gitea-pages/admin-guide/configuration/alternative_desktops.md

Alternative Desktops/Window Managers

Per default Gnome is installed, but sometimes there is the wish for other Desktops or Window Managers. When changing the default desktop, please check the last chapter "Reset User Default Desktop".

XFCE

XFCE is installed when base::enable_xfce: true is set in Hiera. It then is also used by default with base::xfce_default: true or desktop::session_manager: xfce.

IceWM

IceWM is installed when base::enable_icewm: true is set in Hiera. It then is also used by default with desktop::session_manager: icewm-session.

Other (e.g. KDE)

The respective Desktop needs to be installed, either manually or through Puppet.

The respective Session Manager can be set as system default in Hiera with desktop::session_manager.

The name of the Session Manager you find in /usr/share/xsessions/*.desktop for Xorg and /usr/share/wayland-sessions/*.desktop for Wayland (not supported at PSI). For the desktop::session_manager Hiera setting use the respective file name excluding the .desktop suffix.

Example KDE:

base::pkg_group::kde:
  - '@KDE Plasma Workspaces'

base::package_groups:
  - 'kde'

desktop::session_manager: 'startplasma-x11'

Reset User Default Desktop

Note when changing the default desktop aka Session Manager, previous users will still get the one they used before. To reset that, you need to

• stop AccountsService (systemctl stop accounts-daemon.service)
• delete /var/lib/AccountsService/users/* (for gdm)
• delete /var/cache/lightdm/dmrc/*.dmrc (for lightdm)
• delete /var/lib/lightdm/.cache/lightdm-gtk-greeter/state (for lightdm with lightdm-gtk-greeter)
• start AccountsService (systemctl start accounts-daemon.service)