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Enlightenment (window manager)
Compositing window manager for the X Window System

Enlightenment, also known simply as E, is a compositing window manager for the X Window System. Since version 0.20, Enlightenment also supports Wayland. It is shipped with some Linux distributions such as Bodhi Linux and Pentoo.

Enlightenment is only a window manager at its core; however, with many modules included, it can be extended to resemble a full desktop environment. Since version 0.17 (E17), Enlightenment has been written with the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries (EFL), and the Enlightenment project also writes a set of applications with the EFL.

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History

E16 and before

The first version of Enlightenment was released by Carsten Haitzler in 1997.45 Originally, it was just a window manager before the addition of the EFL in E17.6

With the release of E17 written with the EFL in 2012, Enlightenment went through a major rewrite, splitting the codebase into 0.16 (E16) and the versions after (E17). Some of the community decided to stay with the E16 codebase and continue development of this version, releasing under an independent versioning scheme from E17. It reached the 1.0 milestone and is still actively developed as of 2024.7

E17 and later

In 2000, the development of the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries started to create a toolkit for writing applications that interoperate with Enlightenment, as well as other X window managers, too. As the EFL was built up, Enlightenment was rewritten to utilize the EFL, and in 2012 version 0.17.0 was released. As this version was completely rewritten to use the EFL, it is incompatible with E16.8

The current version as of January 2025 is E27.9

Usage

Bodhi Linux was built around the Enlightenment 17 desktop, but forked it to create the Moksha desktop.10

Elive Linux also used a fork of E17 as its main desktop environment until 2019, when the 3.7 series was released. It also features E16 and has future plans to integrate the new E26 version.

Reception

A 2011 review of E16 found it was highly customisable, featuring per-window configurability, support for virtual desktops with much larger screenspace than monitor size, and that "nearly everything can be done with the keyboard." While the appearance was praised, the desktop environment was criticised as being somewhat unstable due to bugs at the time. While E16 could be used as a window manager for GNOME or KDE, the review found they had poor compatibility.11

A 2014 review of E17 found the design to be fast, touchscreen friendly and have a nice appearance, but was annoyed by the small selection area to resize windows. The appearance of the default terminal with the desktop environment, called Terminology, was also praised and the author personally liked the desktop left and right click menus.12

A 2017 review found E18 to have lightweight performance, remarking a similar appearance to Mac OS, but also mentioning a steep learning curve due to the desktop left and right click menus.13

A 2020 review praised Enlightenment for its high number of keyboard shortcuts, and that it was lightweight enough to run well on older hardware, with low idle CPU and RAM usage. However, it criticised the desktop left and right click menus for having too much complexity.14

Release history

Major releases15
VersionCode nameRelease dateNotes
pre-alphaEnlightenment Alpha1October 199616
0.13.2DR1318 January 199817
0.14.0DR1418 July 1998181920
0.15.0DR1512 March 199921
0.16DR1627 October 199922Still maintained as of 2024. Preferred by many people, especially as a "retro" desktop.23
0.17DR1721 December 201224Major rewrite version. Was forked to create the Moksha desktop.
0.18DR1822 December 201325
0.19DR1915 September 201426
0.20DR201 December 201527
0.21DR211 June 201628
0.22DR2222 November 201729
0.23DR 0.2324 August 201930
0.24DR 0.2417 May 202031
0.25DR 0.2516 December 20213233
0.26DR 0.2623 December 202334
0.27DR 0.2711 January 20253536Current release.

See also

  • Free and open-source software portal
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Enlightenment (software). Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: The Unofficial Enlightenment User's Manual

References

  1. "Enlightenment DR 0.20.0 Release". Enlightenment.org. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20180621015953/https://phab.enlightenment.org/phame/post/view/167/enlightenment_dr_0.20.0_release/ ↩

  2. Zinoune, M. (10 July 2012). "Enlightenment distributions that are still alive!". Unixmen. Retrieved 4 December 2023. https://unixmen.com/enlightenment-distributions-that-are-still-alive/ ↩

  3. "Portal:Enlightenment". en.opensuse.org. 2012-12-21. Archived from the original on 2018-02-12. Retrieved 2014-06-17. http://en.opensuse.org/Portal:Enlightenment ↩

  4. "The windows manager Enlightenment – MVPS.net Blog". Retrieved 4 December 2023. https://www.mvps.net/docs/the-windows-manager-enlightenment/ ↩

  5. "Enlightenment DR16". Enlightenment. http://www.enlightenment.org/p.php?p=about/e16&l=en ↩

  6. Germain, Jack M. (16 May 2014). "Enlightenment Linux: It's Not What You Think". LinuxInsider. Retrieved 4 December 2023. https://www.linuxinsider.com/story/enlightenment-linux-its-not-what-you-think-80456.html ↩

  7. "Enlightenment E16". www.enlightenment.org. Retrieved 27 July 2024. https://www.enlightenment.org/e16 ↩

  8. Zinoune, M. (28 June 2024). "Enlightenment 17 is soon to be released! | Unixmen". Retrieved 27 July 2024. https://www.unixmen.com/enlightenment-17-soon-released/ ↩

  9. "Enlightenment 0.27.0 Release". www.enlightenment.org. Retrieved 25 January 2024. https://www.enlightenment.org/news/2025-01-11-enlightenment-0.27.0 ↩

  10. Desktop, Moksha. "Moksha Desktop – The future desktop environment of the Bodhi Linux project". mokshadesktop.github.io. Retrieved 27 July 2024. https://mokshadesktop.github.io/ ↩

  11. Marco Fioretti (3 July 2011). "Best lightweight window managers for Linux". TechRadar. Retrieved 4 December 2023. https://www.techradar.com/news/software/applications/5-of-the-best-lightweight-window-managers-for-linux-972570 ↩

  12. "The desktop-a-week review: Enlightenment (E17)". Network World. Retrieved 4 December 2023. https://www.networkworld.com/article/926104/opensource-subnet-the-desktop-a-week-review-enlightenment.html ↩

  13. Germain, Jack M. (16 May 2014). "Enlightenment Linux: It's Not What You Think". LinuxInsider. Retrieved 4 December 2023. https://www.linuxinsider.com/story/enlightenment-linux-its-not-what-you-think-80456.html ↩

  14. Perkins, John (1 October 2020). "Enlightenment Desktop Review: A Beautiful, Lightweight but Different Desktop Manager". Make Tech Easier. Retrieved 4 December 2023. https://www.maketecheasier.com/enlightenment-desktop-review/ ↩

  15. "Legacy sources". Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201029112417/http://download.enlightenment.org/historical_files/releases/enlightenment_wm/ ↩

  16. "enlightenment-1.0alpha-1.i386.rpm". CDrom Archive. https://ia800603.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/17/items/LDR0497_6cd/LDR_04974.ISO ↩

  17. "New E Already Released". Slashdot News. 19 January 1998. https://tech.slashdot.org/story/98/01/19/091100/new-e-already-released ↩

  18. "Enlightenment 0.14 release". Slashdot. 18 July 1998. https://tech.slashdot.org/story/98/07/18/116224/enlightenment-014-release ↩

  19. ""E news"". Archived from the original on 28 April 1999. Retrieved 19 May 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) https://web.archive.org/web/19990428135920/http://www.enlightenment.org/news.html ↩

  20. "Official Word on Enlightenment DR14". Slashdot. 16 July 1998. https://tech.slashdot.org/story/98/07/16/0913237/official-word-on-enlightenment-dr14 ↩

  21. "Enlightenment 0.15". Slashdot. 12 March 1999. https://tech.slashdot.org/story/99/03/12/1727257/enlightenment-015 ↩

  22. ""E news"". Archived from the original on 4 March 2000. Retrieved 19 May 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) https://web.archive.org/web/20000304174512/http://www.enlightenment.org/news.html ↩

  23. "Enlightenment E16". www.enlightenment.org. Retrieved 5 April 2021. https://www.enlightenment.org/e16 ↩

  24. "After 12 years of Development, E17 Is Out". Slashdot. 21 December 2012. https://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/12/22/0129200/after-12-years-of-development-e17-is-out ↩

  25. "Enlightenment DR 0.18: Improved Compositing, Wayland Support". slashdot. 22 December 2013. https://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/12/22/0851236/enlightenment-dr-018-improved-compositing-wayland-support ↩

  26. "v0.19.0". git release. https://github.com/Enlightenment/enlightenment/releases/tag/v0.19.0 ↩

  27. "Enlightenment E20 Released With Full Wayland Support". slashdot. December 2015. https://tech.slashdot.org/story/15/12/01/1458210/enlightenment-e20-released-with-full-wayland-support ↩

  28. "v0.21.0". git release. https://github.com/Enlightenment/enlightenment/releases/tag/v0.21.0 ↩

  29. "v0.22.0". git release. https://github.com/Enlightenment/enlightenment/releases/tag/v0.22.0 ↩

  30. "v0.23.0". git release. https://github.com/Enlightenment/enlightenment/releases/tag/v0.23.0 ↩

  31. "v0.24.0". git release. https://github.com/Enlightenment/enlightenment/releases/tag/v0.24.0 ↩

  32. "Enlightenment 0.25.0 Release". 16 December 2021. Retrieved 27 December 2021. https://www.enlightenment.org/news/2021-12-26-enlightenment-0.25.0 ↩

  33. "v0.25.0". git release. https://github.com/Enlightenment/enlightenment/releases/tag/v0.25.0 ↩

  34. "Enlightenment 0.26.0 Release". 23 December 2023. Retrieved 25 December 2023. https://www.enlightenment.org/news/2023-12-23-enlightenment-0.26.0 ↩

  35. "Enlightenment 0.27.0 Release". 11 January 2025. Retrieved 26 January 2025. https://www.enlightenment.org/news/2025-01-11-enlightenment-0.27.0 ↩

  36. "v0.27.0". git release. https://git.enlightenment.org/enlightenment/enlightenment/releases/tag/v-0.27.0 ↩