XDG-Desktop-Portal 1.21 Adds Reduced Motion Setting and Linyaps App Support

The XDG-Desktop-Portal project has released version 1.21, bringing new features that enhance accessibility, broaden distribution support, and improve developer tooling. This portal frontend service is a critical component for Flatpak applications, providing a standardized way for sandboxed apps to interact with the host desktop environment.

Accessibility Enhancement: Reduced Motion Setting

A notable addition in this release is the new reduced motion setting available in the Settings Portal. This feature allows users to express a system-wide preference for minimizing non-essential motion in animations. For developers, this provides a standardized way to query user preference and adjust their application's behavior accordingly.

The implementation follows the W3C Reduced Motion specification, which is increasingly important for accessibility. Applications that respect this setting can reduce vestibular disorder triggers, improve performance on low-end hardware, and provide a more comfortable experience for users who prefer less visual motion.

For Flatpak developers, this means they can now query the portal with a simple API call to check if reduced motion is enabled, then conditionally disable or simplify animations in their UI. The portal handles the user preference storage and provides a consistent interface across different desktop environments.

Linyaps Package Format Support

XDG-Desktop-Portal 1.21 introduces official support for Linyaps applications. Linyaps, which stands for "Linyaps Is Not Yet Another Packaging System," is a cross-distribution Linux package format initially spearheaded by the Deepin Linux distribution. It has gained traction among other Linux distributions seeking a unified packaging solution.

The portal now includes an xdpAppInfo subclass specifically for Linyaps applications. This implementation ensures that Linyaps-packaged Flatpak applications can properly interact with the desktop portal services, maintaining feature parity with other package formats. A developer is committed to maintaining this implementation going forward, ensuring continued support as the Linyaps ecosystem evolves.

This addition reflects the growing diversity of Linux packaging formats and the need for desktop integration services to remain agnostic to the underlying package system. By supporting Linyaps alongside existing formats, XDG-Desktop-Portal helps bridge the gap between different distribution ecosystems.

Developer and Testing Improvements

Beyond user-facing features, version 1.21 includes several improvements for developers and testers:

• Valgrind Memcheck Support: The portal now supports running tests with Valgrind's memory checker, enabling more thorough memory leak detection and validation during development. This is particularly valuable for a service that handles frequent IPC (Inter-Process Communication) with sandboxed applications.

• ConfigureShortcuts Method: The Global Shortcuts Portal now includes a ConfigureShortcuts method, providing applications with a standardized way to manage keyboard shortcuts. This complements existing shortcut registration functionality and gives applications more control over their keyboard interaction model.

• Bug Fixes and Enhancements: The release includes various bug fixes that improve stability and reliability across different desktop environments and use cases.

Technical Context and Impact

XDG-Desktop-Portal serves as a crucial abstraction layer between Flatpak applications and the host desktop. It provides a D-Bus API that allows sandboxed applications to access desktop services in a controlled, permission-based manner. Each portal handles a specific domain of functionality, such as file access, notifications, or in this case, application information and settings.

The addition of reduced motion support demonstrates how the portal system evolves to meet modern accessibility standards. Rather than requiring each application to implement its own accessibility features, the portal provides a centralized, system-wide solution that respects user preferences.

Similarly, Linyaps support shows the portal's commitment to distribution-agnostic design. As Linux packaging continues to fragment and evolve, services like XDG-Desktop-Portal provide the consistency needed for applications to work across different environments.

Availability and Testing

XDG-Desktop-Portal 1.21 is available for testing through the project's GitHub repository. Distribution maintainers and interested users can build from source or wait for package updates in their respective distributions.

For developers looking to implement the new features, the official documentation provides API references and usage examples. The reduced motion setting can be queried via the Settings portal, while Linyaps applications will automatically benefit from the new app-info subclass.

This release continues the project's steady evolution toward better desktop integration for sandboxed applications, balancing new features with stability and backward compatibility. As Flatpak adoption grows across different Linux distributions, services like XDG-Desktop-Portal play an increasingly important role in ensuring applications work seamlessly regardless of the underlying package format or desktop environment.