Mutter (software)

Mutter
Mutter
Developer	GNOME Project
Initial release	April 2011 (2011-04)
Stable release	50.1 / 14 April 2026 (14 April 2026)
Written in	C
Operating system	Unix-like
Size	40.2 kB (amd64 .deb package)
Type	Wayland compositor; X window manager;
License	GPL-2.0-or-later
Website	mutter.gnome.org
Repository	gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/mutter

Mutter is a display server and window manager for the Wayland protocol ("compositor"). It is the default window manager for GNOME.

Mutter was initially a compositing window manager designed and implemented for the X Window System, but then evolved to be a Wayland compositor. It became the default window manager in GNOME 3, replacing Metacity⁴ which used GTK for rendering. The name "Mutter" is a combination of "Metacity" and "Clutter".

Window management

Mutter can function as a standalone window manager for GNOME-like desktops, and serves as the primary window manager for the GNOME Shell,⁵ which is an integral part of GNOME since version 3. Mutter is extensible with plug-ins, and supports numerous visual effects. GNOME Shell is written as a plug-in to Mutter.

Release history

Support for HiDPI was added to version 3.13 of Mutter by Adel Gadllah.⁶

In version 3.13.2 logind integration replaced mutter-launch.⁷

In version 3.13.3 (June 24, 2014) the server side bits of wl_touch_interface were implemented by Carlos Garnacho.⁸⁹¹⁰¹¹
Support for X11 was disabled at compile-time in GNOME 49 and officially dropped with the X11 session code removed GNOME 50, rendering Mutter exclusively a Wayland compositor. GNOME 49 and later can still run most X11 apps on the Wayland session via XWayland.

Forks

Muffin

Muffin is a fork of Mutter by the Linux Mint team for their Cinnamon desktop environment. Cinnamon's shell, a fork of GNOME Shell, is written as a plugin for Muffin.¹²

References

"Release 50.1".
"Debian Mutter Package in sid". Debian Packages.
"COPYING · master · GNOME / mutter". GNOME GitLab. Archived from the original on 2018-09-20. Retrieved 2019-03-16.
Vervloesem, Koen (2009-08-04). "Mutter: a window manager for GNOME 3". LWN.net. Retrieved 2011-12-27.
Kissling, Kristian (2009-07-08). "Mutter: Window Manager in GNOME's Future". Linux Magazine. Retrieved 2011-12-27.
Adel Gadllah (2014-05-03). "wayland: Add basic hidpi support". Retrieved 2014-05-03.
Florian Müllner (2014-05-27). "mutter 3.13.2". mail.gnome.org.
Carlos Garnacho (2014-06-04). "wayland: Implement the server side bits of wl_touch_interface".
Florian Müllner (2014-06-24). "mutter 3.13.3". ftp-release-list@gnome.org (Mailing list).
"Bug 724442 – Touchscreen does not work". bugzilla.gnome.org.
Florian Müllner (2014-07-23). "mutter 3.13.4". ftp-release-list@gnome.org (Mailing list).
Lefebvre, Clement (23 January 2012). "Cinnamon 1.2 released". cinnamon.linuxmint.com. Archived from the original on 1 November 2012.

External links

[wikidata-194a1bfad3e5399f5e69a99b54f979a676c94892-v20-1] "Release 50.1".

[2] "Debian Mutter Package in sid". Debian Packages.

[3] "COPYING · master · GNOME / mutter". GNOME GitLab. Archived from the original on 2018-09-20. Retrieved 2019-03-16.

[4] Vervloesem, Koen (2009-08-04). "Mutter: a window manager for GNOME 3". LWN.net. Retrieved 2011-12-27.

[5] Kissling, Kristian (2009-07-08). "Mutter: Window Manager in GNOME's Future". Linux Magazine. Retrieved 2011-12-27.

[6] Adel Gadllah (2014-05-03). "wayland: Add basic hidpi support". Retrieved 2014-05-03.

[7] Florian Müllner (2014-05-27). "mutter 3.13.2". mail.gnome.org.

[8] Carlos Garnacho (2014-06-04). "wayland: Implement the server side bits of wl_touch_interface".

[9] Florian Müllner (2014-06-24). "mutter 3.13.3". ftp-release-list@gnome.org (Mailing list).

[10] "Bug 724442 – Touchscreen does not work". bugzilla.gnome.org.

[11] Florian Müllner (2014-07-23). "mutter 3.13.4". ftp-release-list@gnome.org (Mailing list).

[cinnamon_1.2-12] Lefebvre, Clement (23 January 2012). "Cinnamon 1.2 released". cinnamon.linuxmint.com. Archived from the original on 1 November 2012.

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