LoginSign Up
← Back to all sparks
D

darktable

DESIGN
Velocity2.5

Open-source photography workflow application and raw developer.

www.darktable.org ↗

darktable 5.6.2 keeps repairing the AI stack and stops stealing keyboard focus on Windows.

raw-photo-editingneural-restoreonnx-runtimememory-safetyrelease-cadence
◆Current state
5.6.2 is a bug-fix release of 63 commits and 26 pull requests, with every feature section marked N/A. Neural work is again on the list: a crash at the end of raw denoise on certain sensor sizes, a crash or hang on faulty custom ONNX Runtime libraries, and corrupted output when a model returns more data than reserved. The most visible fix is on Windows, where darktable no longer takes keyboard focus from other applications. Leica SL3-P and Sony ILCE-7RM6 gain base support, and versioned documentation has resumed.
◆Where it's heading
Two point releases after 5.6.0 the pattern holds: the feature release opened the neural surface and the follow-ups close its holes. Commit volume fell from 150 in 5.6.1 to 63, the usual decay of a stabilising line. OpenCL correctness remains the other steady thread.
◆Prediction
Release dates point to December for the next feature release, since 5.2.0, 5.4.0 and 5.6.0 each landed on a June or December 21. Until then expect 5.6.x to stay on fixes; the entries still do not say whether the AI subsystem stays opt-in.

◆Recent moves

  1. 1mo ago

    5.6.2 fixes Windows focus theft and more neural restore crashes

    The second stabilisation pass on the 5.6 line, smaller than 5.6.1 and still touching neural restore and object masks. The Windows focus and Alt+Tab fixes are what most users will notice.

    View source ↗
  2. 2mo ago

    5.6.1 spends 150 commits hardening the new AI stack

    A bug-fix release with 'The Big Ones' explicitly empty, but substantial underneath: out-of-bounds reads in wavelet decomposition and raster mask caching, a CFA buffer overrun in neural restore on CYGM and RGBE sensors, ProRAW and sRaw handling, and OpenCL correctness on AMD and rusticl. It is the stabilisation pass the 5.6.0 AI subsystem needed.

    View source ↗
  3. 3mo ago

    Nightly development build (rolling tag)

    The rolling nightly tag, republished daily on top of the 5.7 development line. It carries no release content of its own.

    View source ↗
  4. 4mo ago

    5.6.0 adds an optional AI subsystem: object masks, denoise, upscale

    ⚡ SPARK

    This is the release the whole 5.6 line turns on, and the origin of the arc 5.6.1 is now stabilising. It introduces the ONNX-backed AI subsystem, the SAM2.1 object-mask tool, and the neural restore module, alongside conventional work like the colorharmonizer module.

    View source ↗
  5. 4mo ago

    5.7 development cycle opens

    A 30-character marker tag opening the next development line, published two days before 5.6.0 shipped. It says nothing about what the cycle contains.

    View source ↗
  6. 9mo ago

    darktable 5.4.1 bug-fix release

    The 5.4 line's point release, with every feature section marked N/A and only export, demosaic and metadata fixes behind it. It is the same slot in the previous cycle that 5.6.1 occupies now, at a fraction of the volume.

    View source ↗