MATE On Debian Becomes Remote Desktop Aware

Now included in the Debian 10.0 Buster release and pending as part of the upstream MATE desktop environment is support for making it remote desktop aware.

Debian developer Mike Gabriel has been working on making MATE remote desktop aware so it can behave differently if running over a remote/VNC connection versus running on local hardware. He's been working since last June on getting the patches into upstream MATE, which haven't landed yet, but for now is part of the Debian packages of MATE for the upcoming 10.0 Buster release.

In making MATE remote desktop aware, the MATE panel will hide the system shutdown menu and in place display a button for disconnecting from the X2Go session. Likewise, from the MATE screensaver it would offer a button for disconnecting from the remote session.

This implementation is relying upon librda as a shared library focused on remote desktop awareness. Those wanting to learn more can see this blog post by developer Mike Gabriel.