The Simple Desktop Display Manager (SDDM) team has proudly announced the release of SDDM 0.21.0, marking a step forward in the evolution of this crucial piece of software. It serves as the first point of interaction for users with their desktop environment, managing user sessions and providing a graphical login interface.
As an X11 and Wayland display manager, it offers flexibility, customization, and ease of use, setting the stage for a seamless user experience. With that said, let’s take a look at what’s new and improved in the latest version.
SDDM 0.21.0 Highlights
Version 0.21.0 introduces a host of improvements and bug fixes aimed at streamlining the login experience for users across various Linux distributions.
Among the notable changes are the optimizations to keyboard layout listings in the Wayland greeter, simplifications to handling temporary files in “/var/log,” and removing redundant checks for the XDG environment.
Further enhancing its compatibility and ease of use, SDDM has made strides in session management by manually parsing “.desktop” files again, improving the greeter’s platform detection via “WAYLAND_DISPLAY,” and refining the handling of virtual keyboards on Wayland sessions.
Additionally, this release brings the SDDM greeter up to date with support for both Qt 5 and Qt 6, making it coinstallable and more flexible for theme developers.
Significant under-the-hood changes include adjustments to the DBus interface XML syntax, reduced unnecessary dependencies, and updates to the installation paths for DBus policies, now favoring “/usr/share” over “/etc.”
For FreeBSD users, adding and installing PAM services marks a noteworthy improvement, alongside the option to disable PAM file installation entirely for a more customized setup.
In terms of internationalization, the SDDM 0.21.0 release expands its reach by adding a Bulgarian translation, alongside updates to Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese translations, thanks to contributions from the community.
Lastly, as the SDDM team diligently works toward the landmark release of v1.0, they invite the community for support. Whether through filing bug reports, contributing pull requests, or joining the team, there’s an open call for collaboration to help push SDDM to new heights.
Refer to the release announcement for detailed information about all changes.
