Xfce Support For "Primary Display" Output Handling Finally Being Squared Away

The latest feature on deck for the long overdue Xfce 4.14 desktop update is support for the RandR primary display/output functionality.

The X11 Resize and Rotate (RandR) protocol has long had baked into it the concept of a primary output/display, which is intended to be where the desktop panel(s), icons, notifications and other central functionality of the desktop would reside. Basically, of a multi-monitor configuration, the display head that is most important for your workflow.

The Xfce desktop has offered some bits of RandR Primary Display handling going back the past two years, but now thanks to developer Simon Steinbeiß that is finally getting squared up. Simon has recently been working on plumbing the Primary Display handling into Xfdesktop, making improvements to display settings for picking the Primary Display, and related work.

Some of the work is still being reviewed, but given that the Xfce 4.14 release still appears a ways out, it looks like that next release should have all the bits in place. More details on the Xfce primary display handling via Simon's blog.