Lightweight Dock `Plank` 0.11.0 Released With Docklets Support, More

Plank, the simple, lightweight dock written in Vala, which is used by default in elementary OS, reached version 0.11.0.

The latest Plank 0.11.0 adds docklets support (the first four icons from the dock in the screenshot above are docklets: show desktop, clipboard manager, clock and trash), migration to GSettings for dock settings and more. 

Here are the most important changes in Plank 0.11.0:

• added docklets support (the following docklets are installed by default in this release: Clippy, Clock, Desktop and Trash);
• use GSettings for dock settings (themes and dockitem files remain at their location);
• consolidate public API (breaks old themes and dockitem files, those are transitioned accordingly if possible);
• added "CascadeHide" theme option;
• Hide "Keep in Dock" wile LockItems is enabled
• added runtime support for GTK+ 3.19.1+;
• show descriptive tooltip for external-dnd actions;
• expand dock on external-drag without enabled zoom too;
• handle file-monitor moved-event where launcher was target;
• follow environment's setting whether to show notifications;
• added TooltipsEnabled setting;
• touchpad devices are able to perform pressure on a barrier too;
• some tweaking of the default themes;
• more.

With the migration to GSettings, there's also an option to add multiple docks. However, this option is not yet available in the Plank Preferences so to access it, you must use Dconf Editor.

To do this, launch Dconf Editor, navigate to net > launchpad > plank and under "enabled-docks", add the docks you want to use. For example, to use two docks, add "dock2" next to "dock1", like in the screenshot below:

Then, launching Plank, you should have two entries under net > launchpad > plank > docks, which allow configuring each dock.

Running multiple concurrent instances while using "-n|--name" is still possible with this release.

I should also mention that with the latest Plank, the icon which allowed accessing the dock preferences or quitting Plankter on non-elementary OS desktops is no longer available in the dock. To access the Plank preferences UI, you can use the following command:

plank --preferences

Install Plank 0.11.0 in Ubuntu, Linux Mint and derivatives

Important (elementary OS only): if you try to upgrade to Plank 0.11.0 in elementary OS Freya via the Docky/Plank Stable PPA, it will try to remove important elementary desktop packages, so do not upgrade to the latest version from the Docky/Plank Stable PPA if you use elementary OS! elementary OS users should wait until the elementary OS Stable PPA is updated with the latest Plank.

Update: Plank 0.11.0 is available in the official Ubuntu 16.04 repositories. To install it, use the following command:

sudo apt-get install plank

To install the latest Plank in Ubuntu 15.10, 15.04 and 14.04 (and derivatives) or Linux Mint 17.x, you can use the official Docky/Plank Stable PPA. Add the PPA and install / upgrade to Plank 0.11.0 using the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:docky-core/stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install plank

For other Linux distributions, you can download the latest Plank source from Launchpad.

Report any bugs you may find @ Launchpad.