Over the last few months, much progress was made in improving and enhancing the DesktopBSD Package Manager. These features have been implemented so far:

• Completely new installation/upgrade monitor that displays only information relevant to the user.
• Redesigned detail views.
• Ability to hide parts of the user interface with a single click.
• Graphical menu to configure build options for a package.
• New splash screen.
• Improved right-click menus.

An upgrade for the DesktopBSD tools will be available soon. For now, please have a look at the package manager screenshot gallery!

The following package manager improvements are planned for the upcoming 1.6 release, which will be based on FreeBSD 6 and launched within the next few months:

• Much faster package list updates by switching to portsnap.
• New system based on portaudit to easily check installed software for security vulnerabilities.
• Ability to minimize the package manager to system tray and monitor installation/upgrade progress via the tray icon.
• Faster startup times.
• Ability to download all required files beforehand instead of during the build when they are required.