Recommended applications

This page lists X11, Wayland)]], with suggestions for reliable and easy to install software for common Gentoo Linux needs.

Most of these packages are in the stable branch, but some useful and otherwise high quality software is still in the testing branch. Testing branch packages may be made available for installation by accepting a keyword for a single package, however packages from the testing branch should only be used after taking note of any risks.

In most cases, software designed for one desktop environment will work just as well with another desktop environment, though sometimes with slightly less integration. Installing software from a different desktop environment may pull in more dependencies than an equivalent native application; there is usually no issue at all with this.

To reference a new piece of software here, please read the adding to this page section.

This is a "best of kind" list, much more software is available on Gentoo. Use eix or browse packages.gentoo.org to find all applications available on Gentoo.

Desktop environment
A desktop environment is a complete ecosystem of software and resources providing a homogenous graphical user experience. Generally based on specific widgets, configuration system, root window with desktop background, taskbar with window list and menu, icons, window manager etc. It provides a coherent visual metaphor for a user to interact with the computer.

A desktop environment can be a great convenience to most users, though a custom graphical environment can be assembled if preferred, i.e. Xorg could be used with a window manager and select desktop utilities. Gentoo does not have separate releases or "flavors" for different desktop environments, as some other distributions do - a desktop environment is simply installed on the base system. Gentoo's flexibility means that many desktop environments are available, and more than one can generally be installed in parallel. Gentoo can of course be used exclusively in text mode, as a server platform for example.

Clipboard managers
The X11 clipboard supports multiple selections which may be filled by simply selecting text on the screen or by specifically using a copy function. X11 selections have a coherent operation and applications implement their use by convention, though the conventions are not always fully respected. Clipboard managers generally manage a history of the X11 selections and sometimes modify their behavior.

Taskbars / Panels
A taskbar is generally a strip on one edge of the screen with a menu, a representation of open windows, shortcuts to launch apps, widgets to display information etc. Desktop environments usually provide a taskbar but the default can often be replaced or complemented according to user preference. A taskbar associated with a window manager can form the basis of a custom desktop environment.

Window managers
A window manager manages the creation, manipulation, and destruction of on-screen windows and window decorations in X11. If a desktop environment is used, a window manager will generally be provided. This it the list of the currently most used window managers, for a more complete list of packages available on Gentoo, see this list.

Archive managers
Theses graphical file archivers support multiple archive formats and should work with any desktop environment. See data compression for more information on archivers in general.

File managers
See file managers for more information.

Text editors
See also the text editor article.

Chat clients / video conferencing
Some popular proprietary messaging services can be found in the repositories if needed, such as Discord, Skype , Telegram ( or ). Some other services can be used on Gentoo using their web interface, such as WhatsApp.

Audio
See also music production.

Scanning
See the wiki page on SANE for more information on scanning in Gentoo.

Programming text editors
See also the text editor article.

Hardware management
See also the article on hardware detection software.

Terminal emulators
A terminal emulator enables interaction with the system through a powerful text based interface. See the terminal emulator article for more information and even more package choices.

Virtualization
Gentoo provides GUI software to easily use virtual machines. See virtualization article for more software.

Adding to this page
The applications listed here should be widely useful, and of sufficient quality, to merit inclusion. This page is a work in progress.

If you regularly use a desktop software package from the Gentoo repository and can confirm it is of excellent quality, stable and of broad appeal for common tasks, please add it to the list ! The software should at least be maintained (i.e. relatively recent commits to the source; have periodic releases; not have too many reported bugs; most bugs should be getting fixed rather than accumulating, etc.), and preferably be well documented and from the stable branch. Please don't use this page just to promote a package because you like it, are an author or have other interest etc.

External resources

 * linuxlinks software directory - large, well organized catalogue of software with good descriptions. Software that is not in Portage can sometimes be installed by other means, such as being downloaded and complied after installing the appropriate dependencies.