Muffin is the window management library and compositor used by the Cinnamon desktop environment. It is a fork of Mutter, adapted to provide Cinnamon with window management, desktop compositing, and display handling.
The project provides libmuffin, which is integrated into the Cinnamon desktop process. Unlike conventional standalone window managers, Muffin normally operates as part of Cinnamon rather than running as an independent application. A separate muffin executable is also provided, primarily for development and troubleshooting.
Muffin supports both X11 and Wayland. Under X11, it manages application windows and composites their contents onto the desktop. Under Wayland, it also functions as a display server, handling communication between applications, input devices, and the display system.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Compositing window manager designed for the Cinnamon desktop environment.
- Manages window placement, stacking, resizing, movement, and focus.
- Hardware-accelerated compositing using OpenGL and related graphics technologies.
- Supports desktop workspaces and switching between virtual desktops.
- Handles window decorations, transparency, and visual effects.
- Supports multiple monitors with configurable display arrangements.
- Manages keyboard shortcuts and window management keybindings.
- Tracks window focus and application activation requests.
- Supports X11 applications through the Xorg display server.
- Provides native Wayland compositing and display server functionality.
- Supports Xwayland for running X11 applications in Wayland sessions.
- Integrates with libinput for handling input devices in Wayland sessions.
- Uses Clutter for graphical scene management and Cogl for accelerated rendering.
- Handles monitor configuration, display scaling, and screen layout changes.
- Provides a window management library used directly by Cinnamon.
- Includes a standalone window manager executable for development and debugging.
Website: github.com/linuxmint/muffin
Support:
Developer: Linux Mint Team
License: GNU General Public License v2.0
Muffin is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| 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 |
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