Xubuntu 24.10 Released

Table of Contents

Xubuntu 24.10, “Oracular Oriole,” is now available. This 38th release of Xubuntu features many updated applications from Xfce (4.18 and 4.19), GNOME (46 and 47), and MATE (1.26). In particular, the Xfce 4.19 components are prerelease software: Xfce 4.20 is the next stable release, due in December of this year.

The Xubuntu 24.10 desktop. The Xfce panel is displayed at the top of the screen with an application menu icon, status indicators, and a clock. The desktop shows the Home and Trash icons on top of the deep blue, orange, and yellow wallpaper. — Xubuntu 24.10 features apps from Xfce 4.18 and 4.19, GNOME 46 and 47, and MATE 1.26.

In the following article, I will share some highlights from the new release. For a more expansive changelog, see the Xubuntu 24.10 release notes on the Xubuntu Wiki.

Xfce 4.19: A Development Snapshot

Xfce 4.20 is scheduled to be released in two months. In just over two weeks, the first deadline (pre1) will initiate a feature and string freeze. Until that point, the developers are frantically working to finish new features and rapidly iterating new releases.

Xfce 4.19 apps are displayed from left-to-right: Settings, App Finder, Thunar, and Power Manager — Xfce 4.19 apps on display. From the left: Settings, App Finder, Thunar, Power Manager

There are two updates common between components:

Improved scaling
Improved support for Wayland

Several apps and libraries have been updated with quality-of-life improvements:

libxfce4ui adds support for single modifier key shortcuts; this enables e.g. the Super (Windows) key shortcut without a helper application like xcape
Thunar File Manager (thunar) adds support for typeahead search on the sidebar and introduces support for IPv6 remote URLs
Xfce App Finder (xfce4-appfinder) adds keyboard shortcuts for executing commands and navigating the results list
Xfce Desktop (xfdesktop4) now dithers wallpaper gradients to reduce color banding
Xfce Power Manager (xfce4-power-manager) adds support for handling events when the laptop lid is closed and improves the battery level icon, brightness level management, and inhibiting power management
Xfce Session (xfce4-session) adds support for xdg-desktop-portal
Xfce Settings (xfce4-settings) improves dark theme detection, syncing the dark or light style to supported applications, such as GNOME’s libadwaita apps

A demonstration GIF is displayed. The screen switches between a dark theme and a light theme, with apps changing at the same time. — Selecting a dark theme now reliably syncs the dark mode preference to supported apps.

GNOME 47: Honing the Adwaita Style

Xubuntu ships a handful of GNOME apps to provide a complete desktop experience. Of those, Disk Usage Analyzer, Font Viewer, and Sudoku received some minor improvements.

Disk Usage Analyzer (baobab) was ported to libadwaita, modernizing the user interface
Font Viewer (gnome-font-viewer) adds a slant preview and fixes a bug where the “Install” button would stay stuck as “Installing” after the installation was complete
Sudoku (gnome-sudoku) adds several keyboard shortcuts and a new zoom feature and improves support for dark mode

A screenshot of the Sudoku game. It demonstrates the updated dark theme support. — GNOME Sudoku features improved dark mode support, making it easy on the eyes when playing Sudoku late into the night.

Snap Packages: Better Each Release

Snap packages, like them or hate them, are at home on Xubuntu. We ship App Center, Firefox, Firmware Updater, and Thunderbird snap packages; each have had substantial updates this release.

App Center (snap-store) improves self-updates, identifies running packages, enables uninstallation of packages from the manage page, adds support for scrolling on touch screens, and finally supports installation of .deb packages
Firmware Updater (firmware-updater) includes a handful of minor fixes and significantly expands translation coverage
Firefox and Thunderbird have both shipped significant updates in recent months. I can’t do them justice in a few lines of text, but you can read their release notes ( Firefox, Thunderbird)

A screenshot of the Ubuntu App Center app. The Manage page is displayed, demonstrating the newly available Uninstall option. — The App Center can now uninstall snap packages directly from the Manage page.

Check Out Xubuntu 24.10

Xubuntu 24.10 offers a glimpse at the future of Xfce and continues to modernize the desktop while making conservative improvements to the desktop experience. It’s a bit fresher but also less stable. If you want to take it for a ride, you can download an ISO from the Xubuntu website.

We hope you enjoy the Xubuntu team’s work to bring you the best Xfce experience. If you encounter bugs on your journey, report them! This is the only opportunity for many to try Xfce before the next stable release. It’s an excellent opportunity to catch bugs and ensure the next release is stable on day one. You can report bugs either to the Xubuntu team or upstream Xfce.