Thunar is a
file manager for
Linux and other
Unix-like systems, initially written using the
GTK+ 2 toolkit and later ported to the
GTK+ 3
GTK (formerly GIMP ToolKit and GTK+) is a free and open-source cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs). It is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, allowing both Free software, fre ...
toolkit. It started to ship with
Xfce in version 4.4 RC1 and later. Thunar is developed by Benedikt Meurer, and was originally intended to replace XFFM, Xfce's previous file manager. It was initially called Filer but was changed to Thunar due to a name clash.
Thunar is designed to start up faster and be more responsive than some other Linux file managers, such as
GNOME Files and
Konqueror.
Thunar Memory Usage
Accessibility is accomplished using GNOME Accessibility Toolkit. Like the rest of Xfce, Thunar is designed to comply with standards, such as those stated at freedesktop.org.
Thunar is simple and lightweight by design, but its functionality can be extended through plugins.
Thunar is the Old Saxon name of god of thunder in Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...
, and uses Mjölnir, Thor's hammer, as its icon.
Interface
The Thunar interface was developed prior to the coding of its core. A minimally functional software mockup
In manufacturing and design, a mockup, or mock-up, is a scale or full-size model of a design or device, used for teaching, demonstration, design evaluation, promotion, and other purposes. A mockup may be a ''prototype'' if it provides at leas ...
was built in Python. Features were added and UI elements changed iteratively to react to test user input.
API
Thunar provides an API for third-party developers:
* The "thunar-vfs" is a cross-platform API for high-level file system operations. This is deprecated for the 1.2.0 release in favor of the native GVfs.
* The "thunarx" is a library for building extensions to the file manager itself.
* Lacking is an API to resolve folder symbolic links properly to "open the parent folder", not the symbolic link's folder.
Thunar can also be extended by writing scripts to be placed in the context menu for various file types.
References
External links
*
{{GTK
Free file managers
File managers that use GTK
Xfce