Enlightenment 0.28 Arrives After Two-Year Gap With NetBSD Support and PipeWire Integration
Enlightenment 0.28 was released on October 31, 2026, by Carsten Haitzler, marking the first major update since early 2025. The release includes initial NetBSD support, a new NetworkManager module for wired, wireless, and VPN management, and native PipeWire mixer support alongside PulseAudio. Additional improvements cover window actions, client-side decorations, display mode sorting, and low-level fixes for pixmap handling and X connection recovery. The update maintains support for both X11 and Wayland.
Key points
- Carsten Haitzler released Enlightenment 0.28 on October 31, 2026, ending a roughly two-year gap since version 0.27 launched in early 2025.
- The update introduces initial support for the NetBSD operating system, expanding the desktop environment's platform compatibility.
- A new NetworkManager module has been added to handle wired and wireless networking as well as VPN connections, accompanied by broader network integration improvements.
- Audio management now features native PipeWire mixer support while retaining compatibility with PulseAudio, alongside various other audio-related enhancements.
- User interface improvements include new window actions, better client-side decoration handling, improved display mode sorting, and refined backlight filtering and window switching.
- Low-level technical updates address pixmap handling, X connection recovery, and nested Wayland compositor shutdown, with the release continuing to support both X11 and Wayland.
Background
Enlightenment 0.27 was released at the beginning of 2025. Prior to the 0.28 release, the project had not issued a major feature update for approximately two years, deviating from its typical 12-month release cadence. The 0.28 update consolidates changes accumulated over this extended period.
Why it matters
The release restores Enlightenment's regular update cycle after a significant delay, introducing critical infrastructure improvements such as NetBSD support and modern audio integration via PipeWire. These updates enhance the desktop environment's stability and compatibility across different operating systems and audio stacks, potentially attracting users seeking a lightweight yet feature-rich alternative to mainstream Linux desktops.
What to watch
Users can download Enlightenment 0.28 via Enlightenment.org. Future updates may further refine the new NetworkManager module and expand NetBSD compatibility, while continued development is expected to address the accumulated fixes and cleanups included in this release.
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