GNOME Shell

GNOME Shell is the graphical shell of the GNOME desktop environment starting with version 3,[6] which was released on April 6, 2011. It provides basic functions like launching applications, switching between windows and is also a widget engine. GNOME Shell replaced GNOME Panel[7] and some ancillary components of GNOME 2.

GNOME Shell
GNOME Shell 3.38 (released in September 2020) showing Applications view and Status menu
Developer(s)The GNOME Project
Initial releaseApril 6, 2011 (2011-04-06)
Stable release3.38.3[1] (29 January 2021 (2021-01-29)) [±]
Preview release40.alpha[2] (26 January 2021 (2021-01-26)) [±]
Repositorygit.gnome.org/browse/gnome-shell
Written inJavaScript and C[3][4]
Operating systemBSD, Linux, Unix
Available in75 languages[5]
List of languages
Afrikaans, Arabic, Aragonese, Assamese, Asturian, Basque, Belarusian, Bengali, Bosnian, Brazilian Portuguese, British English, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, French, Friulian, Galician, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Interlingua, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Kazakh, Khmer, Kirghiz, Korean, Kurdish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Occitan, Oriya, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian, Serbian Latin, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Tajik, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Uighur, Ukrainian, Uzbek (Cyrillic), Vietnamese
Type
LicenseGPL
Websitewiki.gnome.org/Projects/GnomeShell

GNOME Shell is written in C and JavaScript as a plugin for Mutter.

In contrast to the KDE Plasma Workspaces, a software framework intended to facilitate the creation of multiple graphical shells for different devices, the GNOME Shell is intended to be used on desktop computers with large screens operated via keyboard and mouse, as well as portable computers with smaller screens operated via their keyboard, touchpad or touchscreen. However, a fork of the GNOME Shell, known as Phosh was created in 2018 for specialization with touchscreen smartphones.

History

The first concepts for GNOME Shell were created during GNOME's User Experience Hackfest 2008 in Boston.[8][9][10]

After criticism of the traditional GNOME desktop and accusations of stagnation and lacking vision,[11] the resulting discussion led to the announcement of GNOME 3.0 in April 2009.[12] Since then Red Hat has been the main driver of GNOME Shell's development.[13]

Pre-release versions of GNOME Shell were first made available in August 2009[14] and became regular, non-default part of GNOME in version 2.28 in September 2009.[15] It was finally shipped as GNOME's default user interface on April 6, 2011.[16][17]

Design

As graphical shell (graphical front-end/graphical shell/UX/UI) of the GNOME desktop environment, its design is guided by the GNOME UX Design Team.[18]

Design components
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
GNOME Shell Overview mode
1
Activities button
2
Dash
3
Search bar
4
Notifications and messaging tray
5
System status area
6
Workspace list
7
Indicators tray

The GNOME Shell comprises the following graphical and functional elements:[19]

  • Top bar
  • System status area
  • Activities Overview
  • Dash
  • Window picker
  • Application picker
  • Search
  • Notifications and messaging tray
  • Application switcher
  • Indicators tray (deprecated)

Software architecture

GNOME Shell is tightly integrated with Mutter, a compositing window manager and Wayland compositor. It is based upon Clutter to provide visual effects and hardware acceleration[20] According to GNOME Shell maintainer[21] Owen Taylor, it is set up as a Mutter plugin largely written in JavaScript[22] and uses GUI widgets provided by GTK+ version 3.

Features

Changes to the user interface (UI) include, but are not limited to:

  • Clutter and Mutter support multi-touch gestures.[23]
  • Support for HiDPI monitors.[24]
  • A new Activities overview, which houses:
    • A dock (called "Dash") for quickly switching between and launching applications
    • A window picker, similar to macOS's Mission Control, also incorporating a workspace switcher/manager
    • An application picker
    • Search
  • "Snapping" windows to screen borders to make them fill up a half of the screen or the whole screen
  • A single window button by default, Close, instead of three (configurable). Minimization has been removed due to the lack of a panel to minimize to, in favor of workspace window management. Maximization can be accomplished using the afore-mentioned window snapping, or by double-clicking the window title bar.
  • A fallback mode is offered in versions 3.0–3.6 for those without hardware acceleration which offers the GNOME Panel desktop. This mode can also be toggled through the System Settings menu.[25] GNOME 3.8 removed the fallback mode and replaced it with GNOME Shell extensions that offer a more traditional look and feel.[26]

Extensibility

The functionality of GNOME Shell can be changed with extensions, which can be written in JavaScript. Users can find and install extensions using the GNOME extensions website. Some of these extensions are hosted in GNOME's git repository, though they are not official.[27]

  • GNOME Shell Overlay Mode Windows
  • GNOME Shell Overlay Mode Applications
  • GNOME 3 Shell showing Terminal and Firefox applications

Adoption
  • Arch Linux dropped support of GNOME 2 in favor of GNOME 3 in its repositories in April 2011.[28]
  • Fedora uses GNOME Shell by default since release 15, May 2011.[29]
  • Sabayon Linux uses the latest version of GNOME Shell.
  • openSUSE's GNOME edition has used GNOME Shell since version 12.1 in November 2011.[30]
  • Mageia 2 and later include GNOME Shell, since May 2012.[31]
  • Debian 8 and later features GNOME Shell in the default desktop, since April 2015.[32][33]
  • Solaris 11.4 replaced GNOME 2 with GNOME Shell in August 2018.[34][35]
  • Ubuntu uses GNOME Shell by default since 17.10, October 2017, after Canonical ceased development of Unity.[36] It has been available for installation in the repositories since version 11.10.[37] An alternative flavor, Ubuntu GNOME, was released alongside Ubuntu 12.10,[38] and gained official flavor status by Ubuntu 13.04.[39]

Reception
See also: GNOME 3 § Criticism

GNOME Shell has received mixed reviews: It has been criticized for a variety of reasons, mostly related to design decisions and reduced user control over the environment. For example, users in the free software community have raised concerns that the planned tight integration with Mutter will mean that users of GNOME Shell will not be able to switch to an alternative window manager without breaking their desktop. In particular, users might not be able to use Compiz with GNOME Shell while retaining access to the same types of features that older versions of GNOME allowed.[40]

Reviews have generally become more positive over time, with upcoming releases addressing many of the annoyances reported by users.[41][42]

See also
  • Unity – a shell interface for GNOME used by old versions of Ubuntu

References
  1. Catanzaro, Michael (January 29, 2021). "GNOME 3.38.3 released!". GNOME Mail Services (Mailing list). Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  2. Petridis, Jordan (January 26, 2021). "GNOME 40.alpha Released". GNOME Mail Services (Mailing list). Retrieved January 26, 2021.
  3. "GNOME 3 Myths: GNOME 3.0 depends on Mono!", GNOME Live!, retrieved December 19, 2010
  4. "GNOME/gnome-shell". JavaScript: 52.9%; C: 43.3%.
  5. Module Statistics: gnome-shell, retrieved February 14, 2011
  6. "Planning for GNOME 3.0", GNOME Live!, retrieved March 23, 2011
  7. Sharma, Apoorva (March 23, 2010), "Why does Gnome-shell replace the current gnome-panel", gnome-shell-list mailing list, retrieved August 18, 2012
  8. "My glimpse at Gnome-Shell". Mad for Ubuntu. Archived from the original on May 23, 2010.
  9. "User Experience Hackfest". GNOME. October 14, 2008. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  10. "Timeline: The Greatest Show on Earth". Be the signal. March 15, 2011. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  11. "gnome in the age of decadence". wingolog. June 7, 2008. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  12. "Planning for GNOME 3.0". April 2, 2009. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  13. Matthew Garrett (mjg59) wrote, October 26, 2010 18:39:00 (October 26, 2010). "mjg59: Fun facts". Mjg59.livejournal.com. Archived from the original on May 5, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2013.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. "ftp.gnome.org". Ftp.acc.umu.se. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  15. "GNOME 2.28 Release Notes". GNOME. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  16. "GNOME 2.91.x Development Series". GNOME. March 24, 2011. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  17. "GNOME 3.0 with GNOME Shell officially launched | ITProPortal.com". Thinq.co.uk. Archived from the original on December 27, 2011. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  18. "GNOME UX Design Team". Retrieved November 13, 2014.
  19. "GNOME Shell Design". Retrieved May 21, 2014.
  20. Kissling, Kristian (July 8, 2009), "Mutter: Window Manager in GNOME's Future", Linux Pro Magazine, retrieved March 23, 2011
  21. Cutler, Paul (July 1, 2009), Behind the Scenes with Owen Taylor, retrieved January 16, 2016
  22. Taylor, Owen (March 23, 2009), "Metacity, Mutter, GNOME Shell, GNOME-2.28", desktop-devel-list mailing list, retrieved August 18, 2012, gnome-shell is set up as a Mutter plugin that is largely written in JavaScript
  23. "Mutter 3.13.4 release".
  24. "GNOME Shell 3.13.4".
  25. Ljubunčić, Igor (April 6, 2011), Gnome 3 Fallback mode - Get your productivity back, Dedoimedo, retrieved November 25, 2011
  26. "GNOME 3.7: what is happening now | Goings on". GNOME. December 5, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  27. "Extensions", GNOME Live!, retrieved November 25, 2011
  28. Bîru, Ionuț Mircea (April 30, 2011), "GNOME3 in extra", Arch Linux, retrieved December 4, 2011
  29. Releases/15/FeatureList, Fedora Project, retrieved November 25, 2011
  30. Portal:12.1, OpenSuSE Project, retrieved November 25, 2011
  31. "Release Notes", Mageia Wiki, March 7, 2012, retrieved March 24, 2012
  32. "/ packages / sid (unstable) / gnome / gnome-shell", Debian, retrieved July 10, 2012
  33. "/ packages / wheezy (testing) / gnome / gnome-shell", Debian, retrieved July 10, 2012
  34. "Oracle Solaris 11.4 Officially Released - Phoronix". www.phoronix.com. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  35. Coopersmith, Alan. "Using GNOME 3 in Oracle Solaris 11.4". Oracle Solaris Blog.
  36. http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/06/ubuntu-17-10-daily-builds-gnome
  37. "OneiricOcelot/ReleaseNotes - Ubuntu Wiki", Ubuntu Wiki, retrieved April 18, 2012
  38. Andrew (October 19, 2012). "Prefer GNOME Shell? Download Ubuntu GNOME Remix 12.10 ~ Web Upd8: Ubuntu / Linux blog". Webupd8.org. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  39. "Introduction to Ubuntu GNOME".
  40. Taylor, Owen (March 24, 2009), "Re: Metacity, Mutter, GNOME Shell, GNOME-2.28", desktop-devel-list mailing list, retrieved August 18, 2012
  41. Wallen, Jack (March 28, 2014). "GNOME 3.10 has resurrected what was once the darling of the Linux desktop". TechRepublic. Archived from the original on March 28, 2014.
  42. Matt Hartley, Chris Fisher (January 5, 2014). "In Defense of Gnome 3". Linux Action Show. Jupiter Broadcasting. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
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