The GNOME Project has released the Release Candidate (RC) version of the upcoming GNOME 49 desktop environment, which is anticipated to be fully launched on September 17th. This new version includes significant updates and fixes across various components such as GNOME Shell, Mutter, and Nautilus. Among the most notable changes is the decision to re-enable X11 support by default in the GNOME Display Manager (GDM). This move was prompted by challenges in segregating GDM’s capabilities to start modern X11 sessions, as X11 support had been disabled in the earlier alpha release.
The developers aimed to streamline GDM’s integration, saying, “We found it difficult to cleanly separate GDM’s ability to launch modern X11 sessions…from the rest of GDM’s X11 integration, which we intended to disable but leave intact.” Future updates are planned to remove comprehensive X11 integration while keeping the ability to initiate modern X11 sessions.
In addition to X11 support, GNOME 49 RC brings improved styling for media notifications on the lock screen and enhances compatibility with WPA(2) Enterprise networks. The Mutter window and composite manager now also supports various improvements, including extended sRGB blending, new configurations for Wayland, and support for high refresh rates and color calibration.
The release candidate also increases the default virtual machine storage in GNOME Boxes from 20 GB to 30 GB and improves the performance of very large numbers in the GNOME Calculator. Other notable features include support for SPICE in the GNOME Connections app, a full-screen mode in the GNOME Console terminal, and enhanced functionalities in the Orca screen reader.
Users can explore the complete changelog and try out the new features by downloading the ISO image for virtual testing. The full release is set to arrive on September 17, 2025.
For further details, visit the release announcement page.
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