file names are kept only up to 32 MiB, as for
  a ZIP's directory, so a 1.3 MB archive of long names no longer takes
  2.4 GB of memory to list; it says its names are too long instead.
• A file list at its top stays at its top when files come before the one
  at the top edge, in every view: in an Open or Save dialog switching
  from one file type to more (*.svg, then All files) no longer scrolls
  the list down past its first files. GTK kept the row that was at the
  top edge there. A position restored by Back or a tab switch, a file the
  window scrolls to and a list scrolled down by hand are left alone.
• Folder views, as in Windows' Folder Options: the view display style
  dialog (View > Adjust view display style…) has "Apply to all folders",
  which makes every folder show the current folder's view and forget its
  own, and "Reset folders", which makes every folder forget its view and
  show the default one. Both ask first, and every open window follows at
  once.
• Open and Save dialogs no longer freeze the app when their folder is on a
  network share that stopped answering. The dialog checks the caller's
  folder, typed names and files it would replace off the main thread and
  waits at most three seconds: a folder that does not answer opens the
  dialog in the home folder, and Save or Open says the share is not
  answering. A file opened from such a share is sent as read-only.
• The right-click menu of a This PC or Network card no longer crashes the
  app when the page is drawn again while it is open (a drive or share
  connecting, a server being found, or the menu's own Remove or Sign out).
• Deleting permanently (Shift+Delete, or Delete where there is no Recycle
  Bin) never goes into another drive. A folder where a drive, share or bind
  mount is mounted is refused with "… is where a drive or share is mounted",
  and a folder with one mounted inside it is refused before anything is
  deleted, naming the mount. Before, the deletion went into the mounted
  drive, deleted its files and only failed at the end with "Device busy".
• Settings' small grey text is no longer cut off at the top or bottom
  (#34). With GTK 4.22's Vulkan and NGL renderers, Segoe UI drawn at a
  fractional size such as 12.5 pixels could lose the tops or bottoms of
  its letters. Settings' descriptions and notes are now 12 pixels and its
  titles 14, and every font size is rounded to a whole pixel at every text
  size.

OpenXplorer 2.0.2

2.0.2 — 2026-10-04

More of Windows 11 File Explorer's behaviour: ZIPs, the Open and Save
dialogs, Delete, Compact view and the navigation pane.

• Extract all works like Windows Explorer's: it appears in the command bar
  while a ZIP is selected, and its dialog is as short as Explorer's, with
  one field, "Files will be extracted to this folder", filled in with the
  ZIP's folder and name, and Browse…. A missing folder is created; an
  existing one (such as Downloads) receives the files directly, asking
  before any file is replaced; a ZIP holding one folder of the same name is
  no longer nested (tidewater/tidewater). The counts, notes and Open in
  archive manager are behind the (i) button; a password-protected ZIP says
  so straight away and offers the archive manager, which no longer reopens
  the archive in OpenXplorer when OpenXplorer is the default for ZIPs.
• ZIPs can open like folders, as in Windows Explorer: Settings > Windows &
  tabs > Open ZIP files > Like a folder (Windows). The ZIP opens in the tab,
  with the address bar, crumbs, Back and Up working through it, Extract all
  in the bar, and Copy, Paste and dragging items out (as real copies). It
  stays read-only. The default, In a pop-up window, keeps today's window.
• Copies made from inside a ZIP are cleaned up: a file opened from a ZIP no
  longer leaves its copy in memory until logout (it is removed ten minutes
  after it was opened), and items copied or dragged out are removed after a
  day, when OpenXplorer starts or copies again.
• Open and Save dialogs behave more like Windows':
  • Escape closes the dialog while a file is selected in the list,
    instead of only clearing the selection.
  • The keyboard starts in File name with the name selected (without its
    extension), so typing replaces it instead of jumping through the
    file list.
  • Open dialogs have a File name box too; File name takes a path from the
    folder shown, ~/... or a full path, and a folder typed there opens.
  • Save adds the chosen type's extension to a name without one, Chrome's
    types included; a name that ends in a dot is saved without one.
  • A file typed in the address bar is chosen instead of being opened in
    another application; in a Save dialog, that file or one double-clicked
    is replaced after asking.
  • Alt+Left, Alt+Right and Alt+Up work from the File name box.
  • Ctrl+Q cancels the dialog instead of closing every window. Ctrl+N,
    Open file location in new tab or new window, and Split view open
    nothing from it.
  • A dialog for one file keeps one item selected.
  • Several files selected in an Open dialog for several are all chosen:
    File name lists them in quotes ("a.txt" "b.txt"), and a quoted list
    typed there opens every file in it.
• Holding Shift while clicking Delete, in the command bar, the right-click
  menu or the folder tree's menu, deletes permanently after asking, as in
  Windows Explorer. Before, only the Shift+Delete key did.
• The note at the bottom of the Details pane ("Select an item to see its
  properties…") uses the pane's whole width instead of a narrow column.
• Compact view, as in Windows 11: View > Compact view, and the same switch
  in Settings > Appearance > Files and folders, draws the Details rows and
  the navigation pane's rows closer together, so more items fit. Off by
  default. (Not the List layout, which Dolphin calls "Compact".)
• The arrows beside This PC and Network in the sidebar now collapse and
  expand those sections, as in Windows, with their own highlight; Left
  and Right on the section's row do the same from the keyboard. Clicking
  the name still opens the place. While the open place is inside a
  collapsed section, the section's row is highlighted.
• Settings > Appearance > Layout > "Hide expand arrows", as in Windows:
  the navigation pane's arrows (This PC, Network and the folder tree)
  show only while the pointer is over the pane or keyboard focus is in
  it. The arrows show by default. The file list's folder arrows stay
  with Settings > Appearance > Files and folders > "Expandable folders".

OpenXplorer 2.0.1

2.0.1 — 2026-10-02

Most of the gaps left by 2.0.0 are closed: 635 of the tracked behaviours of
Dolphin, Windows 11 File Explorer and the 1.x app are now native. The 67 still
open are listed in native/BACKLOG.md.

• Views: a Compact view, Dolphin's per-folder view properties ("Remember
  display style for each folder"), Show in groups (headed groups in Details),
  more sort keys, configurable columns, zoom with Ctrl+wheel and thumbnail
  previews from the desktop's thumbnail cache.
• Split panes (F3), each with its own tabs, history and selection, and a
  folder tree that expands folders in place in Details.
• Sessions: with Settings > Windows & tabs > "Restore previous tabs at
  startup" on, the tabs, split panes and histories come back at the next
  start.
• Tabs: tab numbers, Close other tabs, reopen closed tabs
  (Ctrl+Shift+T), open several folders in tabs, and closing or quitting is
  guarded while files are written.
• File operations: Undo and Redo for copy, move, rename, new items,
  duplicates, links and Recycle Bin; batch rename; New link; a richer name
  conflict dialog; per-file progress; independent transfer jobs with speed,
  remaining time and their own Cancel; a report of what an interrupted copy
  left behind.
• Navigation and commands: breadcrumb subfolder menus, Back/Forward
  history menus, typed-address history and completion, Recent locations,
  template menus for New, offline help and a shortcuts list, opt-in service
  actions and Open as administrator (asks first, through GVfs and polkit).
• Network: SFTP, FTP, WebDAV and NFS besides SMB, with servers found on
  the network; Disconnect for remote mounts; the Sharing tab in Properties.
• Search: file contents, wildcards, live search of folders without an
  index, saved searches, and Kind and Date filters.
• Selection and keyboard: rubber-band selection, type-ahead, F6/F8 focus
  cycling and screen-reader names and announcements.
• Look: accent colours from Zorin and the desktop portal, desktop text
  scaling, emblems.
• Optional: other applications' Open and Save dialogs in OpenXplorer.
  Settings > Default apps > "Apps' Open and Save dialogs" > Enable makes
  applications that use the desktop portal (Chrome, Firefox, Flatpak apps)
  choose and save files in an OpenXplorer window. It is off until enabled,
  keeps every other portal backend, and Restore Open and Save dialogs undoes
  it. The Flatpak cannot offer it. On KDE Plasma, Enable also adds a login
  script, ~/.config/plasma-workspace/env/openxplorer-file-dialogs.sh, that
  sets PLASMA_INTEGRATION_USE_PORTAL=1, so KDE's own apps (Plasma and its
  widgets, Kate, System Settings) follow from the next login; Restore
  removes it, and a file of the user's with that name is left alone.
• Flatpak: Show in folder works inside the sandbox and the System theme
  follows a dark desktop.
• Translations: the interface uses message catalogues; no reviewed
  language ships yet.
• The Python app of 1.x is no longer in the source tree; its last release is
  1.1.4 and its final sources are desktop/ at tag v2.0.0.

Known gaps

The open items, the owner decisions still pending and the hardware acceptance
still owed (SMB servers other than the maintainer's, phones, USB drives,
Orca, mixed-DPI Wayland) are listed in native/BACKLOG.md.

Rollback: sudo apt install --allow-downgrades ./openxplorer_2.0.0_all.deb
returns to 2.0.0; settings and saved passwords are shared.

OpenXplorer 2.0.0

2.0.0 — 2026-09-28

OpenXplorer is now a native GTK 4 application written in Rust. It replaces the
Python/WebKitGTK app of 1.x under the same name, command, application ID
(io.winspace.Development), settings, pins, search cache and saved SMB
passwords. OpenXplorer 1.1.x offers it in Check for updates.

• The same Windows 11 File Explorer look, now drawn with native GTK 4 widgets
  instead of a web view.
• Microsoft Fluent icons for folders, files, drives and commands.
• A categorised Settings page: a category list on the left, one category at
  a time on the right.
• Undo and redo (Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+Shift+Z) for copy, move, rename, new files and
  folders, and Move to Recycle Bin.
• Drop files onto a program or script to run it with those files.
• Tear a tab out into a new window, or drag it onto another window to merge
  it.
• Pinned folders are indexed for search by default.
• Packages for more distributions: the .deb for Zorin OS 18, Ubuntu 24.04
  and newer and Debian 13; RPMs for Fedora and openSUSE and a package for Arch
  Linux where the release lists them; and a Flatpak bundle for every
  distribution with Flatpak, including those whose GTK is older than 4.14.
• The Python app in desktop/ is deprecated and no longer shipped.

Known gaps

• The Location tab of a known folder's Properties (moving Documents,
  Downloads and the other user folders) is a placeholder.
• The mount assistant's Location section (choosing where a persistent
  share is mounted) is not available yet.
• A few network protocols that Dolphin offers beyond SMB are not supported.
• Not yet in the native app: searching within Settings, dropping onto
  .desktop launchers, creating links and batch rename.
• Behaviour that is implemented but not yet covered by an automated native
  test, and the hardware acceptance still owed (SMB servers other than the
  maintainer's, phones, USB drives), are listed in
  native/BACKLOG.md.
• Inside the Flatpak, "Show in folder" cannot be turned on, the System theme
  stays light on a dark desktop, and settings are kept apart from a
  distribution package's (native/packaging/README.md, "Differences inside the
  Flatpak").

Rollback: sudo apt install --allow-downgrades ./openxplorer_1.1.4_all.deb
restores the Python app; settings and saved passwords are shared.

Earlier releases: desktop/CHANGELOG.md.

OpenXplorer 1.1.4

1.1.4 — 2026-09-26

• Accept stable releases published from the openxplorer GitHub organization as
  well as the current repository, so in-app updates keep working after the
  repository moves. Installer name, download URL, size and SHA-256 checks are
  unchanged, and the release link follows the repository that published it.

OpenXplorer 1.1.3

1.1.3 — 2026-09-21

• Fix dragging files whose GIO addresses contain parentheses or other unescaped
  punctuation. Preserve file-list identities during the drag handshake while
  validating and canonicalizing the addresses exported to other applications.
• Simplify Software updates to installed/available versions, update status and
  actions; remove release notes and introductory installation instructions.

OpenXplorer 1.1.2

Check for updates is now a compact icon at the bottom right, immediately beside the view controls. The native status bar no longer shows the green stable-release indicator. Version information remains in About and the updater.

On 1.1.0 or 1.1.1, choose Check for updates in the sidebar, install this release, then restart. After updating, use the new bottom-right icon.

The Debian installer, corresponding source and SHA256SUMS are attached.

OpenXplorer 1.1.1

OpenXplorer now draws a native, theme-matched file-manager skeleton as soon as its window appears. The sidebar, navigation, toolbar and file-area placeholders replace the centered “Starting OpenXplorer…” message and spinner, then yield to the ready interface. Startup recovery still offers Retry, software rendering and Close if loading fails or takes too long.

If you use 1.1.0, choose Check for updates in the sidebar, install the update, then restart. Older versions need the Debian package below once to obtain the updater.

From this repository, install the built package with:

sudo apt install ./dist/openxplorer_1.1.1_all.deb

The corresponding source archive and SHA256SUMS are included below. This release changes startup presentation; it does not claim a measured reduction in engine startup time.