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LightDM returns from the dark with first release in 4 years
Quoting: LightDM returns from the dark with first release in 4 years - OMG! Ubuntu —
LightDM is a backend that handles logging in to user sessions. A GUI ‘greeter’ sits on top for user interaction. Ubuntu used the unity-greeter, but other distros and desktops roll their own. Linux Mint switched to LightDM in 2017 with slick-greeter as the login screen.
Canonical built LightDM to replace GDM – it made its debut in Ubuntu 11.10 – as a nimble, desktop-agnostic alternative that was easily adaptable.
Ubuntu stopped using LightDM in 2017, when it switched back to GNOME Shell and GDM. Others didn’t, including various Ubuntu flavours. LightDM’s code stayed under Canonical’s auspices but, per original maintainer Robert Ancell, was ‘essentially unmaintained’.
It’s last release was in 2022, and most development activity (reviewing merge requests) stopped in in 2024.
Fast forward to 2026. Questions over its future were raised by Fedora’s Neal Gompa (as various Fedora spins use LightDM to power their login screens). Cutting a long story short, people keen to continue it stepped up and, with blessing from Ancell, a handover happened.
It's FOSS:
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LightDM is Back From The Dead, But Canonical isn't in Charge Anymore
It took years of silence, new maintainers, and a release to bring LightDM back.