LXQt

Last updated

LXQt
Original author(s) Hong Jen Yee (“PCMan”)
Developer(s) The LXQt team [1]
Initial releaseJuly 21, 2013;10 years ago (2013-07-21)
Stable release
2.0.0 [2]   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg / 15 April 2024
Repository
Written in C++, C, Qt
Operating system Unix-like
Available inMultilingual
Type Desktop environment
License GPL, LGPL
Website lxqt-project.org   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

LXQt is a free and open source lightweight desktop environment. It was formed from the merger of the LXDE and Razor-qt projects.

Contents

Like its GTK predecessor LXDE, LXQt does not ship or develop its own window manager, instead LXQt lets the user decide which (supported) window manager they want to use. [3] Linux distributions commonly default LXQt to Openbox, Xfwm4, or KWin.

History

Dissatisfied with GTK 3, [4] LXDE maintainer Hong Jen Yee experimented with Qt in early 2013 [5] and released the first version of a Qt-based PCMan File Manager on 26 March 2013. [4] He clarified, though, that this means no departure from GTK in LXDE, saying "The GTK and Qt versions will coexist". He later ported LXDE's xrandr front-end to Qt. [6]

On 3 July 2013 Hong Jen Yee announced a Qt port of the full LXDE suite, [7] and on 21 July 2013, Razor-qt and LXDE announced that they had decided to merge the two projects. [8] [9] This merge meant that the GTK and the Qt versions coexisted in the short term, but eventually development of the GTK version significantly slowed and most efforts were focused on the Qt port. [8] The merge of LXDE-Qt and Razor-qt was renamed LXQt, [10] and the first release, version 0.7.0, was made available on 7 May 2014. [11]

With the 0.13 release on 21 May 2018 the LXQt project formally split from LXDE with the move to a separate GitHub organization. [12]

Software components

LXQt consists of many modular components, some of them depending on Qt and KDE Frameworks 5. [13]

NameDependencies (besides Qt)Comments
QTerminalUse the command line, composed for and now part of LXQt
LXImage-Qt Image viewer
lxqt-menu-dataFiles required for freedesktop.org desktop menus
lxqt-aboutAbout dialog
lxqt-adminSystem administration tool
lxqt-archiverFile archiver
lxqt-commonCommon files (graphics files, themes, desktop entry files ...)
lxqt-configKScreenSystem settings center
lxqt-globalkeysDaemon and library for global keyboard shortcuts registration
lxqt-notificationdNotification daemon
lxqt-openssh-askpass openssh password prompt
lxqt-panel Solid Desktop panel (taskbar)
lxqt-policykit Polkit authentication agent
lxqt-powermanagementSolidPower management daemon
lxqt-qtpluginQt platform integration plugin (all Qt-based programs can adopt settings of LXQt)
lxqt-runner Application launcher
lxqt-sessionsession manager
lxqt-sudoGUI frontend for sudo/su
menu-cache
ObConf-Qt Openbox configuration tool written in Qt
pavucontrol-qtPulseAudioVolume manager for PulseAudio
compton-conf GUI configuration tool for Compton X composite manager (metacity ⇒ xcompmgr ⇒ dcompmgr ⇒ Compton) [14]
PCManFM-QtFile manager, Qt port of PCManFM
qt-gtk-engineTheming GTK 3 programs with Qt styles
ScreenGrabScreenshot program

Adoption

Operating

System

Officially

Supported

Notes
Arch Linux [15] Yes [16] Offered as a desktop in archinstall. Also other Arch Linux based Linux distributions.
Artix Linux [ citation needed ]A LXQt ISO is available.
Debian [17] YesAlso other Debian-based Linux distributions.
Fedora Linux [18] YesAvailable as a Fedora Spin.
Lubuntu [19] YesOfficial Ubuntu flavor with LXQt by default.
Manjaro [20] Yes
openSUSE [ citation needed ] GeckoLinux offers a LXQt ISO. [21]

Version history

LXQt releases
VersionDateKey features
Old version, no longer maintained: 0.7 [11] 7 May 2014
Old version, no longer maintained: 0.8 [22] 13 Nov 2014bringing full Qt 5 compatibility
Old version, no longer maintained: 0.9 [23] 8 Feb 2015Featuring heavy internal cleanups and refactorings. Compatibility with Qt 4 was dropped, requiring Qt 5 & KDE Frameworks 5. Qt 5.3 is now the minimum required version. [24]
Old version, no longer maintained: 0.10 [25] 2 Nov 2015
Old version, no longer maintained: 0.11 [26] 24 Sep 2016To address concerns that LXQt being Qt-based might cause heavy memory usage, this release was benchmarked, revealing that LXQt used slightly less memory than Xfce, and that the "memory usage of LXQt is quite similar to the original LXDE (gtk2) while many new features are added". [27]
Old version, no longer maintained: 0.12 [28] 21 May 2017minimum Qt version 5.6.1 [29]
Old version, no longer maintained: 0.13 [12] 21 May 2018All packages are ready for Qt 5.11
Old version, no longer maintained: 0.14 [30] 25 Jan 2019
Old version, no longer maintained: 0.15 [31] 24 Apr 2020
Old version, no longer maintained: 0.16 [32] 4 Nov 2020Three new themes; Clearlooks, Leech and Kvantum.
Old version, no longer maintained: 0.17 [33] 15 Apr 2021
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.0.0 [34] 5 Nov 2021
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.1.0 [35] 15 Apr 2022
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.2.0 [36] 5 Nov 2022
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.3.0 [37] 15 Apr 2023
Older version, yet still maintained: 1.4.0 [38] 5 Nov 2023Last Version based on Qt 5.15
Current stable version:2.0.0 [39] 15 Apr 2024First version based on Qt 6.6
Legend:
Old version
Older version, still maintained
Latest version
Latest preview version
Future release

See also

Related Research Articles

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LXDE is a free desktop environment with comparatively low resource requirements. This makes it especially suitable for use on older or resource-constrained personal computers such as netbooks or system on a chip computers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PCMan File Manager</span> File manager

PCMan File Manager (PCManFM) is a file manager application, developed by Hong Jen Yee from Taiwan, which is meant to be a replacement for GNOME Files, Dolphin and Thunar. PCManFM is the standard file manager in LXDE, also developed by the same author in conjunction with other developers. Since 2010, PCManFM has undergone a complete rewrite from scratch; build instructions, setup and configuration have changed in the process.

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References

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  5. "PCManFM file manager is ported to Qt?". LXDE Blog. 19 February 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  6. PCMan (1 May 2013). "LXDE xrandr GUI Frontent lxrandr is Ported to Qt in One Day". LXDE Development (Mailing list). Archived from the original on 9 July 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  7. "LXDE - LXDE-Qt Preview". Blog.lxde.org. 3 July 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
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