Squeak 6.1 "Vanessa" arrives after a four-year gap

What is in Squeak 6.1

The Squeak team has released version 6.1, codenamed "Vanessa". The headline change is a new tree browser that displays system categories, classes and message categories in hierarchical panes and integrates with Monticello packages. Objectland also returns — a reconstruction of the 2003 "Worlds of Squeak" that demonstrates the system's capabilities through a colourful collection of examples, and re-adds the classic Etoys race car demo.

Kernel, tools and interface

Several changes and fixes touch the kernel infrastructure for simulating, unwinding and scheduling processes, and for reshaping classes. The toolset for inspecting, debugging, profiling and versioning code also gained improvements. In Morphic, tree morphs received a major overhaul: revamped colours, mouse and keyboard shortcuts, type-to-filter search, better drag'n'drop behaviour during dragging and hovering, plus stability and performance work on layouting, rendering and event handling. Compatibility and concurrency issues with MVC projects were fixed as well.

Four years, and a 30th anniversary

According to the release notes, four years have passed since the previous release, during which 1,700+ patches with 9,000+ method changes were merged. Squeak is approaching its 30th anniversary, and this version is dedicated to the memory of Vanessa Freudenberg (1972–2025).

How to try it

The release notes are optimised for reading inside Squeak, because they contain many interactive examples; on the web page those links open in SqueakJS, a browser-based Smalltalk VM with some limitations. The document also covers the release's major deprecations, known issues and compatibility notes.