Inkscape at 21 is growing up and getting organized
6. November 2024 17:07
November 6, 2024, marks the end of the 20th anniversary year for the Inkscape project, and the beginning of a new decade of adventure. There were a few milestones this past year, among them an informal global celebration, a bug-fix program, an About Screen Contest, an Inkscape Summit, a summer of code, and the launch of version 1.4.
Here’s a brief look at some of those milestones:
Bringing contributors from around the world together in real time online
Looking back over the past year, our 20th anniversary got off to an active start with an online anniversary party in November 2023, where users and contributors gathered over the span of several time zones to welcome guests who shared their passion for Inkscape, their art, and discussed how and why they contribute to the project. The world showed up to hang out and filled us all with pride to be part of this open source community.
From there, things moved quickly with preparations for version 1.4 and all the elements that come together before the annual version release.
Inkscape’s 1.4 About Screen Contest
Preparations for the popular About Screen Contest began early in the year, setting up the voting space and rallying contributors to organize the promotion and review of contest entries. The winning entry was featured in the 1.4 release that launched in the Fall of 2024. If you’re curious about the contest, feel free to check out the rules and history of this tradition.
Inkscape’s Contributor Blog
Some of our developers, especially those who are paid by the project (i.e. from your donations), publish articles about their work in our Contributor Blog, which can be found on the web site under the News tab. Among the blog posts include ones the progress made on our Bug Accelerator program, the Adobe Illustrator File import project, and the GTK4 migration work. You can find the posts through to Spring 2024 online.
Inkscape Summit 2024 in Rennes, France!
We had a great Inkscape Summit in Rennes, France, in May 2024. Our three-day meeting was well attended and offered an opportunity for developers and a couple of other contributors to meet, work, and discuss the future of the project. A member of the SFC was in attendance and participants had a chance to exchange with a representative from the Open Document Project, too, on open source projects.
Learning to Code through Contributing to Inkscape
Inkscape developers continued the longstanding tradition of participating in the Google Summer of Code (GSOC) program, which enables people new to open source projects and students to learn about software development and gain experience within a project environment. Several Inkscape developers mentored three students in 2024, one of whom is still working hard. If you’re curious to know what these students accomplished, their code journeys can be found on the GSOC site.
When it comes to the software itself, Inkscape has been embarking on big changes that will span a couple of future versions, specifically the transition to GTK4. This year marked a big milestone as the master branch was successfully migrated to the new code base. Also in the works is the future of CMYK color inside of Inkscape, though there is no final date set yet for integrating a system.
Inkscape Monthly Art Challenges
This past year has seen regular monthly Inkscape Challenges in the forum, posted on social media channels, to encourage Inkscape artists to share their work and learn new skills. From easy to intermediate projects to challenge your Inkscape skills, there’s something for everyone who is curious to learn. These challenges, along with the many opportunities to learn and collaborate within the project, have helped to bring new contributors to the table, too. You’ll find plenty of art to enjoy in the project’s forums!
Looking at Possible Futures for the Project
In October, an informal discussion was held among contributors to look at the possibilities of taking the project in a new direction in the future. As with some other open source projects in the past, Inkscape is seeking to grow and explore possible futures, including being an independent organization. While there are no immediate plans to move from SFC, the discussion led to contributors beginning to imagine what Inkscape might look like three years down the road. At 21, it’s time to consider the possible bright futures ahead.
For now, we would like to say a big thank you to all of you, Inkscape users, contributors, and supporters. It’s in working together that this software program continues to develop and grow.
Curious to know what contributing to Inkscape might bring to your world? Get in touch!
In the meantime, enjoy using Inkscape, a professional quality vector graphics software on your Linux, Mac OS X and / or Windows desktop computers.
Draw Freely.
