Magpie is an X11 window manager and compositing library developed by the Buddies of Budgie project. It originated as a fork of GNOME’s Mutter compositor, adapted to meet the requirements of the Budgie desktop environment.
Magpie provided the window management foundation for Budgie’s X11 desktop sessions. It was responsible for managing application windows, focus behaviour, workspaces and graphical composition.
The project separated its libraries and supporting components from Mutter so that Budgie and other Mutter-based desktop environments could coexist without conflicting over shared components.
Magpie was developed for integration with Budgie rather than as a general-purpose standalone window manager. Although it can be launched independently for debugging, its intended role was to provide the compositing and window management infrastructure for the desktop.
Budgie subsequently migrated to Wayland and adopted labwc as its compositor, leaving this X11-based implementation primarily relevant to earlier Budgie installations.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- X11 window management and integrated compositing functionality.
- Window focus tracking, placement and stacking management.
- Workspace management and navigation.
- Keyboard shortcut handling for window management operations.
- Monitor configuration and handling of multiple displays.
- Hardware-accelerated graphical composition using Mutter-derived rendering technology.
- Scene management functionality through its Clutter-derived infrastructure.
- Compositing functionality for transparency and graphical desktop effects.
- Separate library naming and installation locations to avoid conflicts with Mutter.
- Integration with the Budgie desktop shell and its window management requirements.
- Standalone execution capability for development and debugging.
Website: github.com/BuddiesOfBudgie/magpie
Support:
Developer: Buddies of Budgie
License: GNU General Public License v2.0
Magpie is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Stacking Window Managers | |
|---|---|
| Openbox | Standards compliant, fast, light-weight, extensible window manager |
| KWin | Window manager for the KDE Plasma Desktop |
| Mutter | Wayland display server and X11 window manager and compositor library |
| FVWM | Powerful ICCCM-compliant multiple virtual desktop window manager |
| berry | Healthy, bite-sized window manager |
| xfwm | Part of the Xfce desktop environment |
| Window Maker | NeXTSTEP-like window manager |
| JWM | Joe’s Window Manager |
| Gala | Designed by elementary for use with Pantheon |
| Fluxbox | Highly configurable and low resource |
| evilwm | Maximises screen real estate and provides good keyboard control |
| Worm | Tiny, dynamic, tag-based window manager |
| Blackbox | Similar to the NeXT interface and Window Maker |
| Enlightenment | Focuses on pushing the limits of existing technologies |
| PekWM | Originally based on the aewm++ window manager |
| Marco | MATE default window manager |
| 2bwm | Offers 2 borders, and written over the XCB library |
| cwm | OpenBSD fork of calmwn, a clean and lightweight window manager |
| IceWM | Win95-OS/2-Motif-like window manager |
| Sawfish | Extensible window manager using an Emacs Lisp-like scripting language |
| Moksha | Modern iteration of the Enlightenment window manager |
| Magpie | X11 window manager and compositor library |
| EMWM | Fork of the Motif Window Manager |
| sowm | Itsy bitsy floating window manager |
| CTWM | X11 window manager derived from twm |
| Compiz | OpenGL window and compositing manager |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
| Compositing Window Managers | |
|---|---|
| sway | i3-compatible tiling Wayland compositor and a replacement for i3 |
| KWin | Window manager for the KDE Plasma Desktop |
| Mutter | Wayland display server and X11 window manager and compositor library |
| Moksha | Modern iteration of the Enlightenment window manager |
| xfwm | Part of the Xfce desktop environment |
| Compiz | OpenGL window and compositing manager |
| Gala | Designed by elementary for use with Pantheon |
| Enlightenment | Focuses on pushing the limits of existing technologies |
| Magpie | X11 window manager and compositor library |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
| Stacking Wayland Compositors | |
|---|---|
| KWin | Window manager for the KDE Plasma Desktop |
| Mutter | Wayland display server, X11 window manager and compositor library |
| Wayfire | 3D Wayland compositor, inspired by Compiz |
| labwc | Lab Wayland Compositor |
| Waybox | Minimalist Wayland compositor |
| Enlightenment | Window manager and desktop environment |
| wlmaker | Wayland compositor inspired by Window Maker |
| Weston | Lightweight and functional Wayland compositor |
| COSMIC Comp | Wayland compositor for the COSMIC desktop environment |
| Miriway | Mir based Wayland compositor |
| Woodland | wlroots-based window-stacking compositor for Wayland |
| hikari | Actively developed on FreeBSD but also supports Linux |
| croissant | Written in C |
| Otto | Visually focused desktop system and Wayland compositor |
| Hopalong | Simple Wayland compositor with a feature set that’s comparable to XFWM |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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