261 lines
9.7 KiB
XML
261 lines
9.7 KiB
XML
<!-- Do not edit this file directly, edit its companion .md instead
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and regenerate this file using nixos/doc/manual/md-to-db.sh -->
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<chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xml:id="chap-gnome">
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<title>GNOME Desktop</title>
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<para>
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GNOME provides a simple, yet full-featured desktop environment with
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a focus on productivity. Its Mutter compositor supports both Wayland
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and X server, and the GNOME Shell user interface is fully
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customizable by extensions.
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</para>
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<section xml:id="sec-gnome-enable">
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<title>Enabling GNOME</title>
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<para>
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All of the core apps, optional apps, games, and core developer
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tools from GNOME are available.
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</para>
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<para>
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To enable the GNOME desktop use:
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</para>
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<programlisting>
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services.xserver.desktopManager.gnome.enable = true;
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services.xserver.displayManager.gdm.enable = true;
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</programlisting>
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<note>
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<para>
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While it is not strictly necessary to use GDM as the display
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manager with GNOME, it is recommended, as some features such as
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screen lock
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<link linkend="sec-gnome-faq-can-i-use-lightdm-with-gnome">might
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not work</link> without it.
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</para>
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</note>
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<para>
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The default applications used in NixOS are very minimal, inspired
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by the defaults used in
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<link xlink:href="https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-build-meta/blob/40.0/elements/core/meta-gnome-core-utilities.bst">gnome-build-meta</link>.
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</para>
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<section xml:id="sec-gnome-without-the-apps">
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<title>GNOME without the apps</title>
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<para>
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If you’d like to only use the GNOME desktop and not the apps,
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you can disable them with:
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</para>
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<programlisting>
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services.gnome.core-utilities.enable = false;
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</programlisting>
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<para>
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and none of them will be installed.
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</para>
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<para>
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If you’d only like to omit a subset of the core utilities, you
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can use
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<xref linkend="opt-environment.gnome.excludePackages" />. Note
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that this mechanism can only exclude core utilities, games and
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core developer tools.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section xml:id="sec-gnome-disabling-services">
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<title>Disabling GNOME services</title>
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<para>
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It is also possible to disable many of the
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<link xlink:href="https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/b8ec4fd2a4edc4e30d02ba7b1a2cc1358f3db1d5/nixos/modules/services/x11/desktop-managers/gnome.nix#L329-L348">core
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services</link>. For example, if you do not need indexing files,
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you can disable Tracker with:
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</para>
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<programlisting>
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services.gnome.tracker-miners.enable = false;
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services.gnome.tracker.enable = false;
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</programlisting>
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<para>
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Note, however, that doing so is not supported and might break
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some applications. Notably, GNOME Music cannot work without
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Tracker.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section xml:id="sec-gnome-games">
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<title>GNOME games</title>
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<para>
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You can install all of the GNOME games with:
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</para>
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<programlisting>
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services.gnome.games.enable = true;
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</programlisting>
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</section>
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<section xml:id="sec-gnome-core-developer-tools">
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<title>GNOME core developer tools</title>
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<para>
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You can install GNOME core developer tools with:
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</para>
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<programlisting>
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services.gnome.core-developer-tools.enable = true;
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</programlisting>
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</section>
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</section>
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<section xml:id="sec-gnome-enable-flashback">
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<title>Enabling GNOME Flashback</title>
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<para>
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GNOME Flashback provides a desktop environment based on the
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classic GNOME 2 architecture. You can enable the default GNOME
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Flashback session, which uses the Metacity window manager, with:
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</para>
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<programlisting>
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services.xserver.desktopManager.gnome.flashback.enableMetacity = true;
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</programlisting>
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<para>
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It is also possible to create custom sessions that replace
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Metacity with a different window manager using
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.desktopManager.gnome.flashback.customSessions" />.
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</para>
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<para>
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The following example uses <literal>xmonad</literal> window
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manager:
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</para>
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<programlisting>
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services.xserver.desktopManager.gnome.flashback.customSessions = [
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{
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wmName = "xmonad";
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wmLabel = "XMonad";
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wmCommand = "${pkgs.haskellPackages.xmonad}/bin/xmonad";
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enableGnomePanel = false;
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}
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];
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</programlisting>
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</section>
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<section xml:id="sec-gnome-icons-and-gtk-themes">
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<title>Icons and GTK Themes</title>
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<para>
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Icon themes and GTK themes don’t require any special option to
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install in NixOS.
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</para>
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<para>
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You can add them to
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<xref linkend="opt-environment.systemPackages" /> and switch to
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them with GNOME Tweaks. If you’d like to do this manually in
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dconf, change the values of the following keys:
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</para>
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<programlisting>
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/org/gnome/desktop/interface/gtk-theme
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/org/gnome/desktop/interface/icon-theme
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</programlisting>
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<para>
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in <literal>dconf-editor</literal>
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</para>
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</section>
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<section xml:id="sec-gnome-shell-extensions">
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<title>Shell Extensions</title>
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<para>
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Most Shell extensions are packaged under the
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<literal>gnomeExtensions</literal> attribute. Some packages that
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include Shell extensions, like <literal>gnome.gpaste</literal>,
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don’t have their extension decoupled under this attribute.
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</para>
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<para>
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You can install them like any other package:
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</para>
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<programlisting>
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environment.systemPackages = [
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gnomeExtensions.dash-to-dock
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gnomeExtensions.gsconnect
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gnomeExtensions.mpris-indicator-button
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];
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</programlisting>
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<para>
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Unfortunately, we lack a way for these to be managed in a
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completely declarative way. So you have to enable them manually
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with an Extensions application. It is possible to use a
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<link linkend="sec-gnome-gsettings-overrides">GSettings
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override</link> for this on
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<literal>org.gnome.shell.enabled-extensions</literal>, but that
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will only influence the default value.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section xml:id="sec-gnome-gsettings-overrides">
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<title>GSettings Overrides</title>
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<para>
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Majority of software building on the GNOME platform use GLib’s
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<link xlink:href="https://developer.gnome.org/gio/unstable/GSettings.html">GSettings</link>
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system to manage runtime configuration. For our purposes, the
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system consists of XML schemas describing the individual
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configuration options, stored in the package, and a settings
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backend, where the values of the settings are stored. On NixOS,
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like on most Linux distributions, dconf database is used as the
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backend.
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</para>
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<para>
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<link xlink:href="https://developer.gnome.org/gio/unstable/GSettings.html#id-1.4.19.2.9.25">GSettings
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vendor overrides</link> can be used to adjust the default values
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for settings of the GNOME desktop and apps by replacing the
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default values specified in the XML schemas. Using overrides will
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allow you to pre-seed user settings before you even start the
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session.
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</para>
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<warning>
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<para>
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Overrides really only change the default values for GSettings
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keys so if you or an application changes the setting value, the
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value set by the override will be ignored. Until
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<link xlink:href="https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/54150">NixOS’s
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dconf module implements changing values</link>, you will either
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need to keep that in mind and clear the setting from the backend
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using <literal>dconf reset</literal> command when that happens,
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or use the
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<link xlink:href="https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/options.html#opt-dconf.settings">module
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from home-manager</link>.
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</para>
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</warning>
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<para>
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You can override the default GSettings values using the
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.desktopManager.gnome.extraGSettingsOverrides" />
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option.
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</para>
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<para>
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Take note that whatever packages you want to override GSettings
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for, you need to add them to
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.desktopManager.gnome.extraGSettingsOverridePackages" />.
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</para>
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<para>
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You can use <literal>dconf-editor</literal> tool to explore which
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GSettings you can set.
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</para>
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<section xml:id="sec-gnome-gsettings-overrides-example">
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<title>Example</title>
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<programlisting>
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services.xserver.desktopManager.gnome = {
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extraGSettingsOverrides = ''
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# Change default background
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[org.gnome.desktop.background]
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picture-uri='file://${pkgs.nixos-artwork.wallpapers.mosaic-blue.gnomeFilePath}'
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# Favorite apps in gnome-shell
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[org.gnome.shell]
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favorite-apps=['org.gnome.Photos.desktop', 'org.gnome.Nautilus.desktop']
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'';
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extraGSettingsOverridePackages = [
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pkgs.gsettings-desktop-schemas # for org.gnome.desktop
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pkgs.gnome.gnome-shell # for org.gnome.shell
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];
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};
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</programlisting>
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</section>
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</section>
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<section xml:id="sec-gnome-faq">
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<title>Frequently Asked Questions</title>
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<section xml:id="sec-gnome-faq-can-i-use-lightdm-with-gnome">
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<title>Can I use LightDM with GNOME?</title>
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<para>
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Yes you can, and any other display-manager in NixOS.
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</para>
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<para>
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However, it doesn’t work correctly for the Wayland session of
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GNOME Shell yet, and won’t be able to lock your screen.
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</para>
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<para>
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See
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<link xlink:href="https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/56342">this
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issue.</link>
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</para>
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</section>
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</section>
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</chapter>
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