Gnome 49 Enhances Applications and Phases Out X11 Sessions

The Gnome project has unveiled version 49 of its Linux desktop environment, introducing significant upgrades and new applications while progressively retiring support for X11 sessions.

Among the notable changes in Gnome 49 is the replacement of the long-standing video player, Totem, with a new application named Showtime, designed specifically for video playback. Additionally, the traditional document viewer, Evince, has been succeeded by Papers, which originated as a fork of Evince. Both Showtime and Papers leverage modern libraries, specifically GTK 4 and Libadwaita, enhancing their performance and user experience.

The Gnome development team has also revamped the interface of the calendar application. This update aims to improve accessibility, making it more user-friendly for individuals who navigate using only a keyboard or employ assistive technologies.

Notably, Gnome 49 is likely the final release to include any code for X11 sessions. The developers have made the decision to discontinue offering X11 sessions in GDM (Gnome Display Manager). While this functionality will be disabled, the underlying code will remain, allowing Linux distributions the flexibility to decide whether to include X11 sessions alongside Wayland. The complete removal of X11 support is anticipated for the upcoming Gnome 50 release.

Gnome 49 is set to be integrated into popular Linux distributions such as Fedora Workstation 43 and Ubuntu Desktop 25.10, both of which are scheduled for release later this year.

Applications that depend on the X server will continue to operate through Xwayland, although some known limitations exist. According to the developers, Xwayland is expected to remain part of Gnome's ecosystem for many years to come.

Additionally, the Gnome team has implemented several minor enhancements. The lock screen now features buttons for media playback control, and the accessibility menu has been made more prominent for easier access. Users can also shut down or restart the system directly from the lock screen, though this functionality requires a command to be executed first:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.screensaver restart-enabled true

For those eager to experience the new Gnome environment prior to its inclusion in distributions, Gnome OS is available for exploration, though it is recommended for limited use rather than full production environments.