Supported Linux systems
This page lists the Linux systems the XFA app runs on: distributions and versions, processor architectures and desktop environments. Use it before you install XFA on a Linux device, or when you roll XFA out to a team that uses Linux.
On Linux, XFA has three parts: the agent that runs the device checks in the background, an icon in the system tray, and the XFA window.
Processor architectures
x86_64(also called amd64)ARM64(also called aarch64)
The installer stops on any other architecture.
Distributions
| Distribution | Versions | Architectures |
|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu | 22.04 LTS and later | x86_64, ARM64 |
| Debian | 12 and later | x86_64, ARM64 |
| Fedora Workstation | The current release | x86_64, ARM64 |
| Fedora Silverblue | 44 and later | x86_64, ARM64 |
| Arch Linux | The rolling release (Arch Linux ARM on ARM64) | x86_64, ARM64 |
| NixOS | 26.05 | x86_64, ARM64 |
Other distributions
XFA does not support Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the distributions based on it (such as Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux) or openSUSE yet.
XFA may also run on other distributions if the system meets the requirements below.
On a distribution that is not in the table above, some device checks can report the system as not recognised:
- The operating system check recognises the version of Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Arch Linux and distributions based on Arch Linux, and NixOS.
- The OS updates check reads the available updates from
apt,dnf,rpm-ostreeandpacman, and the system updates on NixOS. With any other package manager, such aszypperon openSUSE, the check is not supported.
Requirements
- glibc 2.34 or later. The XFA window needs it. This rules out older releases such as Ubuntu 20.04, Debian 11 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.
- GTK 3. The XFA window is a GTK 3 application. Desktop distributions include GTK 3.
- A normal user account. Run the installer as the person who uses the device, without
sudo. XFA installs to your home directory and needs no admin rights. curlandtarfor the installer script.
Desktop environments
The XFA icon uses the StatusNotifierItem standard (also known as AppIndicator) to appear in the system tray.
| Desktop environment | Tray icon | Screen lock check |
|---|---|---|
| GNOME | Needs the AppIndicator extension. Ubuntu turns it on by default. On other distributions, install the extension and turn it on. | Supported |
| KDE Plasma | Works out of the box | Supported, with one known limit (see below) |
| Other desktops | Needs a system tray that supports StatusNotifierItem. An older tray needs a bridge such as snixembed. | Supported when the X11 screen saver or the systemd idle action has a timeout |
Screen lock on KDE Plasma
XFA reads the screen lock timeout from KDE's screen locker settings. If you never changed the default screen lock setting in KDE Plasma, XFA does not recognise that your screen locks. This is a known limit.
Screen lock on other desktops
On desktops other than GNOME and KDE Plasma, XFA reads the timeout of the X11 screen saver or the idle action of systemd-logind. If neither has a timeout, the screen lock check is reported as not supported.
X11 and Wayland
The XFA window runs on X11. On a Wayland session it uses XWayland when it is available, and Wayland otherwise.
Checks that depend on your distribution
- Automatic OS updates: the check is supported on Debian, Ubuntu and other distributions based on Debian, where it checks that
unattended-upgradesis installed and turned on, and on NixOS, where it checkssystem.autoUpgrade. On other distributions this check is reported as not supported. - OS updates: the check reads your package manager, as described in Other distributions. On Arch Linux, installing
arch-auditlets XFA check for known security issues instead of the time since your last update. - XFA updates: on NixOS, XFA does not update itself. It moves to the latest release whenever you update your system, as described in Update XFA on NixOS. On other distributions, XFA updates itself.