Fixing a 20-year-old bug in Enlightenment E16

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Nostalgia and historical impact

  • Many commenters recall E16 as their entry point into Linux/BSD in the late 1990s–early 2000s, often via Slackware, SuSE, mailed CDs, and themes.org.
  • It was associated with striking screenshots, heavy theming, and “elite” desktops; some say they mostly set it up, took screenshots, then went back to more conventional environments.
  • Others remember it as genuinely usable and formative, preceding later moves to Window Maker, AfterStep, KDE 3, GNOME, or ultimately macOS/Windows.

Lightweight vs heavy

  • Historically, E16 was considered resource‑hungry eye candy on low‑end Pentiums; some saw KDE/GNOME 1.x as more usable on minimal hardware.
  • In today’s context it’s widely described as lightweight compared to modern GNOME/KDE and browser‑heavy workflows.

Current usage and derivatives

  • Several people still run Enlightenment (including e27) as a daily driver or occasional “play” environment.
  • Forks and derivatives are noted: Moksha (Bodhi Linux), Enlightenment-based AV Linux variants, and E used in niche or constrained environments (VNC, high‑latency X, old 32‑bit hardware).

Terminal, media, and configurability debates

  • A long subthread debates Enlightenment’s Terminology terminal and EFL’s ability to display images/video, embed GUI‑like widgets, and handle file transfers directly in the terminal.
  • Proponents argue:
    • It removes context switches to separate apps, is fast and lightweight, and enables richer terminal‑GUI hybrids.
    • High configurability (e.g., scrollbar behavior) empowers users over “one true way” design trends.
  • Skeptics argue:
    • This stacks graphical indirection on top of terminals instead of improving native GUI tools.
    • Terminal ecosystems are already messy (colors, emojis, escape codes), and richer graphics add complexity with niche payoff.
    • Good GUI apps with strong keyboard support would solve the same problems more cleanly.

Debugging, determinism, and longevity

  • The fixed bug’s determinism is seen as both “sad” (it forced immediate debugging during real work) and “lucky” (reproducible, testable).
  • Commenters praise how open source lets a 1997 window manager still be used and improved by someone born years later.

Security, DE politics, and toolkit choices

  • Some link this story to trust in “old, boring” software versus bleeding‑edge stacks, referencing the xz backdoor and the trade‑off between updating for security and supply‑chain risk.
  • GNOME/GTK changes (e.g., GTK4, libadwaita, removed menubars) are criticized as making non‑GNOME usage harder, though forks like MATE and Cinnamon are cited as open‑source escape valves.