Table of Contents
GNU/Linux Software Guide
Distributions
Desktop Environments
Any of these desktop environments can be installed on any of the above distributions.
| Name | Toolkit | File Browser | Text Editor |
| KDE Plasma | Qt | Dolphin | Kate |
| GNOME | GTK | Nautilus | Gedit |
| XFCE | GTK | Thunar | Mousepad |
| LXDE | GTK | PCManFM | Leafpad |
| LXQt | Qt | PCManFM | Featherpad |
| Cinnamon | GTK | Nemo | Xed |
| MATE | GTK | Caja | Pluma |
Programming Languages
| Name | Compiler/Interpreter | Package Manager | Year |
| C | GCC | None | 1974 |
| PHP | PHP | Composer, search Packagist | 1995 |
| Python | Python 3 | Pip | 1991 |
| Rust | Rustc | Cargo, search Crates.io | 2010 |
| Go | Go | pkg.go.dev | 2009 |
Window Managers
These are window managers for the X11 display server.
| Name | Type | Config | Info |
| Awesome window manager | Tiling window manager | Lua (rc.lua) | Create widgets and bars, as well as menus. Window decorations |
| Openbox | Floating window manager | XML (rc.xml) | Can create menus |
| DWM | Tiling window manager | C (config.h) | Configure by editing source code, must be patched, uses slstatus to feed status bar |
| Xmonad | Tiling window manager | Haskell (xmonad.hs) | Config written in Haskell, uses xmobar as status bar |
| bspwm | Tiling window manager | Shell script (bspwmrc) | Uses sxhkd for key bindings, Bash script config. Does not have a default bar or menu |
| i3 | Tiling window manager | i3 config | Has its own status bar, simple config file, window decorations |
| spectrwm | Tiling window manager | Spectrwm config (spectrwm.conf) | Has its own status bar, simple config file |
| Herbstluftwm | Tiling window manager | Shell script (autostart) | Does not have its own bar |
Wayland Compositors
In X11, the window manager you use connects to the X11 display server. In Wayland, the Wayland compositor serves as display server, window manager, and window compositor, as well as manager of hardware inputs and outputs.
| Name | Type | Config | Info |
| Sway | Tiling Wayland compositor | Fully compatible with i3 config | The best, most fully-featured, and most reliable standalone compositor. Includes stock i3 status bar |
| River | Tiling Wayland compositor | Shell script (riverctl) | Written in Zig, similar to DWM and BSPWM on X11, configured and controlled with Riverctl. Does not include bar |
| Wayfire | Floating Wayland compositor | INI config (wayfire.ini) | Lots of eye candy, animations, and effects, provided by extensible plug-ins - fun, but resource-heavy, includes bar |
| LabWC | Floating Wayland compositor | XML (rc.xml) | Based on Openbox, compatible with OpenBox config, no workspaces |
| Hyprland | Tiling Wayland compositor | HyprLang config (hyprland.conf) | Very popular, lots of eye candy, slightly resource-heavy, has its own package manager, scripting language, etc. Does not include bar |
| DWL | Tiling Wayland compositor | C (config.h) | Based on Suckless DWM, configure by editing source code, similarly must be patched |