Papers-desktop v1
We are excited to announce the first native Windows release of GNOME Papers (v1.0.0)!
This release brings the modern, clean document viewing experience of GNOME Papers (branched from Evince) to the Windows desktop with full native integration.
🚀 Key Features
- Native Windows Support: Built from the ground up to compile natively under the MSYS2 UCRT64 toolchain using GCC, Cargo, and Meson.
- Platform Abstraction Layer (PAL): Isolates all OS-specific GUI, gesture, and rendering context handlers under a clean, modular abstraction backend.
- Default App Integration: Register GNOME Papers with Windows' Default Apps registry. Double-click PDF, DjVu, and TIFF files to open them directly.
- Silent & Console-less Launching: Native integration compiled under the Windows GUI subsystem to suppress command prompt window popups.
- Self-Contained Installer: Installs all required GTK4 runtime DLLs, settings schemas, Adwaita icons, and PDF/image backends out-of-the-box.
📦 What's Changed from Upstream GNOME Papers
- Added the Win32 PAL backend (
pps-platform-win32.c). - Gated Unix-specific file descriptor operations (
fcntl/F_DUPFD_CLOEXECandpoppler_document_new_from_fd) on Windows. - Replaced Linux-only keyring integrations (
oo7) and Nautilus extensions. - Added native PowerShell setup (
auto-setup.ps1) and directory bundling (bundle.ps1) scripts. - Integrated Inno Setup script (
setup.iss) to compile native installers.
💾 Installation Guide
- Download
Papers-Setup-x64.exefrom the Assets section below. - Run the installer and follow the prompt instructions.
- (Optional) Right-click any PDF file, select Open with, choose GNOME Papers, and check the box to Always use this app to open .pdf files.
🛠️ Verification & Build Details
For developers wishing to modify or compile this release from source, follow the setup and build checklists documented in the README.md file.
*this file has been changed to the 51.alpha version