GNOME 51 ‘A Coruña’ released with performance and app updates

The GNOME project has officially released GNOME 51, codenamed ‘A Coruña’. This major update to the Linux desktop environment focuses on performance, smoothness, and modernizing core components.

A significant technical change involves the Mutter compositor, which has been reworked to improve frame scheduling and delivery. This results in smoother animations and more efficient screen recording by reducing redundant buffer copies. The update also moves away from legacy NVIDIA driver interfaces in favor of standardized graphics protocols, which simplifies the codebase but may prevent users with older Kepler-generation cards from using proprietary drivers.

Key user-facing improvements include:

• Hardware management: Settings now remember monitor brightness across reboots and HDR toggling. Laptop users can automatically disable touchpads when a mouse is connected, and devices with accelerometers now support automatic screen rotation. • Core applications: GNOME Maps now supports offline use and real-time public transit data. GNOME Files (Nautilus) features faster loading for large directories and improved file dragging indicators. GNOME Software now warns users when installing unmaintained applications. • Security and connectivity: The update removes support for the outdated WEP network standard and introduces new DNS search domain options.

GNOME 51 is expected to be integrated into upcoming distributions, including Ubuntu 26.10 and Fedora Workstation 45.