Xecure
They are built by debian. They call to install a metapackage that brings all needed packages for the DE to work. They are included in the antiX Package Installer for people who don’t know how to install a DE/WM on their system from terminal and really want to use them. antiX doesn’t manage them directly (some, like fluxbox and icewm, are).
Example:
Package name: KDE Standard
Packages installed by Package Installer: kde-standard, virtuoso-minimal
As this is a metapackage (a package that is really a list of packages that will be downloaded as dependencies, and does not contain any “real files” inside), one would have to look at the package named plasma-desktop, for example, to see how updated it is:
In Debian Buster: plasma-desktop (4:5.14.5.1-1) – Wed, 13 Feb 2019
So installing it on your system is like installing it from Debian. Before, like in antiX 17, I think anticapitalista had to build specific versions that were systemd free (so updates would be up to antiX devs), but debian changed a bit its policy and buster is more init friendly (who know how long this will last). If I am mistaken, please forgive me. My history with antiX is very recent, so I may be mixing thing up.
WMs work great when installing from the package installer, but installing any DEs is a different story. The installation is so minimal that, as a non-expert, I find myself lost and don’t know what other packages I need to complement the DE and make everything work. When I installed KDE or Mate, I did it from core and installing the recommended packages. For example, for KDE:
sudo apt install --install-recommends kde-standard
The recommended packages (no included by default, as they are NOT true dependencies) complement very well what is needed for us “simple humans” to get the DE to work.
In summary: Desktop Environments are managed by Debian. When important bugs are discovered, they are usually patched by someone from the Debian team. The default Window Managers are handled by the antiX devs, and have been heavily customized by them.
antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.