Editing Freedesktop.org (section)

{{Redirect|XDG|the game development division External Development Group|THQ#Divisions{{!}}THQ}}
{{short description|Open-source desktop environment software project}}
{{primary sources|date=September 2012}}
{{lowercase}}
{{Infobox website
| name         = freedesktop.org
| logo         = Freedesktop-logo.svg
| url          = {{Official URL}}
| commercial   = No
| type         = Software development management system
| registration = 
| language     = [[English language|English]]
| content_license = 
| author       = [[Havoc Pennington]]
| launch_date  = {{Start date and age|2000|03}}
| current_status = Online
}}
'''freedesktop.org''' ('''fd.o'''), formerly '''X Desktop Group''' ('''XDG'''),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lwn.net/2000/0427/a/freedesktop.html|title=X desktop group}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.freedesktop.org/ |title=Freedesktop.org, home of the X Desktop Group |access-date=2013-08-26 |archive-date=2001-02-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010202173600/http://www.freedesktop.org/ |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> is a project to work on interoperability and shared base technology for [[Free software|free-software]] [[desktop environment]]s for the [[X Window System]] (X11) and [[Wayland (protocol)|Wayland]] on [[Linux]] and other [[Unix-like]] [[Operating system|operating systems]]. Although freedesktop.org produces specifications for interoperability, it is not a formal standards body.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Specifications |url=https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/ |access-date=2023-10-27 |website=freedesktop.org}}</ref>

The project was founded by [[Havoc Pennington]], a [[GNOME]] developer working for [[Red Hat]] in March 2000. Widely used [[open-source software|open-source]] X-based desktop projects, such as GNOME, [[KDE Plasma|KDE's Plasma Desktop]], and [[Xfce]], are collaborating with the freedesktop.org project. In 2006, the project released [[Portland Project|Portland 1.0]] (xdg-utils), a set of common interfaces for desktop environments.<ref>[http://desktoplinux.com/news/NS7435528984.html Portland points desktop Linux at $10 billion market] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061012184723/http://desktoplinux.com/news/NS7435528984.html |date=October 12, 2006 }}, ''DesktopLinux.com'', 11 October 2006</ref> freedesktop.org joined the [[X.Org Foundation]] in 2019.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Xorg-FreeDesktop-Vote-Approved|title=X.Org To Join Forces With FreeDesktop.org While Foundation Elections Hit A Snag|access-date=9 September 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Larabel |first=Michael |date=11 April 2019 |title=X.Org To Join Forces With FreeDesktop.org While Foundation Elections Hit A Snag |url=https://www.phoronix.com/news/Xorg-FreeDesktop-Vote-Approved |access-date=2023-10-27 |website=Phoronix |language=en}}</ref> Some of the project's servers are hosted by [[Portland State University]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Welcome to freedesktop.org |url=https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/ |access-date=27 October 2023 |website=Freedesktop.org}}</ref>