GNOME Next
GNOME Text Editor will replace Gedit as default Linux text reader in the upcoming GNOME 42.
GNOME Text Editor will take full advantage of the new features introduced with libadwaita 1.0: animations, UI widgets, integrated dark mode, responsive UI and much more. It was developed from the ground up and fits well with libadwaita‘s UI design principles.
Gedit can still be installed together with Text Editor. Gedit is a historical application and can be used the same.
Libadwaita benefits
Libadwaita library update led to the development of a new application to support many advanced GUI features such as animation, UI widgets, built-in dark mode, responsive UI and others.
There is a new search bar for open menu, new positioning of the elements in the title bar, there are new Margin, Indentation, Wrapping and other buttons.
New hamburger menu on the right conforms to other GNOME applications and allows on the fly change editor’s appearance like dark interface and change themes Adwaita, Kate, Tango, Peninsula, Classic and Solarized Light.
Then there are the built-in session restoration, highlighting and save as dialog box are other innovative features.
It is not possible to extend its functions with plugins as it happens with Gedit, this could cause migration difficulties for some users.
How to install GNOME Text Editor?
GNOME Text Editor will be installed automatically in a few months with GNOME 42, but if you’re eager to try it, here’s how.
Arch Linux:
If you are using Arch Linux you can install it with Flatpak or AUR with the command:
$ yay gnome-text-editor
All distributions:
Verify that you have all the base dependencies needed to build your environment and possibly install the missing ones consulting meson output.
Download GNOME Text Editor 42 sources from official Gitlab project
Unzip gnome-text-editor-main folder in Linux home.
Run following commands from Linux terminal:
$ cd ~/gnome-text-editor-main
$ mkdir build && cd build
$ meson ..
$ ninja
$ sudo ninja install
In my Arch Linux it was only necessary to install gtksourceview5 dependency.
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