Replace the X.Org display server on a Linux system to get TearFree mode enabled by default for smoother video playback.
Run a Linux desktop environment where XLibre is already packaged by your distribution with no manual build required.
Build XLibre from source using Meson to test new features or contribute patches to the codebase.
Isolate X client applications from each other for better security using the Xnamespace extension.
Building from source requires Meson and multiple system-level graphics dependencies, the simplest path is waiting for your Linux distribution to package XLibre.
XLibre is a display server for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. A display server is the piece of software that sits between your applications and your screen, handling all the drawing of windows, cursors, and graphics. XLibre implements a standard called X11, which has been the foundation of graphical desktops on Linux for decades. It was forked from the long-established X.Org Server in June 2025 by a group of contributors who wanted to push development forward more actively. The project's main goals are cleaning up the existing codebase to make it safer and easier to work with, while keeping compatibility with all the applications and drivers that already rely on X11. The team is also backporting improvements that existed in related projects but had not yet made it into the main server. One example is TearFree mode, which reduces the screen tearing you might notice during video playback or scrolling, now enabled by default. Since the fork, the more than 30 contributors have shipped several notable additions. One is the Xnamespace extension, which allows X clients (the applications that draw to the screen) to be separated from each other for better isolation. They have also introduced per-ABI driver directories, added macOS support via XQuartz to their build pipeline, and applied security fixes that were pending in the upstream project. If you want to run XLibre, the simplest path is to check whether your Linux distribution already packages it. A wiki page called "Are We XLibre Yet?" in the repository tracks which distributions have adopted it. For those who want to build from source, the README walks through the steps using the Meson build tool. Configuration works similarly to standard X.Org, and proprietary graphics drivers such as Nvidia are handled automatically from version 25.0.0.16 onward. The roadmap covers continued code cleanup, expanded automated testing, more platforms in the test cycle, and further development of the Xnamespace extension with practical usage examples.
← x11libre on gitmyhub — every repo by this author, as a profile.
Verify against the repo before relying on details.