Recommended applications
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This page lists applications recommended for use in a graphical environment (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.
See also
See recommended tools for command-line software. There is also the Wayland Desktop Landscape page for Wayland-specific applications.
See recommended tools for command-line software. There is also the Wayland Desktop Landscape page for Wayland-specific applications.
Desktop environment
See also
See desktop environment article.
See desktop environment article.
Application launchers
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| dmenu | x11-misc/dmenu | Generic, highly customizable, and efficient menu for X11. |
| Rofi | x11-misc/rofi | Window switcher, run dialog, and dmenu replacement. |
| Wofi | gui-apps/wofi | Launcher/menu program for wlroots based wayland compositors such as sway |
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.
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Clipman | xfce-extra/xfce4-clipman-plugin | Clipboard manager for Xfce called Clipman. |
| CopyQ | x11-misc/copyq | Advanced clipboard manager with editing and scripting features. |
| Parcellite | x11-misc/parcellite | Lightweight GTK based clipboard manager. |
| Qlipper | x11-misc/qlipper | Lightweight and cross-platform clipboard history applet. |
| xclip | x11-misc/xclip | Copy data from standard input to X clipboard. |
Configuration
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| MenuLibre | x11-misc/menulibre | Application menu editor. |
| QtCurve | x11-themes/qtcurve | Toolkit theme to provide a common style to GNOME/GTK and KDE/Qt applications. See GTK themes in Qt applications for more information. |
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.
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| fbpanel | x11-misc/fbpanel | Lightweight panel that works with any NETWM compliant window manager (e.g. xfwm4, sawfish, openbox, KDE window manager). |
| LXPanel | lxde-base/lxpanel | Lightweight X11 desktop panel for LXDE, also works with other window managers. |
| Polybar | x11-misc/polybar | Tool for creating highly customizable status bars for the desktop environment. |
| Tint2 | x11-misc/tint2 | Lightweight panel/taskbar specifically made for Openbox, but it can also work with other window managers. |
| wbar | x11-misc/wbar | Fast, lightweight, quick-launch bar. |
| Waybar | gui-apps/waybar | Highly customizable Wayland bar for Sway and Wlroots based compositors. |
Window managers
See also
See the window manager article for a list of window managers available in Gentoo.
See the window manager article for a list of window managers available in Gentoo.
Desktop utilities
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.
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Ark | kde-apps/ark | Archive manager by KDE. |
| Engrampa | app-arch/engrampa | Official archive manager for the MATE Desktop Environment. |
| File Roller | app-arch/file-roller | Archive manager for the GNOME desktop environment. |
| LXQt Archiver | app-arch/lxqt-archiver | Simple & lightweight Qt-based but desktop-agnostic file archiver. |
| Xarchiver | app-arch/xarchiver | Desktop environment-independent archiver front end based on GTK. |
File managers
See also
See file managers for more information.
See file managers for more information.
Optical disk burners
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Brasero | app-cdr/brasero | CD/DVD burning application for the GNOME desktop. |
| K3b | kde-apps/k3b | Fully-featured CD/DVD burner for KDE. |
| Xfburn | app-cdr/xfburn | GTK disc burner from Xfce. |
See the LiveUSB article for information on writing iso files to USB devices. See CD/DVD/BD writing on burning disks from the command line. See FAQ - How do I burn an ISO file? about burning iso to CD on various OSs.
Documents
E-book readers
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Calibre | app-text/calibre | Electronic book management tool. |
| CoolReader | app-text/coolreader | E-book reader with a Qt interface. |
| FBReader | app-text/fbreader | E-book reader supporting many formats. |
| Foliate | app-text/foliate | Simple, modern, open-source GTK eBook viewer. Supports EPUB, Mobipocket, Kindle, FictionBook, and comic book archive formats. |
General document viewers
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| apvlv | app-text/apvlv | PDF/EPUB viewer with vim like bindings. |
| Evince | app-text/evince | Simple document viewer for GNOME. |
| llpp | app-text/llpp | Graphical PDF viewer which aims to superficially resemble less. |
| MuPDF | app-text/mupdf | Free and open-source software framework written in C that implements a PDF, XPS, and EPUB parsing and rendering engine. |
| Okular | kde-apps/okular | KDE universal document viewer. |
| qpdfview | app-text/qpdfview | Lightweight tabbed PDF viewer with a Qt5 interface. |
| Zathura | app-text/zathura app-text/zathura-meta |
Free, plugin-based document viewer. |
Note taking
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| GNote | app-misc/gnote | Note-taking application for GNOME. (Not to be confused with "GNotes".) |
| Knotes | kde-apps/knotes | KDE sticky notes. |
| Notes | xfce-extra/xfce4-notes-plugin | Xfce panel sticky notes plugin. |
| Xournal | app-text/xournal | Handwritten note-taking, sketching, and keeping a journal using a stylus. |
| Xournal++ | app-text/xournalpp | Handwriting note-taking software with PDF annotation support. |
| Zim | x11-misc/zim | Desktop wiki as a graphical text editor used to maintain a collection of wiki pages. |
Productivity software
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Abiword | app-office/abiword | Light and fast cross-platform word processor. |
| Calligra | app-office/calligra | The KDE office suite. |
| LibreOffice | app-office/libreoffice app-office/libreoffice-bin |
Full office productivity suite, a successor of the OpenOffice.org that strives to be a better and less bloated office suite. |
| LyX | app-office/lyx | WYSIWYM frontend for LaTeX, DocBook, etc. |
| Pdfbox | dev-java/pdfbox | pdfbox — an open source Java tool for working with PDF documents. |
| Scribus | app-office/scribus | Desktop publishing (DTP) and layout program. |
| Sigil | app-text/sigil | Multi-platform WYSIWYG ebook editor for ePub format. |
Text editors
See also
See the text editor article.
See the text editor article.
Internet
Chat clients / video conferencing
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| HexChat | net-irc/hexchat | Graphical IRC client based on XChat. |
| Konversation | net-irc/konversation | IRC client by kde. |
| Pidgin | net-im/pidgin | Easy to use and free chat client that supports AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, IRC, XMPP, and more chat networks all at once. |
| Psi | net-im/psi | Qt Jabber client. |
| qTox | net-im/qtox | Qt5-based Tox client. |
| Quassel | net-irc/quassel | Daemon/headless IRC client, part of Quassel, that supports 24/7 connectivity. |
| Signal Desktop | net-im/signal-desktop-bin | Messaging application geared towards privacy. |
| WebRTC[1][2] | www-client/firefox or www-client/firefox-bin | Implemented in Firefox. |
Some popular proprietary messaging services can be found in the Gentoo ebuild repository if needed, such as Discord, Skype, or Telegram (open source desktop client with closed source server backend). Some other services can be accessed on Gentoo using their web interface, such as WhatsApp.
See the IRC article for some more IRC clients. See the instant messaging category for more articles on this subject.
Email clients
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Claws Mail | mail-client/claws-mail | Mail client forked from Sylpheed. |
| Evolution | mail-client/evolution | Integrated e-mail and calendar client, particularly useful for connecting to Microsoft Office365 and Exchange servers. |
| Geary | mail-client/geary | Geary is an email application built around conversations, for the GNOME desktop. |
| Thunderbird | mail-client/thunderbird mail-client/thunderbird-bin |
Mozilla's solution to the e-mail client. |
P2P
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Deluge | net-p2p/deluge | Open-source, cross platform BitTorrent client. |
| Freenet | net-p2p/freenet | An encrypted network without censorship |
| QBittorrent | net-p2p/qbittorrent | Qt BitTorrent client. |
| Transmission | net-p2p/transmission | BitTorrent client with GTK, Qt, CLI, and web front-ends. |
Web browsers
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Brave | - | Focused on privacy, blocking trackers, and advertisements. |
| Chromium | www-client/chromium | Open source version of Google's Chrome web browser. |
| Falkon | www-client/falkon | Lightweight web browser based on QtWebEngine. |
| Firefox | www-client/firefox www-client/firefox-bin |
Mozilla's web browser. |
| Qutebrowser | www-client/qutebrowser | Web browser with vim-style key bindings based off the QtWebKit (or the QtWebEngine in its latest release). |
See also Category:Web browser.
Multimedia
Acquisition
Audio
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Audacity | media-sound/audacity | Free cross-platform audio recorder and editor. |
| SoundRecorder | media-sound/gnome-sound-recorder | Simple sound recorder. |
See also music production.
Scanning
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Document Scanner | media-gfx/simple-scan | Simple document scanning utility for GNOME. |
| gscan2pdf | media-gfx/gscan2pdf | Scan documents, perform OCR, produce PDFs and DjVus, gtk based. |
| Paperwork | app-text/paperwork | Personal document manager: scan or import documents and find them back in a snap with full text search! |
| Skanlite | kde-misc/skanlite | Simple image scanning application based on libksane and KDE Frameworks. |
| XSane | media-gfx/xsane | Tried and tested graphical scanning frontend. |
See the wiki page on SANE for more information on scanning in Gentoo.
Video
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Cheese | media-video/cheese | GTK program to take pictures and videos from your webcam, GNOME oriented. |
| Guvcview | media-video/guvcview | Simple Qt5 or GTK 3 interface for capturing and viewing video from v4l2 devices. |
| OBS Studio | media-video/obs-studio | Free software for video recording and live streaming. |
| SimpleScreenRecorder | media-video/simplescreenrecorder | Just as the name implies. |
Audio players
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Audacious | media-sound/audacious media-plugins/audacious-plugins |
Media player similar to XMMS, and Winamp. |
| Elisa | media-sound/elisa | Simple music player for the KDE framework. |
| gmusicbrowser | media-sound/gmusicbrowser | Open-source jukebox for large collections of MP3/Ogg/FLAC files. |
| Guayadeque | media-sound/guayadeque | Music management program designed for all music enthusiasts. |
| MOC (music on console) | media-sound/moc | ncurses interface for playing audio files, Music On Console. |
| MPD | media-sound/mpd | Flexible, server-side application for playing music with X11 clients. |
| Qmmp | media-sound/qmmp | Qt-based audio player with Winamp/XMMS skins support. |
| Rhythmbox | media-sound/rhythmbox | Music playing application for GNOME framework. |
| Strawberry | media-sound/strawberry | Music player and library organizer based on Amarok and Qt. |
Image viewers
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ImageMagick display command | media-gfx/imagemagick | Collection of tools and libraries for many image formats, including an image viewer. |
| Eye of GNOME (eog) | media-gfx/eog | Image viewer and browser for GNOME. |
| fbida | media-gfx/fbida | Image viewers for the framebuffer console (fbi) and X11 (ida). |
| Feh | media-gfx/feh | Open-source image viewer mainly aimed at command-line users but works as a very lightweight minimal viewer for X11. |
| Geeqie | media-gfx/geeqie | Lightweight GTK image viewer. |
| GPicView | media-gfx/gpicview | GTK LXDE lightweight image viewer. |
| gThumb | media-gfx/gthumb | Image viewer and browser for GNOME. |
| Gwenview | kde-apps/gwenview | Fast and easy to use image viewer for browsing and displaying a collection of images in KDE. |
| nomacs | media-gfx/nomacs | Lightweight Qt image viewer. |
| Sxiv | media-gfx/sxiv | Lightweight, simple image viewer with multiple features. Written in C. |
| Viewnior | media-gfx/viewnior | Fast, simple, elegant, minimalist image viewer for X11. Written in C with GTK. |
Graphics
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Batik | dev-java/batik | Batik — Java-based toolkit for applications or applets that want to use images in the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format |
| Converseen | media-gfx/converseen | Batch image converter and resizer based on ImageMagick. |
| Flameshot | media-gfx/flameshot | Powerful and simple to use screenshot software, with seamless in-place editing capabilities. |
| GIMP | media-gfx/gimp | The GNU Image Manipulation Program. It can be used as a simple paint tool, photo retouching and general image manipulation. |
| G'MIC | media-gfx/gmic | Framework and script language that allows the creation of complex macros, with GIMP and Krita plugins (enable appropriate use flags). |
| Inkscape | media-gfx/inkscape | Powerful, free vector graphics design workshop. |
| KolourPaint | kde-apps/kolourpaint | Simple KDE-based painting program, like the traditional MS Paint. |
| Krita | media-gfx/krita | Professional open source painting program made by artists. |
| MyPaint | media-gfx/mypaint | Fast and easy graphics application for digital painters. |
| XPaint | media-gfx/xpaint | Ultra light, bare X11 image editing tool. |
Photography
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Darktable | media-gfx/darktable | Photography workflow application and RAW developer. |
| digiKam | media-gfx/digikam | Powerful, feature-rich KDE digital photo management application. |
| Hugin | media-gfx/hugin | Graphical user interface for the creation & processing of panoramic images. |
| Luminance HDR | media-gfx/luminance-hdr | Graphical user interface for high dynamic range image composition and processing. |
| RawTherapee | media-gfx/rawtherapee | Powerful, free, cross-platform raw photo processing system. |
| Shotwell | media-gfx/shotwell | Photo manager for GNOME. |
Video players
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Mpv | media-video/mpv | Open source media player with a minimal interface. Supports a wide variety of media formats, has powerful scripting capabilities, and high quality video output. |
| Celluloid | media-video/celluloid | A simple GTK+ frontend for media-video/mpv. |
| SMPlayer | media-video/smplayer | Fully-featured Qt front-end for media-video/mplayer. |
| VLC | media-video/vlc | Wildly popular, cross platform video player and streamer. |
Video editors
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Avidemux | media-video/avidemux | Free video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. |
| Kdenlive | kde-apps/kdenlive | Non-linear video editing suite by KDE. |
| OpenShot | media-video/openshot | Award winning free and open-source non-linear video editor. |
| Shotcut | media-video/shotcut | A free, open source, cross-platform video editor (testing branch, as of 2022-11). |
| Pitivi | media-video/pitivi | Stable and effective non-linear video editor for low-end systems. |
3D
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Blender | media-gfx/blender | Free and open-source 3D creation suite. |
Network
File Sharing
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Nfs-utils | net-fs/nfs-utils | File system protocol that allows client machines to access network attached filesystems (called exports) from a host system. |
| Samba | net-fs/samba | Re-implementation of the SMB/CIFS networking protocol, a Microsoft Windows alternative to Network File System (NFS). |
Network Management
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Dhcpcd-ui | net-misc/dhcpcd-ui | Qt and GTK monitor and configuration graphical user interface for dhcpcd. |
| Iwd | net-wireless/iwd | Up-and-coming wireless daemon for Linux. |
| Netifrc | net-misc/netifrc | Gentoo's default framework for configuring and managing network interfaces on systems running OpenRC. |
| systemd-networkd | sys-apps/systemd | Part of systemd useful for simple configuration of wired network interfaces. Follow article for installation method. |
| Wpa_supplicant | net-wireless/wpa_supplicant | Wifi supplicant to handle network authentication. |
Science
Astronomy
| Name | Package | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Celestia | sci-astronomy/celestia | Space simulation that lets you explore our universe in three dimensions with a real-time 3D visualization of space. | |
| Stellarium | sci-astronomy/stellarium | Open source planetarium for your computer with a realistic sky in real-time 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. |
Nanoscience
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Gwyddion | sci-visualization/gwyddion | View, convert, and analyze scanning microscopy data (e.g. atomic force microscopy). |
| KLayout | sci-electronics/klayout | View, edit, and convert electron beam lithography files. |
Software development
Diff/Merge tools
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| KDiff3 | kde-misc/kdiff3 | Qt frontend to diff3. |
| Kompare | kde-apps/kompare | KDE tool for viewing the differences between files. |
| Meld | dev-util/meld | Visual diff and merge tool targeted at developers, under GNOME. |
| Quilt | dev-util/quilt | Patch manager to easily manage large numbers of patches by keeping track of the changes each patch makes. |
IDEs
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Bluefish | app-editors/bluefish | GTK HTML editor for the experienced web designer or programmer. |
| Code::Blocks | dev-util/codeblocks | Open source, cross platform, free C++ IDE. |
| Eclipse | dev-util/eclipse-sdk-bin from eclipse repository | Java based IDE that can be used for other languages via plugins. Not in the Gentoo repository but can be installed from an overlay according to the the instructions. |
| Geany | dev-util/geany | GTK based fast and lightweight IDE supporting many different languages. |
| KDevelop | dev-util/kdevelop | Supporting KF5/Qt, C/C++ and much more. |
| Qt Creator | dev-qt/qt-creator | Lightweight C++/Qt IDE from the Qt Project. |
| Vscode | app-editors/vscode | Visual Studio Code is a lightweight but powerful source code editor. Requires accepting the Microsoft-vscode software license before installation. |
| Vscodium | app-editors/vscodium | Free/Libre Open Source Software Binaries of Microsoft's VSCode. |
System
Hardware management
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Solaar | app-misc/solaar | Device Manager for Logitech Unifying devices. |
| USBView | app-admin/usbview | Display the topology of devices on the USB bus. |
See also the article on hardware detection software.
Terminal emulators
See also
See the terminal emulator article for package choices.
See the terminal emulator article for package choices.
Utilities
| Name | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Baobab | sys-apps/baobab | GTK disk usage analyzer. |
| GParted | sys-block/gparted | GTK disk partition editor GUI. |
Virtualization
See also
See virtualization article for software choices.
See virtualization article for software choices.
Adding to this page
The applications listed here should be widely useful, and of sufficient quality, to merit inclusion.
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.
For software titles that are of more interest to users of a specific desktop environment, please use or create the meta page (blueprint) for that desktop environment (e.g. Xfce).
It is good practice to create a stub article for any package added here that does not have a page already, as anything notable enough to be listed here will also be notable enough to have a dedicated page.
See also
- Games — a landing page for many of the games (especially open source variants) available in Gentoo's main ebuild repository.
- Qt Desktop applications — a list of recommendations for a light-weight, non-KDE, Qt-only desktop environment.
- Recommended tools — lists system-administration related tools recommended for use in a shell environment (terminal/console)
- Terminal productivity software — applications designed to run within the constraints of a text-based terminal window that are typically associated with GUI-based office productivity software
- Wayland Desktop Landscape — various desktop related packages for Wayland
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.