Lumina (desktop environment)

Lumina
	Lumina Wisp
	Lumina 1.6.2 on DragonFly BSD
Original author(s)	Ken Moore
Developer(s)	iXsystems
Initial release	August 8, 2016; 7 years ago
Stable release	1.6.2 / 26 December 2021
Repository	github.com/lumina-desktop/lumina ;
Written in	C++
Operating system	Unix and Unix-like
Type	Desktop environment
License	BSD-3-Clause
Website	lumina-desktop.org

Lumina Desktop Environment, or simply Lumina, is a plugin-based desktop environment for Unix and Unix-like operating systems. It was designed specifically as a system interface for TrueOS and systems derived from Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) in general,^[3] but it has been ported to various Linux distributions.^[4] (Development of TrueOS ended in 2020.)

History

Created in 2012 by Ken Moore, Lumina was initially a set of extensions to Fluxbox, a stacking window manager for the X Window System.^[5] By late 2013, Moore had developed a graphical overlay for Fluxbox based on Qt4, and had created a utility for "launching applications and opening files".^[5] The codebase was integrated into the PC-BSD source repository by early 2014, and a port was added to the FreeBSD Ports collection in April 2014.^[5] The source code has since been moved to a separate GitHub repository "under the PC-BSD umbrella" and converted to use Qt5.^[5] Development also focused on replacing the Fluxbox core with a Qt-based window manager integrated with the Lumina desktop.^[5]

The project avoids use of Linux-based tools or frameworks, such as D-Bus, Polkit, and systemd.^[6]

Features

The desktop and application menus are dynamically configured upon first being launched, as the desktop environment finds installed applications automatically to add to the menu and as a desktop icon.^[4] The default panel includes a Start menu, task manager, and system tray, and its location can be customized.^[4] Menus may be accessed via the Start menu or by right-clicking the mouse on the desktop background.^[4]

Some features are specific to TrueOS, including hardware control of screen brightness (monitor backlight), preventing shutdown of an updating system, and integration with various TrueOS utilities.^[3]

Utilities include: Insight, a file manager; File information, which reports a file's format and other details; and Lumina Open, a graphical utility to launch applications based on the selected file or folder.^[4]

Version 1.4 included several new utilities.^[7] The PDF reader lumina-pdf is based on the poppler library.^[8] The Lumina Theme Engine replaced an earlier theme system; it enables a user to configure the desktop appearance and functionality, and ensures all Qt5 applications "present a unified appearance".^[7]