Among the tweaks and improvements to arrive in Xubuntu 14.04 LTS earlier this month was a new app called Mugshot — but just what is it for?
To Brit readers it might conjure up the image of a cheap and tasteless mug-based brand of instant pasta, while Americans may consider it to be some sort of mobile photo app. It’s (unsurprisingly) neither.
Yeah, no instant pasta for xu.
‘When you want a grinning photo of your face to show up on the login screen Mugshot is the app to use.’
Mugshot is actually a small profile configuration utility used to set personal information, name, phone number, avatar, etc. This data can then be used in other parts of the desktop and by a handful of third-party applications.
For example, if you want a grinning photo of your face to show up on the Xubuntu login screen Mugshot is the app you use to select a stock image, take a snap with your webcam or choose a file stored on your computer.
Android users will be familiar with the notion of user profile creation. There, user name, profile photo, phone number and similar data is able to pre-populate a wide set of apps and forms. Mugshot is sadly more limited in what apps and services can take advantage of it.
At present, system components aside, the only third-party applications able to use the user settings are the office suite LibreOffice and IM client Pidgin. Support for Abiword and Gnumeric is said to be underway.
So there you have it: Mugshot demystified. Whether or not it’s of use to you, there’s no denying that the Xubuntu desktop experience is made a pinch more friendly by including it.