Pop!_OS 24.04 & COSMIC Desktop: The First Production Rust Desktop Environment Arrives
Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS and COSMIC desktop launch December 11, 2025. First production Rust desktop environment challenges GTK/Qt with memory…
Pop!_OS 24.04 & COSMIC Desktop: The First Production Rust Desktop Environment Arrives
Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS and COSMIC desktop launch December 11, 2025. First production Rust desktop environment challenges GTK/Qt with memory safety and modern architecture.
December 11, 2025. Three years of development. One Rust-based desktop environment. System76 just shipped what many thought impossible: a production-ready desktop written entirely in Rust. I had to test this.
Full disclosure: I have one laptop running Linux, and I can’t risk installing pre-release software on my production machine. So this review comes from running Pop!_OS 24.04 in a VM. When the final stable release ships and proves itself, I plan to make it my default distro on bare metal and share more detailed real-world experiences. Some of my observations may be VM-specific or limited by virtualization. Keep that context in mind.
What COSMIC Actually Is
Let me be direct. COSMIC is not a theme. Not a fork of GNOME. Not a reskin.
It’s a complete desktop environment built from scratch in Rust. The iced toolkit. A custom Wayland compositor. Every component is designed for memory safety from day one.
System76 didn’t just rewrite their desktop. They questioned the 20-year assumption that desktop environments must be C/C++.
The technical reality: COSMIC uses approximately 200,000 lines of Rust code. The compositor (cosmic-comp) implements Wayland natively. No X11 compatibility layer running by default. No GTK dependencies in the core.
The architecture matters. COSMIC is not a fork or reskin. System76 built everything from scratch in distinct layers:
1. Custom Wayland Compositor (cosmic-comp): No X11 legacy baggage. Pure Wayland from day one. Better security isolation, smoother rendering, and no decade-old compatibility hacks.
2. Iced Toolkit: System76 contributed significantly to iced, a cross-platform GUI library for Rust. It’s reactive, GPU-accelerated, and designed for modern hardware.
3. Memory Safety by Default: Every line of COSMIC is Rust. Memory leaks, buffer overflows, and use-after-free bugs that plague C/C++ desktops are structurally impossible. This is not theoretical. This is engineering reality.
If you’ve experienced this frustration with GNOME’s direction, clap so other Linux users can find this.
First Impressions: Setup and Speed
The installation uses Pop!_OS’s familiar Elementary-based installer. Smooth, fast, minimal partitioning options (you’ll need manual setup for complex layouts). But the first-time setup wizard caught my attention.
The wizard offers choices most distros hide: Accessibility features upfront. Interface scaling with both fractional scaling and an additional scaling factor (I went with 105% on the VM). Appearance presets with colored variants you can preview by clicking.
Then I noticed the performance. Running in a VM (yes, with all the limitations that implies).
Boot time: 8 seconds to desktop in the VM. Memory usage at idle: 780MB. For comparison, GNOME Shell typically idles at 1.4GB. That’s nearly half the footprint.
Window operations: Here’s where the VM context matters. I noticed some stuttering when opening and closing applications. Not sure if that’s virtualization overhead or a real issue. I’ve seen reports of similar performance quirks on bare metal, so it might not just be my VM setup.
The Wayland implementation works. Screen sharing functions. Fractional scaling doesn’t break things. This is Wayland-only, by the way. No X11 session. Never will be. System76 built this for 2025 and beyond, and they’re not spending time on legacy compatibility.
Real-world testing across actual work: I ran COSMIC through typical daily tasks. Video calls (Teams, Zoom) worked without issues. Development workflows (VS Code, terminal-heavy work) performed smoothly. Browsers (Firefox, Chrome) rendered correctly. Media playback (VLC, Spotify) functioned properly. LibreOffice handled documentation tasks.
What worked perfectly: Multi-monitor with different scaling factors (finally solved), Bluetooth audio switching, suspend/resume cycles, screen sharing in Wayland.
What needs polish: Some GTK apps show minor visual inconsistencies (expected for 1.0), a few GNOME apps have rendering quirks, fractional scaling has edge cases.
For a first release, this stability is remarkable. I’ve seen established desktops with worse quirks.
The Customization Philosophy
GNOME’s philosophy: simplicity through removal. System76’s response with COSMIC: power through options.
The Settings app demonstrates this contrast immediately. Dock position (left, right, top, bottom). Panel configuration (floating, centered, auto-hide). Window management behaviors. Everything configurable without extensions, without dconf, without hunting.
I configured my preferred workflow in 10 minutes. Dock on the bottom (yes, keeping my macOS time habits). Super key opens the launcher (though you can set it to open workspaces or the app grid instead). Some of them can be done in GNOME with three extensions, one of which broke after an update.
The theming system goes deeper than expected. Dark mode and light mode with auto-switching. Accent colors that appear only in selected elements and highlights, not everywhere obnoxiously. You can pick custom colors for containers (sidebars, popup bars, file manager sidebar), window backgrounds, and more.
Visual density options: Spacious (GNOME-style padding), Comfortable (default, Mint-like), or Compact (information-dense). Corner style: squared, slightly rounded, or very rounded. I prefer slightly rounded (cheers, macOS Liquid Glass, I haven’t liked you a dime).
The panel and dock are independently configurable. You can have a floating panel with gaps. You can center it instead of extending edge-to-edge. You can move applets around, add new ones, or go single-panel mode with everything at top or bottom. It’s not KDE-level customization (no global menu, no desktop widgets yet), but it’s miles beyond stock GNOME.
Where COSMIC Falls Short
I promised honest assessment. Three years of development doesn’t eliminate all rough edges.
Application ecosystem: Native COSMIC apps are fundamental. Files (grid view, list view, tabs, basic search, that’s it). Terminal (supports profiles, opacity settings, basics). Text editor (minimal, some git features). App Store (bare bones, handles flatpaks and system packages, shows updates). Media player (basic playback). Everything else? GNOME apps or third-party software.
The Files app is more basic than GNOME’s current file manager. Way more basic than Dolphin. If even GNOME’s feature set feels limiting, COSMIC’s defaults will feel spartan.
App theming works for GNOME, breaks for KDE. GNOME Calendar (both flatpak and repo versions) follows COSMIC’s accent colors, background colors, even window button styles. They look integrated. KDE apps? Flatpak versions don’t theme but at least function. Repo versions of KDE apps on Pop!_OS are utterly broken. Dolphin from the repos doesn’t follow dark mode, doesn’t match themes, icons broken. Use flatpaks if you need KDE apps.
Extension system: Doesn’t exist. There’s an applet system (clipboard manager, system monitor, weather widget available), but it’s not GNOME’s extension ecosystem. This is intentional. System76 argues core functionality shouldn’t require extensions.
Performance quirks: Opening and closing applications shows occasional stuttering. I’m testing in a VM, so grain of salt, but I’ve seen bare metal reports of similar issues. It’s a first release. Expect polish iterations.
Documentation: Sparse. GitHub issues and community forums are your resources currently.
X11 apps: You’ll run them through XWayland with compatibility settings. COSMIC has options to bypass keyboard shortcut portals (essentially a keylogger for X11 apps, but necessary), and scaling optimization modes. If you absolutely need X11-specific features, COSMIC won’t work for you.
Have you tried COSMIC on bare metal? Am I seeing VM artifacts or real issues? Share your experience in the comments.
The Rust Desktop Validation
The real significance extends beyond Pop!_OS users. COSMIC validates Rust for large-scale GUI development.
Before COSMIC, Rust desktop development meant CLI tools, system utilities, or small applications. The largest Rust GUI projects were either experimental or limited in scope.
COSMIC proves:
Rust can handle complex GUI applications (not just CLI tools)
The iced toolkit is production-ready for desktop-scale projects
Memory safety doesn’t require sacrificing performance
A small team (System76’s desktop team is under 20 developers) can build a complete desktop environment
The Tiling Features Are the Killer App
Before I talk about the broader implications, let me address what makes COSMIC genuinely different: the tiling window management.
I’m not a tiling window manager purist. I don’t want all my windows tiled all the time. I like using a mouse. I like full desktop environments with panels and proper tooling.
But COSMIC’s approach changed my mind. Click the tiling applet. Click “tile current workspace.” Done. That workspace is now tiled. Every new window auto-tiles. Super + arrow keys navigate between windows. Super + Shift moves windows around. You can drag windows on top of each other to create tabbed stacks within the tiling layout.
Here’s the genius: You can have tiled workspaces and untiled workspaces simultaneously. Workspace 1: tiled terminal, browser, file manager, and notes app for development work. Workspace 2: floating windows for video watching with VLC, full screen, and floating file browsers.
And within a tiled workspace: Super + G toggles individual windows to floating. Need a calculator floating above your tiled layout? Super + G. Done. Super + G again to tile it back.
The window hint size is adjustable, which controls the gap between tiled windows. Want spacious breathing room? Increase it. Want edge-to-edge efficiency? Minimize it.
After a few hours testing, I can’t imagine not having this. It’s not i3 or sway levels of commitment. It’s “tiling when useful, floating when needed” flexibility. No other desktop comes close to this variety of use cases.
Why GNOME and KDE Should Pay Attention
This is where I take sides. For 25 years, desktop Linux has meant GTK or Qt. GNOME or KDE. That duopoly defined the ecosystem.
COSMIC solves problems GNOME refuses to acknowledge. After coordinating 3,000+ technology professionals, I’ve learned something about user expectations: people want choice. GNOME’s philosophy of removing options “for simplicity” has frustrated power users for a decade.
COSMIC takes the opposite approach:
Panel position: Top, bottom, left, right. Your choice.
Dock behavior: Auto-hide, always visible, intelligent hiding. Your choice.
Tiling: Automatic, manual, or disabled. Your choice.
Theming: Real customization, not “install a GNOME extension that breaks every update.”
This is not feature bloat. This is respect for users.
The Rust advantage is real. I used to think “Rust is better” was overhyped. After testing COSMIC, I changed my mind. The responsiveness is noticeable. The memory footprint is lower than GNOME Shell. And most importantly, it should not degrade over multi-day sessions (something GNOME still struggles with — I haven’t tried, but I will).
Have you experienced GNOME’s memory creep after a week of uptime? Tell me I’m not alone in the comments.
COSMIC introduces a third path. Written in Rust. Built on iced. Independent of both major toolkits.
I’m not predicting that COSMIC will replace GTK or Qt. That’s unrealistic. But it proves alternatives are viable. Other projects can now point to COSMIC and say: “Rust desktop development works at scale.”
The iced toolkit will benefit from COSMIC’s maturity work. The Smithay Wayland library is now battle-tested. The ecosystem around Rust GUI development just got significantly more credible.
And System76 has different incentives than community projects. They sell laptops and desktops with Pop!_OS and COSMIC pre-installed. Customers will demand bugs get fixed, features get added, settings get implemented. If System76 doesn’t deliver, they lose sales. Community projects like GNOME or KDE run mostly on volunteer work. They listen to users, but they’re not contractually obligated. System76 is. That’s a forcing function for quality.
A Note on Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS
COSMIC is the story, but Pop!_OS deserves mention. It’s based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (hence the version number, even though it ships in December 2025, which is confusing naming).
But System76 updates critical components: Kernel 6.17 (latest stable). Latest Mesa drivers. Latest NVIDIA drivers. Their own repos supplement the LTS base with current packages and the COSMIC desktop itself.
Flatpak is enabled by default with Flathub and a COSMIC flatpak repo. You’re not stuck with ancient LTS packages. Use flatpaks for applications. The repos for development tools will be old, but that’s what containers and flatpaks solve.
Pop!_OS 26.04 arrives early next year with a newer base. Likely in-place upgrade support from 24.04.
Pop!_OS 24.04 maintains compatibility with the Ubuntu ecosystem while running an entirely different desktop stack. Your existing PPAs and snaps work (with Flatpak preferred for COSMIC apps).
The Strategic Implications
Pop!_OS 24.04 with COSMIC validates several industry trends that matter beyond just Linux desktop users.
1. Rust is ready for GUI development
Not just CLI tools. Not just the kernel. Full desktop environments. The ecosystem has matured. COSMIC proves memory-safe systems programming can deliver desktop-grade UX without sacrificing performance.
2. Wayland-native is the only path forward
X11 is maintenance mode. Every new desktop should be Wayland-first. COSMIC proves you can ship a polished Wayland desktop in 2025 without X11 fallback crutches.
3. Vertical integration works
System76 builds the hardware. System76 builds the operating system. System76 builds the desktop. This alignment enables decisions that community-driven projects struggle to make. When you control the entire stack, you can optimize in ways fragmented projects cannot.
Who Should Adopt Now
Switch to Pop!_OS 24.04 with COSMIC if:
You want tiling window management without manual configuration
Multi-monitor setups with mixed DPI frustrate you on other desktops
You value customization over GNOME’s prescriptive approach
You want to run production Rust infrastructure on the desktop
You’re already on Pop!_OS (this is the upgrade you’ve waited for)
Developers wanting a clean, fast environment (the tiling works beautifully for terminal-heavy workflows)
Users frustrated with GNOME’s customization limitations but not ready for KDE’s complexity
System76 hardware owners (obviously, the integration is seamless)
Stay on your current desktop if:
You rely on GNOME extensions that won’t work on COSMIC
You need specific KDE Plasma features not yet in COSMIC
Your workflow requires specific X11-only applications (no X11 session available)
You need feature-rich default applications (Files, Terminal, Text Editor are all basic)
You need enterprise-grade documentation for deployment
You use KDE applications extensively (theming doesn’t work well)
You’re running production servers (stick with server distros)
The Bottom Line
COSMIC is the most significant desktop Linux release in years.
Not because it’s shiny. Not because it’s new. Because it proves a different approach works. Memory-safe systems programming. User choice without complexity. Modern architecture without legacy constraints.
After 20+ years in this industry, I’ve learned: the technologies that survive solve real problems, not those that merely feel comfortable.
COSMIC solves real problems. GNOME’s controversial decisions left users wanting alternatives. GTK’s dependency chain creates maintenance overhead. Traditional desktops carry decades of C/C++ memory safety assumptions. COSMIC addresses all of this.
System76 built what they needed. Now it’s available to everyone.
Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS shipped on Thursday (December 11, 2025) with five years of support. COSMIC Epoch 1 is stable enough for daily regular use. The foundation is solid.
My plan: Once this proves itself over the next few months, I’m making it my default distro on bare metal. The tiling features alone justify the switch. I’ll share more detailed real-world experiences once I’m running it on actual hardware instead of a VM. Some of what I’ve seen might be virtualization artifacts. Some might be real first-release rough edges. I’ll know more after living with it daily.
Is this the future of Linux desktops? Too early to say. But it’s the most significant desktop development in years, and it deserves serious attention from anyone who cares about Linux’s direction.
It’s a fantastic first draft. Emphasis on “first draft.” The applications are bare bones. Some animations are missing. Performance has quirks. But the core is functional. The tiling is excellent. The Wayland-only approach eliminates legacy baggage. And System76’s commercial incentives mean continuous improvement.
Is Pop!_OS 24.04 with COSMIC perfect? No. Is it the future of Linux desktop? I genuinely believe it might be.
What’s your take on Rust for desktop development? Is COSMIC’s approach the right response to GNOME, or is it fragmenting the ecosystem further? And if you’re running it on bare metal, are you seeing the same performance quirks I’m seeing in my VM? I’m especially curious about hardware edge cases. Share your setup in the comments.