https://mocka-desktop.org/2026-09-26T00:00:00-03:00A desktop built from scratch for GhostBSD2026-09-26T00:00:00-03:002026-09-26T00:00:00-03:00Mocka Desktoptag:mocka-desktop.org,2026-09-26:/news/mocka-dock-0-0-1/

<p>The first Mocka component is out for testing.</p>

<p>Mocka is a GTK desktop built for FreeBSD and GhostBSD first, replacing MATE one component at a time. Every component is written from scratch, compatible with MATE, and released under the BSD-3-Clause license.</p> <p>Mocka Dock is the first of them, a taskbar-style dock applet for the MATE panel. This is an alpha meant for testing, so expect missing features and rough edges.</p> <h2 id="what-works">What works</h2> <p>Pinned and running apps share one row of buttons, one button per app, on horizontal and vertical panels of any size. Left click launches, activates or minimizes an app, and opens a list of windows when there is more than one. Middle click, or Shift and click, opens a new instance.</p> <p>Pin an app from its right click menu, or by dragging it from the menu, the desktop or the file manager, and reorder by dragging. Unpinning offers an Undo. Several docks share the same pinned apps.</p> <p>Right click an app for its desktop actions, its recent files, a new instance, Pin or Unpin, and Close. Shift and right click opens the standard window menu, Ctrl and right click the dock's own menu.</p> <p>Apps are recognized by their desktop entry, including web apps from Chromium-based browsers. By default the dock shows windows from the current workspace only.</p> <h2 id="not-in-this-release">Not in this release</h2> <p>Window thumbnails on hover are the next milestone, and a list of window titles stands in for them meanwhile. Super and number shortcuts, mouse wheel window cycling, attention blinking and translations are not there yet.</p> <p>There is no Preferences window, so settings are changed with <code>gsettings</code> for now. The release notes give the commands.</p> <p>Three limitations are worth knowing about. LibreOffice windows cannot be pinned from their right click menu, because LibreOffice does not name its windows after its modules on FreeBSD, so drag Writer or Calc from the menu instead. Recent files come from the system list, so apps that keep their own history show none. The dock runs inside mate-panel, which means a crash in the dock restarts the panel.</p> <h2 id="getting-it">Getting it</h2> <p>Mocka Dock arrives in the next GhostBSD package update. It will be preinstalled, but it is not the default yet, so add it yourself: right click the panel, choose Add to Panel, and pick Mocka Dock.</p> <p>It needs FreeBSD or GhostBSD with X11, MATE panel 1.26 or later, GTK 3.24.20 or later, and libwnck 40 or later.</p> <h2 id="reporting-bugs">Reporting bugs</h2> <p>Please <a href="https://github.com/mocka-desktop/mocka-dock/issues">open an issue</a> with what you did, what you expected, and what happened. If an app lands on the wrong button, the release notes explain how to collect the data that makes it fixable.</p> <p>The <a href="https://github.com/mocka-desktop/mocka-dock/releases/tag/0.0.1">full release notes</a> have the complete list and the build instructions.</p>