MATE ( )
is a
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 ...
composed of
free and open-source software
Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a 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 encompassing free ...
that runs on
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 such as
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 ...
, and
illumos
Illumos (stylized as "illumos") is a partly free and open-source Unix operating system. It has been developed since 2010 and is based on OpenSolaris, after the discontinuation of that product by Oracle. It comprises a kernel, device driver ...
.
Name
MATE is named after the South American plant
yerba mate
Yerba mate or yerba maté (), ''Ilex paraguariensis'', is a plant species of the holly genus native to South America. It was named by the French botanist Augustin Saint-Hilaire. The leaves of the plant can be steeped in hot water to make a bev ...
and tea made from the herb,
mate.
The name is stylized in all capital letters to follow the nomenclature of other Free Software desktop environments like
KDE Plasma
KDE Plasma is a Shell (computing), graphical shell developed by the KDE community for Unix-like operating systems. It serves as the interface layer between the user and the operating system, providing a graphical user interface (GUI) and workspa ...
and
LXDE
LXDE (abbreviation for Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment) is a Free and open-source software, free desktop environment with comparatively low resource requirements. This makes it especially suitable for use on older or resource-constrained pe ...
. The
recursive
Recursion occurs when the definition of a concept or process depends on a simpler or previous version of itself. Recursion is used in a variety of disciplines ranging from linguistics to logic. The most common application of recursion is in m ...
backronym
A backronym is an acronym formed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of false etymology or folk etymology. The ...
"MATE Advanced Traditional Environment" was subsequently adopted by most of the MATE community, again in the spirit of Free Software like
GNU
GNU ( ) is an extensive collection of free software (394 packages ), which can be used as an operating system or can be used in parts with other operating systems. The use of the completed GNU tools led to the family of operating systems popu ...
("GNU's Not Unix!").
The use of a new name, instead of GNOME, avoids naming conflicts with GNOME 3 components.
History
Perberos, an Argentine user of
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 ...
, started the MATE project to
fork and continue
GNOME 2 in response to the negative
reception of GNOME 3, which had replaced its traditional
taskbar
The taskbar is a graphical user interface element that has been part of Microsoft Windows since Windows 95, displaying and facilitating switching between running computer program, programs. The taskbar and the associated Start menu, Start Menu were ...
(
GNOME Panel
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 ...
) with
GNOME Shell. MATE aims to maintain and continue the latest GNOME 2 code base, frameworks, and core applications.
MATE was initially announced for Debian on November 8, 2013, at its official website.
MATE became an official Arch Linux community package in January 2014.
Component applications

MATE has forked a number of applications which originated as
GNOME Core Applications
The GNOME Core Applications (also known as Apps for GNOME) are a software suite of software applications that are packaged as part of the standard free and open-source GNOME desktop environment. GNOME Core Applications have a consistent look and ...
, and developers have written several other applications from scratch. The forked applications have new names, most of them from Spanish.
Development

MATE fully supports the
GTK
GTK (formerly GIMP ToolKit and GTK+) is a free software cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs). It is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, allowing both Free software, free and ...
3 application framework. The project is supported by
Ubuntu MATE
Ubuntu MATE is a Free and open-source software, free and open-source Linux distribution and an official derivative work, derivative of Ubuntu. Its main differentiation from Ubuntu is that it uses the MATE (software), MATE desktop environment as it ...
lead developer Martin Wimpress and by the
Linux Mint
Linux Mint is a community-developed Linux distribution. It is based on Ubuntu and designed for x86-64 based computers; another variant is based on Debian which is named Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) and has both 64-bit and IA-32 support. T ...
development team:
New features have been added to Caja such as undo/redo
and diff viewing for file replacements.
MATE 1.6 removes some deprecated libraries, moving from mate-conf (a fork of
GConf
GConf was a system used by the GNOME desktop environment for storing configuration settings for the desktop and applications. It is similar to the Windows Registry.
It was deprecated as part of the GNOME 3 transition. Migration to its replac ...
) to
GSettings, and from mate-corba (a fork of GNOME's
Bonobo
The bonobo (; ''Pan paniscus''), also historically called the pygmy chimpanzee (less often the dwarf chimpanzee or gracile chimpanzee), is an endangered great ape and one of the two species making up the genus ''Pan (genus), Pan'' (the other bei ...
) to
D-Bus
D-Bus (short for "Desktop Bus")
is a message-oriented middleware mechanism that allows communication between multiple Process (computing), processes running concurrently on the same machine. D-Bus was developed as part of the freedesktop.org pro ...
.
One of the aims of the MATE developers is to provide a traditional user experience while using the newest technologies. In MATE 1.20, which was released in February 2018, support for
HiDPI was added and the
GTK
GTK (formerly GIMP ToolKit and GTK+) is a free software cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs). It is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, allowing both Free software, free and ...
version got increased to 3.22. The MATE 1.22 release migrated many programs from
Python 2 to Python 3 and from dbus-glib to
GDBus
D-Bus (short for "Desktop Bus")
is a message-oriented middleware mechanism that allows communication between multiple Process (computing), processes running concurrently on the same machine. D-Bus was developed as part of the freedesktop.org pro ...
. In an upcoming version, support for
Wayland will be added.
Release history

Note that there are an odd number of versions between each official release. They are treated as versions under development, and are not announced as official releases.
Adoption
The MATE website lists 27
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 and 5
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 support the MATE desktop environment.
Reception
MATE was criticized for having no
Wayland support but in version 1.28 Wayland support was "initially added".
[https://wiki.mate-desktop.org/developers-corner/wayland-meson/] Some users are now sticking more to the Wayland support, as Wayland has significant improvements since.
See also
*
Budgie
*
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 ...
*
GNOME Flashback
*
LXDE
LXDE (abbreviation for Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment) is a Free and open-source software, free desktop environment with comparatively low resource requirements. This makes it especially suitable for use on older or resource-constrained pe ...
*
LXQt
LXQt is a free and open-source software, free and open source lightweight desktop environment. It was formed from the merger of the LXDE and Razor-qt projects.
Like its GTK predecessor LXDE, LXQt does not ship or develop its own window manager ...
*
Xfce
Xfce or XFCE (pronounced as four individual letters, ) is a Free and open-source software, free and open-source desktop environment for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems.
Xfce aims to be fast and Lightweight software, lightweight whil ...
References
External links
*
Official wiki
{{GNOME
2011 software
Desktop environments based on GTK
Free desktop environments
GNOME
Software forks