Mutter is a Wayland1 display server and X11 window manager and compositor library.
When used as a Wayland display server, it runs on top of KMS and libinput. It implements the compositor side of the Wayland core protocol as well as various protocol extensions. It also has functionality related to running X11 applications using Xwayland.
When used on top of Xorg it acts as a X11 window manager and compositing manager.
Mutter is used by, for example, GNOME Shell, the GNOME core user interface, and by Gala, elementary OS’s window manager. It can also be run standalone, using the command “mutter”, but just running plain mutter is only intended for debugging purposes.
Key Features
- Uses a fork of Cogl, a hardware acceleration abstraction library used to simplify usage of OpenGL pipelines, as well as a fork of Clutter, a scene graph and user interface toolkit.
- Extensible with plug-ins, and supports numerous visual effects. GNOME Shell is written as a plug-in to Mutter.
- Support for HiDPI.
Website: gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/mutter
Support:
Developer: The GNOME Project
License: GNU General Public License v2.0
Mutter is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
1 Wayland is a computer protocol that specifies the communication between a display server and its clients, as well as a reference implementation of the protocol in the C programming language. Wayland’s main goal is replacing the X Window System with a modern, simpler windowing system in Linux and other Unix-like operating systems.
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.
 Explore our carefully curated directory of recommended free and open source software, covering every major software category.The directory forms part of our extensive collection of articles for Linux enthusiasts. It includes hundreds of detailed reviews, together with free and open source alternatives to proprietary software from companies such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. LinuxLinks also covers interesting projects worth exploring, Linux-compatible hardware, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. Know a useful free and open source Linux application that we haven’t covered? Tell us about it using our submission form. |
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.