Overview

Enlightenment (also known simply as E) is a compositing window manager and desktop environment that has been in development since 1997. It is built on the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries (EFL), a comprehensive set of graphics and utility libraries developed alongside it. Enlightenment is known for its eye-catching visual effects, efficient resource usage, and extensive theming capabilities. It ships with Bodhi Linux and can be installed on most distributions.

Key Features

• EFL-Powered: Built from the ground up on the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries, providing hardware-accelerated graphics (OpenGL), scene graph rendering, and sophisticated alpha compositing.
• Visually Distinctive: Renowned for its smooth animations, translucency effects, and a unique look unlike any other desktop environment, with extensive theming support.
• Lightweight & Efficient: Despite its visual effects, Enlightenment is surprisingly lightweight and runs well on older hardware, with a modular architecture that allows minimal resource usage.
• Cross-Platform Toolkit: EFL libraries are portable across Linux, BSD, macOS, and Windows, enabling Enlightenment applications beyond the desktop itself.

Platforms

Linux, BSD, other Unix-like systems (EFL: Linux, BSD, macOS, Windows)

Latest Stable Version

0.27.1 (March 14, 2025)

Licence

BSD 2-Clause (EFL libraries: LGPL-2.1+, BSD)

Website

enlightenment.org

Parent Organisation

Enlightenment development team (Carsten Haitzler / community-driven)