{"id":51793,"date":"2026-08-09T11:07:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T11:07:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/?p=51793"},"modified":"2026-08-09T11:07:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T11:07:33","slug":"lightdm-released-version-1-33-0-after-four-year-hiatus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/2026\/08\/lightdm-released-version-1-33-0-after-four-year-hiatus\/","title":{"rendered":"LightDM Released Version 1.33.0 After Four-Year Hiatus"},"content":{"rendered":"

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LightDM, the lightweight display manager originally developed by Canonical (the company behind Ubuntu), returns by releasing version 1.33.0 a few days ago.<\/p>\n

It’s the first release in four years, that features bug-fixes for the issues since the last 1.32.0 and Qt6 support, while Qt5 will continue to be available.<\/p>\n

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Linux Mint login screen is handled by LightDM<\/p><\/div>\n

LightDM (Light Display Manager) was the default handler for Ubuntu login screen, when it was at Ubuntu 11.10 ~ Ubuntu 16.04 versions that use Unity as the default desktop environment.<\/p>\n

The development was slowed down since Ubuntu switched back to GNOME (GDM). However, it’s still a popular choice that many Linux Distributions (such as Linux Mint, XUbuntu, Ubuntu Cinnamon, Linux Lite) keep using it as the default display manager.<\/p>\n

The new Ubuntu Cinnamon project lead and a Fedora, openSUSE, and CentOS contributor take up the job maintaining the LigthDM project.<\/b> And, the maintainers announced the first 1.33.0 a few days ago.<\/p>\n

The new version added Qt 6 version of LightDM’s client library<\/b>, so that Qt based greeters (e.g., LightDM KDE Greeter, Web Greeter) can now build in Qt6 API with improved Wayland and HiDPI support, and better compatibility with newer KDE\/Qt software.<\/p>\n

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LightDM Deepin Greeter built against Qt<\/p><\/div>\n

LightDM now handles the cases where a PAM module creates or changes a user’s home directory during login, instead of assuming the home directory is fixed before the PAM session starts.<\/p>\n

It improves VNC support by making it actually use the configured vncserver<\/code> command on start, and, ensures LightDM works correctly with modern TigerVNC versions.<\/p>\n

For Wayland<\/b>, it allows to start the sessions on seat0<\/code> even when the kernel has no virtual terminal support. It prevents LightDM from restarting the greeter during Wayland login.<\/p>\n

And, it fixed several problems with multiseat setups (e.g., multiple monitors, keyboards, mouses) when using Wayland sessions.<\/p>\n

LightDM 1.33.0 also improved FreeBSD support<\/b>. It now uses FreeBSD’s setusercontext(3)<\/code> function when available to initialize user sessions.<\/p>\n

It improves BSD compatibility by applying system login policies (login.conf<\/code>), environment expansion, limits, and other session settings automatically instead of relying on LightDM’s own implementation.<\/p>\n

It also added FreeBSD-specific VT handling by generating correct ttyv<\/code> device names instead of assuming Linux \/dev\/ttyN<\/code> naming. And, adds FreeBSD-specific virtual terminal (e.g., ttyv0<\/code>, ttyv1<\/code>, ttyv2<\/code>) switching support.<\/p>\n

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FreeBSD bootloader<\/p><\/div>\n

The new release as well fixed a bug where canceling authentication could cause the login screen frozen or stuck in the “authenticating” state.<\/p>\n

It added Zenity’s --no-markup<\/code> option when displaying dialogs, ensuring error messages and other text are shown literally. Though, Ubuntu already uses the option since 1.30.0 build.<\/p>\n

The 1.33.0 version also improved systemd<\/code> integration by limiting restart loops and adding a failsafe handler. If LightDM fails repeatly, systemd<\/code> stops restarting it and switches the user to a TTY console with troubleshooting instructions instead of leaving them with a black screen.<\/p>\n

Other changes include:<\/p>\n