Kova v0.8.1

What's new

This is a minor release whose main purpose is to introduce production code signing for Windows.

Windows code signing

• Kova's Windows installers and app are now production-signed via SignPath, replacing the test signing used in earlier releases. Windows can now verify that the .msi and _x64-setup.exe genuinely come from the Kova project and haven't been tampered with.
• This should also stop the Windows Defender false positive (Trojan:Win32/Wacatac.C!ml) some users saw on earlier, test-signed builds (reported by @chotte, #224). SmartScreen may still show a warning on the first few downloads while the new certificate builds reputation with Microsoft.

Other changes

• The slide progress bar can now be turned off. A new "Show progress bar" toggle in Settings → Presentation hides the thin position bar along the bottom edge of the slides. It's on by default, so nothing changes unless you switch it off.
• "Notes font size" now sits directly under "Display mode" in Settings → Presentation, since it's the presenter option people adjust most often.
• Updated German translation, now covering find and replace, the status bar layout indicator, time remaining and the presenter countdown target (contributed by @a1880, #269).

Performance

• Large, diagram-heavy decks no longer freeze the app when opened, most noticeably on Linux. Slide thumbnails now render as they scroll into view rather than all at once, and the thumbnail list, main preview and presenter view share each Mermaid diagram instead of drawing it separately.
• The app stays responsive while diagrams are drawing, rather than locking up until every one has finished.
• Split, two- and three-column, BSP and code layouts no longer re-measure their content on every redraw.

Security

• Updated source-map-js to fix a high-severity denial-of-service issue. It's only used by the build tooling and isn't part of the installed app, so no installed copy of Kova was affected.

Known issues

• Icons in exported PPTX files may not display. They use the Kova Icons font, which isn't embedded in the file, so PowerPoint and Keynote only show them on machines where that font is installed.

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Installation

Platform	Download	Note
macOS (Apple Silicon + Intel)	.dmg	Signed and notarised — double-click to install
Windows 10/11	.msi or _x64-setup.exe	Signed via SignPath — SmartScreen may still warn on early downloads while the new certificate builds reputation
Linux	.deb (Debian/Ubuntu), .rpm (Fedora/RHEL/openSUSE), or .flatpakref	Install via your package manager
Linux AppImage	.AppImage	Graphics libs stripped for compatibility with Arch/Fedora/etc. Supports auto-update.

Beta release — expect rough edges. Please report bugs via Issues.

Kova is free and community funded. You can now support development directly through Open Collective.