Mutter

Mutter is an open source project designed to replace the Metacity window manager in the GNOME desktop environment, offering compositing functionality and many other attractive features. The software is distributed along with the GNOME desktop environment, providing decorations for all windows. Technically, it is called a window manager or a window decorator, or both, as it decorates windows and allows users to interact with them.

An important component of a desktop environment

Without a window decorator/manager, any desktop environment would be useless and pretty ugly. The decorator is in charge of many things, for example it allows users to minimize, maximize and close a window, as well as to display the title of the windows. The application uses GTK+ for drawing window frames and it does not expose the concept of "window manager" to the user. In addition. it does not try to be a desktop environment, even though there are some projects that are called window managers but they actually act as a desktop environment, such as Openbox and Fluxbox.

Runs on top of a desktop environment

However, these so called lightweight window managers can indeed run on top of a complete desktop, such as GNOME, Xfce, LXDE or Cinnamon and MATE. Mutter is used by default only on GNOME, but it can be used on any other open source desktop environments. It also acts as a compositing manager, providing off-screen buffer for each window.

It has been ported to Wayland

As of September 2013, Mutter has been successfully ported to the Wayland display server, and it is available for download on Softoware as a separate package called Mutter Wayland. This will be used by default when GNOME switches to the brand-new Wayland window system.

Bottom line

All in all, Mutter is another important part of the GNOME desktop environment. It allows users to interact with opened windows, it displays a window’s title and makes your desktop experience much more pleasant.

What is new in this release:

• Various crash fixes [Olivier, Jonas, Florian; #189, #70, #194, #15, #130]
• Don't expose resolutions that are below the minimum [Andrea; #793223]
• Remove support for preference overrides [Florian; #786496]
• Misc. bug fixes and cleanups [Daniel, Jonas, Florian; #131, #245, !176]
• Translators:
• Daniel Mustieles [es], Claude Paroz [fr]

What is new in version 3.29.2:

• Fix size change animations on wayland [Georges; #780292]
• Handle touch events on server-side titlebars [Carlos; #770185]
• Misc. bug fixes [Florian, Olivier, Jonas, Georges; #134, #124, !96, #138, !102, #781471, #150]
• Translators:
• Daniel Șerbanescu [ro], Marcos Lans [gl], Dz Chen [zh_CN]

What is new in version :

• Work with clients that require older linux_dmabuf protocol [Daniel; #788558]
• Support hybrid GPU systems [Jonas; #785381]
• Prevent crash when closing maximized windows [Jonni; #788666]
• Use the correct monitor for HiDPI scaling of shell chrome [Jonas; #788820]
• Fix unredirection of fullscreen windows [Rui, Jonas; #788493]
• Fix list of supported monitor scales on X11 [Jonas; #788901]
• Misc. bug fixes [Florian, Jonas, Marco; #788572, #788569, #788607, #788860, #788921]
• Translations:
• Xavi Ivars [ca@valencia]

What is new in version 3.26.0:

• Translations:
• Trần Ngọc Quan [vi], Inaki Larranaga Murgoitio [eu], Jordi Mas [ca], Anders Jonsson [sv], Alexander Shopov [bg], Ask Hjorth Larsen [da], Jean-Baptiste Holcroft [fr], A S Alam [pa]

What is new in version 3.25.2:

• Fix frame updates on hide-titlebar-when-maximized changes [Florian; #781862]
• Fix accessible screen coordinates on X11 [Florian; #781902]
• Use less CPU when rendering fast-updating windows [Carlos, Emmanuele; #782344]
• Compute geometry of clients that don't set one explicitly [Olivier; #782213]
• Fix copy+paste of UTF8 strings between X11 and wayland [Carlos; #782472]
• Fix non-wayland builds [Chris; #780533]
• Add plugin vfunc to implement a custom force-quit dialog [Carlos; #711619]
• Fix swapped red and blue channels in CoglTexture data [Carlos; #779234
• Fix build where libtool's link_all_deplibs defaults to 'no' [Marco; #782821]
• Fix glitches when opening a window maximized [Olivier; #781353, #782183]
• Fix wrong cursor after window underneath the pointer changed [Carlos; #755164]
• Implement support for disable-while-typing option [Evan; #764852]
• Emit size-change signal when tiling [Alessandro; #782968]
• Misc. bug fixes [Nigel, Matthias, Jonas; #759085, #780215, #782156, #782152]
• Translations:
• Fabio Tomat [fur], Jordi Mas [ca], Mario Blattermann [de], Emin Tufan Cetin [tr], Balazs Ur [hu]

What is new in version 3.24.1:

• Always sync window geometry on state changes [Jonas; #780292]
• Use EGL instead of GLX when drawing using GLES [Jonas; #771636]
• Fix HiDPI detection on vertical monitor layouts [Carlos; #777687]
• Get double-click timing from desktop mouse settings [Armin; #771576]
• Scale relative motion deltas with monitor scale [Jonas, Carlos; #778119]
• Use texture fallback when setting hardware cursor fails [Jente; #770020]
• Fix lock-up when using additional theme variants [Shantanu; #780254]
• Translations:
• Yuras Shumovich [be], Yosef Or Boczko [he], Tom Tryfonidis [el]

What is new in version 3.24.0:

• Translations: Yuri Myasoedov [ru], Rudolfs Mazurs [lv], Jordi Mas [ca]

What is new in version 3.23.3:

• Fix frequent freezes in multihead setups on wayland [Rui; #774557]
• Preserve root window mask on XSelectionRequest [Olivier; #776128]
• Misc. bug fixes [Carlos, Florian, Rui, Olivier; #775478, #774891, #775986, #776036]

What is new in version 3.23.2:

• Stack docks below other windows on fullscreen monitors [Rui; #772937]
• Fix popup grabs blocking screen lock on wayland [Rui; #771235]
• Handle touchpad pinch gestures with more than two fingers [Carlos; #765937]
• Implement drawing tablet support on X11 [Carlos; #773779]
• Fix some Wine games starting minimized [Carlos; #774333]
• Fix switching between two finger- and edge scrolling on wayland [Rui; #771744]
• Implement support for EGLStream/EGLDevice [Jonas; #773629]
• Add size_changed vfunc to handle async client size changes [Rui; #770345]
• Change focus window on clicks with any modifiers [Rui; #746642]
• Misc. bug fixes and cleanups [Carlos, Daniel, Jonas, Rui; #771067, #774330, #774613, #771297, #774135, #774827, #774923]
• Translations:
• Kjartan Maraas [nb]

What is new in version 3.22.2:

• Really fix framebuffer capture origin offset [Rui; #771502]
• Fix session going into idle mode immediately on startup [Rui; #772839]
• Fix mirror mode with stage views [Rui; #773115]
• Improve pointer constraints support [Jonas; #771859]
• Stack docks below other windows on fullscreen monitors [Rui; #772937]
• Fix switching between two finger- and edge scrolling on wayland [Rui; #771744]
• Fix popup grabs blocking screen lock on wayland [Rui; #771235]
• Fix various crashes on wayland [Jonas; #771646, #771858]
• Fix various placement issues on wayland [Jonas, Sjoerd, Olivier; #768039, #771841, #773141, #772729]
• Misc. bug fixes [Rui, Jonas, Olivier; #771019, #773116, #772914, #773210]
• Translations:
• Theppitak Karoonboonyanan [th], Kjartan Maraas [nb], liushuyu [zh_CN], YunQiang Su [zh_CN]

What is new in version 3.22.1:

• Fix feedback loop between StClipboard and X11 bridge [Carlos; #760745]
• Fall back gracefully if DRM plane rotation fails [Carlos; #772512]
• Approximate native monitor backend behavior to X [Rui; #772176]
• Fix crash on VT switch on wayland [Jonas; #771646]
• Expose Flatpak ID for application matching [Florian; #772613, #772614]
• Translations:
• Inaki Larranaga Murgoitio [eu], Milo Casagrande [it]

What is new in version 3.21.4:

• Fix missing frame border around GTK+ dialogs [Florian; #745060]
• Improve X11 wayland copy and paste interaction [Carlos; #768007]
• Add support for NV_robustness_video_memory_purge extension [Rui; #739178]
• Fix restoring the old focused window on restart [Owen; #766243]
• Fix fullscreen windows on other monitors stealing focus after closing a window [Rui; #768221]
• Draw monitor content to individual framebuffer [Jonas; #768976]
• Provide screen capture API [Jonas; #768978]
• Misc. bug fixes and cleanups [Rui, Owen, Luca, Olivier, Jonas, Carlos; #767969, #768243, #762407, #767997, #768039, #768977, #768977]
• Translations:
• Andika Triwidada [id]

What is new in version 3.20.3:

• Fix grabbing random keys for disabled shortcuts [Rui; #766270]
• Crash fixes [Marek, Rui; #751847, #767969]
• Improve multi-monitor handling on wayland [Rui; #766528]
• Don't create invalid UTF-8 window description strings [Rui; #765535]
• Convert window titles and wm_class to UTF-8 [Rui; #752788]
• Use kill() to force-quit unresponsive wayland clients [Olivier; #767464]
• Fix window position when unmaximizing via DND on wayland [Olivier; #764180]
• Avoid full window redraws when using extended frame sync [Florian; #767798]
• Fix missing frame border around GTK+ dialogs [Florian; #745060]
• Improve X11 wayland copy and paste interaction [Carlos; #768007]
• Translations:
• Kjartan Maraas [nb], Muhammet Kara [tr], Andika Triwidada [id]

What is new in version 3.20.1:

• Constrain window move/resizes on wayland as on X11 [Rui; #748819]
• Don't crash with invalid previous monitor configurations [Rui; #764286]
• Misc. bug fixes and cleanups [Jonas, Cosimo; #762828, #764807]
• Translations:
• Inaki Larranaga Murgoitio [eu], Reinout van Schouwen [nl], Fabio Tomat [fur], Trần Ngọc Quan [vi]

What is new in version 3.19.4:

• Fix updating stacking order when setting transient_for [Jonas; #755606]
• Support screen rotation when supported by the driver [Carlos; #745079]
• Protect against broken WM_CLASS property implementations [Sebastian; #759658]
• Handle wl_pointer v5 events on wayland [Carlos; #760637]
• Implement DND actions on wayland [Carlos; #760805]
• Misc. bug fixes [Jonas, Rui, Ray, Marek; #754711, #756789, #759297, #758613, #760330, #760476, #759222, #760670]
• Translations:
• Aurimas Cernius [lt]

What is new in version 3.19.2:

• Fix crash on monitor unplug [Rui; #756796]
• Exit cleanly on initialization errors [Owen; #757311]
• Allow to determine backend setting from session type [Ray; #741666]
• Fix DRM device detection for non-PCI devices [Alban; #754911]
• Don't force placement of windows without buffer on wayland [Marek; #751887]
• Fix initialization of bypass compositor hint [Rui; #758544]

What is new in version 3.17.1:

• Add public method to get neighboring monitor [Florian; #633994]
• Apply the right settings to the right input devices [Carlos; #747886]
• Fix scroll button setting [Ondrej; #747967]
• Add support for modal hint on wayland [Jonas; #745720]
• Don't reset idle time for non-hardware events [Rui; #748541]
• Misc. bug fixes [Ray, Rui; #748380, #748478]

What is new in version 3.15.4:

• Use GTK+ theme for window decorations instead of metacity [Florian; #741917]
• Export the same EDID information on X11 and wayland [Carlos; #742882]
• Apply input device configuration on wayland [Carlos; #739397]
• Implement pointer barriers on wayland [Jonas; #706655]
• Misc. bug fixes (Ting-Wei, Rui, Ikey, Florian, Marek, Jonas; #741829, #738630, #737463, #698995, #727893, #742825, #742824, #742841, #743173, #743189, #743217, #743254]
• Translations:
• Matej UrbanAiA [sl], BalAzs Asr [hu], Marek AŒernockA½ [cs], Inaki Larranaga Murgoitio [eu], Rafael Ferreira [pt_BR], Daniel Mustieles [es], Fran Dieguez [gl]

What is new in version 3.14.3:

• Fix crash when trying to unredirect a destroyed window [Florian; #740133]
• Fix "flicker" during startup transition [Ray; #740377]
• Don't leave left-over frames queued [Owen; #738686]
• Set CRTC configuration even if it might be redundant [Rui; #740838]

What is new in version 3.15.3:

• Don't leave left-over frames queued [Owen; #738686]
• Set CRTC configuration even if it might be redundant [Rui; #740838]

What is new in version 3.15.2:

• Don't enable hiDPI on monitors with broken EDID [Bastien; #734839]
• Prevent crash applying monitor config for a closed lid [Rui; #739450]
• Fix "flicker" during startup transition [Ray; #740377]
• Misc. bug fixes [Lan, Florian, Carlos; #731521, #740133, #738890]
• Translations: Kjartan Maraas [nb]

What is new in version 3.14.2:

• Prevent crash applying monitor config for a closed lid [Rui; #739450]
• Misc. fixes [Rui, Jonathon, Jasper; #738630]

What is new in version 3.15.1:

• Use GResources for theme loading [Cosimo; #736936]
• Fix headerbar drag getting stuck on xwayland [Carlos; #738411]

What is new in version 3.14.1.5:

• Fix wayland hiDPI regressions [Adel; #739161]
• Updated translations

What is new in version 3.14.1:

• Fix move-titlebar-onscreen function [Florian; #736915]
• Fix stacking of the guard window [Owen; #737233]
• Fix keycode lookup for non-default layouts [Rui; #737134]
• Fix workspaces-only-on-primary handling [Florian; #737178]
• Don't unstick sticky windows on workspace removal [Florian; #737625]
• Do not auto-minimize fullscreen windows [Jasper; #705177]
• Upload keymap to newly added keyboard devices [Rui; #737673]
• Apply keyboard repeat settings [Rui; #728055]
• Don't send pressed keys on enter [Rui; #727178]
• Fix build without wayland/native [Rico; #738225]
• Send modifiers after the key event [Rui; #738238]
• Fix unredirect heuristic [Adel; #738271]
• Do not show system chrome over fullscreen windows [Florian; #693991]
• Misc. bug fixes [Florian, Adel, Tom; #737135, #737581, #738146, #738384]
• Translations: Krishnababu Krothapalli [te], ÐoиN€Ð¾NÐ"Ð
  16 Aug 18 in Desktop Enhancements, GNOME Software