215
GNOME 50 has been released
(release.gnome.org)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2026
215 points (97.4% liked)
Linux
65464 readers
793 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 7 years ago
MODERATORS
Honestly, not much changed since GNOME 40.
Is it a bad thing? No
Do I want more changes? Also no
The only thing missing from GNOME for me is proper dynamic tiling. I'm trying Forge extension, but it feels clunky
Dropping X11 seems huge.
How many people were using X11 on GNOME?
Yes, it's technically a huge change, but regular user won't see a difference
Removing technical debts cannot be overestimated.
Yeah forge is what I use too and it’s definitely a little clunky. PaperWM was decent last time I tried it too (but still a little clunky)
Except for removing 40% of the code base in this release.
Yes, that 40% comes from the removal of X11 support.
I don't know if any of that code even ran in a Wayland session, and makes a difference.
But what it does is take 40% load of the maintainers who can invest their time elsewhere now.
I remember reading it's 40% in an article, but now I can't find it anymore, so take it with a grain of salt.
From a non techical user perspective.
I used unmodified GNOME 40 and 49 for a week. There were few changes, I could absolutely see myself using the older version and not missing much.
In my opinion GNOME 4X is as good as linux DEs get. I would like to see some popular extensions getting official support and native dynamic tiling, but besides that it's hard to see room for improvement.
Removing X11 is a big deal, but most users won't see it as such.
Mosaicwm is great, even if still on early development.
I must check it out, thanks
That is likely to come now that they have removed all support for X11. Apparently the legacy code was preventing properly integrating a tiling system.
Did you ever use Material Shell?