The creator of the Linux kernel Linus Torvalds has swapped back to using Gnome 3.x desktop it has emerged, after he fixed many of the problems he has with the desktop.

Gnome 3.x provides a desktop environment and graphical user interface and can be used with various GNU/Linux distros.

Torvalds switched from using the Gnome 3 desktop to Xfce in 2011 but switched back to KDE last year. Gnome 3 has been heavily criticised by Torvalds in the past for its design choices and removing certain features from Gnome 2, with the Linux creator describing Gnome 3.4 is "a total UX (user experience design) failure".

He still has criticisms of the desktop but said he has switched back to using Gnome 3.x because it can be fixed with the use of extensions, particularly Frippery, and the Gnome Tweak Tool.

"People don't want Gnome 2 because it was a pinnacle of some GUI design. They want it because Gnome 3 removed features they used, and made it harder to get their work done," he wrote on the Google+ social network.

"But I'm actually back to Gnome 3 because with the right extensions it is more pleasant," he wrote in a separate post.

"Frippery + gnome-tweak-tool really make a huge difference. I don't understand why Gnome 3 hasn't just merged them."