Budgie is an independent,

free and open-source Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a Software license, license that grants users the right to use, modify, and distribute the software modified or not to everyone free of charge. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term ...

desktop environment In computing, a desktop environment (DE) is an implementation of the desktop metaphor made of a bundle of programs running on top of a computer operating system that share a common graphical user interface (GUI), sometimes described as a graphi ...

for

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

and other

Unix-like A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X, *nix or *NIX) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. A Uni ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

s that targets the

desktop metaphor In computing, the desktop metaphor is an interface metaphor which is a set of unifying concepts used by graphical user interfaces to help users interact more easily with the computer. The desktop metaphor treats the computer monitor as if it is ...

. Budgie is developed by the Buddies of Budgie organization, which is composed of a team of contributors from

Linux distribution A Linux distribution, often abbreviated as distro, is an operating system that includes the Linux kernel for its kernel functionality. Although the name does not imply product distribution per se, a distro—if distributed on its own—is oft ...

s such as

Fedora A fedora () is a hat with a soft brim and indented crown.Kilgour, Ruth Edwards (1958). ''A Pageant of Hats Ancient and Modern''. R. M. McBride Company. It is typically creased lengthwise down the crown and "pinched" near the front on both sides ...

Debian Debian () is a free and open-source software, free and open source Linux distribution, developed by the Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock in August 1993. Debian is one of the oldest operating systems based on the Linux kerne ...

, and

Arch Linux Arch Linux () is an Open-source software, open source, rolling release Linux distribution. Arch Linux is kept up-to-date by regularly updating the individual pieces of software that it comprises. Arch Linux is intentionally minimal, and is meant ...

. Its design emphasizes simplicity, minimalism, and elegance, while providing the means to extend or customize the desktop in various ways. Unlike desktop environments like

Cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, biscuits, b ...

, Budgie does not have a reference platform, and all distributions that ship Budgie are recommended to set defaults that best fit their desired

user experience User experience (UX) is how a user interacts with and experiences a product, system or service. It includes a person's perceptions of utility, ease of use, and efficiency. Improving user experience is important to most companies, designers, a ...

. Budgie is also shipped as an edition of certain Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu Budgie.

History

Budgie was created by Ikey Doherty as the default desktop environment for his new

, EvolveOS, which was eventually renamed to Solus. The intention was to use

GNOME A gnome () is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and widely adopted by authors, including those of modern fantasy literature. They are typically depict ...

components to create a more lightweight and traditional desktop that still had most of the features that GNOME provided at the time. Development was announced on , with the first public version being released soon after on . Budgie had a flurry of releases in 2015, culminating in version 10 being released in December of that year, a full rewrite of the codebase in the Vala programming language. The desktop soon spread to distributions other than Solus, with SparkyLinux and Manjaro adopting the desktop environment in 2015.

Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed primarily of free and open-source software. Developed by the British company Canonical (company), Canonical and a community of contributors under a Meritocracy, meritocratic gover ...

, and

Void Linux Void Linux is an independent Linux distribution that uses the X Binary Package System (XBPS) package manager, which was designed and implemented from scratch, and the runit init system. Excluding binary kernel blobs, a base install is composed e ...

followed in 2016, with a dedicated "remix" edition for Ubuntu being created, eventually renamed to

Ubuntu Budgie Ubuntu Budgie is an official community flavor of Ubuntu. It combines the Ubuntu-based system with the independently developed Budgie desktop environment. History Ubuntu Budgie started out as an unofficial community flavor in parallel with Ubun ...

when it was adopted by Canonical as an official flavor. Doherty made his last commit to the

repository Repository may refer to: Archives and online databases * Content repository, a database with an associated set of data management tools, allowing application-independent access to the content * Disciplinary repository (or subject repository), an ...

on . Later, on , it was announced that Doherty had ceased communication with the rest of the Solus team for unknown reasons, leaving Solus (and thus Budgie) without a lead developer. Joshua Strobl, one of the members of the newly formed Solus core team and an already active contributor to Budgie, took up the responsibility of continuing Budgie's development after Doherty's departure. On , Strobl resigned from Solus and established Buddies of Budgie, a new organization for Budgie development, with other active contributors. Under this new organization, Budgie development shifted from being focused on Solus to being focused on improving the experience across all distributions that ship Budgie. The first release under this new organization was v10.6, released on . The desktop had incremental releases in 2022. During this time, contributors to the project that had ceased involvement with Solus began contributing to other Linux distributions. Notably, Joshua Strobl began contributing to

Fedora Linux Fedora Linux is a Linux distribution developed by the Fedora Project. It was originally developed in 2003 as a continuation of the Red Hat Linux project. It contains software distributed under various free and open-source licenses and aims to b ...

, leading to the inclusion of Budgie in the Fedora repositories and the approval of a Fedora Budgie "spin" to be released with Fedora 38. In 2023, v10.7 was released, the second major release under Buddies of Budgie, and inclusion of the Budgie package set into both

FreeBSD FreeBSD is a free-software Unix-like operating system descended from the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). The first version was released in 1993 developed from 386BSD, one of the first fully functional and free Unix clones on affordable ...

- the first

BSD The Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), also known as Berkeley Unix or BSD Unix, is a discontinued Unix operating system developed and distributed by the Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG) at the University of California, Berkeley, beginni ...

derivative to ship the desktop - and NixOS.

Additional components

Budgie Desktop View

Budgie Desktop View is a software component meant to provide desktop icons within Budgie. Budgie Desktop View is implemented in Vala, and uses GTK 3 for widgets. The

source code In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer. Since a computer, at base, only ...

is available under the Apache License 2.0.

Magpie

Magpie is a fork of the

GNOME Project GNOME Project is a community behind the GNOME desktop environment and the software platform upon which it is based. It consists of all the software developers, artists, writers, translators, other contributors, and active users of GNOME. The GNOM ...

's Mutter

window manager A window manager is system software that controls the placement and appearance of window (computing), windows within a windowing system in a graphical user interface. Most window managers are designed to help provide a desktop environment. They ...

with Wayland support removed, principally intended to reduce the maintenance burden of

stack upgrades by stabilizing on a particular version of the Mutter

API An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build ...

. Magpie is implemented in C, and its source code is available under the GNU GPLv2.

Budgie Control Center

Budgie Control Center is a fork of GNOME Control Center with Budgie-specific settings and features, and is the standard settings application for Budgie. Budgie Control Center is implemented in C, and uses GTK 3 and libhandy for widgets. The source code is available under the GNU GPLv2.

Budgie Screensaver

Budgie Screensaver is a fork of GNOME Screensaver with additional fixes and minor updates, and serves to provide an authentication prompt when the system is locked. Budgie Screensaver is implemented in C, and uses GTK 3 for widgets. The source code is available under the GNU GPLv2.

Budgie Backgrounds

Budgie Backgrounds is Budgie's default set of background images for use with Linux distributions that do not provide their own, and is entirely composed of

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

images. The source code and images are available under the Creative Commons Zero v1.0 license.

Releases

Adoption

Reception

Budgie has been generally well received, with reviews noting its appealing visual design and intuitive layout. Bertel King wrote in 2018 that "Budgie feels like someone took the great things about GNOME, took out all the not so great things, set some great default options, and sent that out into the world." However, King also considered this a negative, writing that Budgie "can feel more like a customized version of GNOME than a separate entity." John Perkins described Budgie as "a beautiful desktop that aims to provide sane defaults and a beautiful interface," while lamenting its limited availability on distributions other than Solus.

Gallery

File:Solus Budgie 4.3.jpg, The Budgie Edition of Solus 4.3, showing Budgie v10.5.3 with the Raven sidebar expanded to show the Applets view. File:Ubuntu Budgie 22.10.png, Ubuntu Budgie 22.10 showing a heavily customized Budgie v10.6, with the custom application menu expanded. File:Budgie on EndeavourOS Cassini Neo.jpg, The Budgie profile of EndeavourOS Cassini Neo, showing Budgie v10.7.1 with the EndeavourOS Welcome application shown in the center of the screen. File:Fedora Budgie 38 Beta.jpg, The beta version of the Fedora Budgie spin arriving in Fedora 38, showing Budgie v10.7.1 with desktop icons enabled and several application windows on the desktop. File:Budgie on Ultramarine Linux 37.jpg, Budgie on Ultramarine Linux 37, showing Budgie v10.7.1 with desktop icons enabled and the Icon Task List moved to the center of the bottom panel.

References

External links

* {{X desktop environments and window managers Desktop environments based on GTK Free desktop environments Software forks Software that uses Meson X Window System