Desktop environment

Xfce 4.20

Although Gnome and KDE receive the most attention, Xfce remains a firm favorite with Linux users for its lightweight and modular approach. The recent release of version 4.20 is accompanied by an epic changelog, detailing various bug fixes. I encourage readers to go through it, because some exciting changes are afoot in the Xfce camp. At the time of writing, the latest version hasn't been included in the stable release of any distro I could find, so I tested it using a daily build of Xubuntu 25.04.

Almost all Xfce components now support Wayland. A new library (libxfce4windowing) has been introduced for this purpose, though you'll need a wlroots compositor like labwc if you want to test this effectively. The Thunar file manager has also undergone some important upgrades. For instance, folders will now open automatically when a user drags a file onto them. The tool bar also new contains new options (accessible via the View | Configure toolbar). These include options to create a new folder tab or even a new window. If you add more toolbar buttons than can fit in the current window, Thunar also now displays a small overflow submenu to list them. The sidebar can also now display more subtle "symbolic" icons for key "Places."

The system's About dialog has also been overhauled. It now displays not only basic information about the OS and desktop environment but also the logo for the distro in question, as well as its current windowing system and GPU. The power mode has also been upgraded to support hybrid sleep mode. The energy rate for certain battery devices also now appears in the details tab. Despite the litany of upgrades, the Xubuntu daily build consumed only 1.1GB of RAM in my virtual machine.

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