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Other Desktop Environments
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|description=How to use Other Desktop Environments other than LXQt with {{project_name_short}}. Current situation. Risks. Future. (Gnome, KDE, Xfce, MATE, ...)
|image=Organize-27344_640.png
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How to use Other Desktop Environments other than LXQt with {{project_name_short}}. Current situation. Risks. Future. (Gnome, KDE, Xfce, MATE, ...)
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= Current Situation =
As of version <code>18</code>, the [[Download]]able {{project_name_short}} versions are available with either:

* '''A)''' <u>[[VirtualBox#GUI|{{gui}}]]:</u> desktop environment ('''LXQt'''); <u>OR</u>
* '''B)''' <u>[[VirtualBox#CLI|{{cli}}]]:</u> text terminal only (no desktop environment).

<s>However, other desktop environments like Gnome, KDE, Xfce, LXDE and so on can be manually installed.</s>

{{mbox
| type    = notice
| image   = [[File:Ambox_notice.png|40px|alt=Info]]
| text    = The default login manager in {{project_name_short}} is <code>greetd</code> + <code>wlgreet</code>. <code>wlgreet</code> reads a configuration file to determine what desktop environment to start, it does not permit selecting an alternate desktop environment from the login prompt. Users who want to use a non-default desktop may wish to switch to a different display manager, such as <code>LightDM</code>.
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= Risks =

* <u>Unsupported configuration:</u> When installing your own desktop environment such as GNOME, you're on your own. This is [[unsupported]].
* <u>Recommendation for advanced users:</u> Start with {{project_name_short}} CLI, the text terminal-only version of {{project_name_short}}, which comes without a desktop environment installed by default, and install a desktop environment of your choice there. This is much better than starting with {{project_name_short}} LXQt and then uninstalling LXQt to install another desktop environment.
* <u>Additional background services:</u> Other desktop environments install additional background services. The {{project_name_short}} project hasn't researched the security/privacy implications of having these installed. For example:
** GNOME automatically installs [https://web.archive.org/web/20160413150914/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeoClue GeoClue]. ([[systemcheck]] warns if that very package is installed, but still...)
** See also [[Dev/GNOME#Security|Dev/GNOME wiki page, chapter Security]].
* <u>Unvetted default applications:</u> Other desktop environments also ship a different selection of default applications that have not necessarily been checked for security/privacy. Installing your own desktop environment may result in software packages being installed that are not well hardened or chosen with security in mind.
* <u>user-sysmaint-split integration issues:</u> This is only applicable to users of [[sysmaint|user-sysmaint-split]]. See also [[Sysmaint#Default_Installation_Status|user-sysmaint-split, Default Installation Status]]. It does not apply to users of [[unrestricted admin mode]]. Only the default desktop environment (or rather login managers) is tested with user-sysmaint-split by developers. Other desktop environments might have glitches. <ref>
* Such as when booting into a sysmaint session, a non-default login manager might suggest to login as account <code>user</code> rather than as account <code>sysmaint</code>.
* Or when booting into a user session, a non-default login manager might suggest to login as account <code>sysmaint</code> rather than as account <code>user</code>.
</ref>

= Future =
Since {{project_name_short}} is an Open Source / [https://forums.whonix.org/t/lets-call-it-freedom-software-rather-than-free-software-or-open-source/6961 Freedom Software] project, {{project_name_short}} developers are hoping that other developers join the project and maintain other desktop environments. That someone could be you?

= Technical Information =
Unfortunately using other desktop environments has become much more difficult due to port to Wayland in version 18 and [[sysmaint|user-sysmaint-split]].

{{quotation
|quote=
Switching the Wayland compositor used by Kicksecure isn’t supported currently. Supporting a Wayland compositor is much more involved than supporting a window manager under X11, because the compositor is both the window manager *and* the display server. Of all the desktop environments in Kicksecure, LXQt was the only one light enough to be suitable for Kicksecure and that had mature enough Wayland support, and the best-supported compositor for LXQt is labwc, so that’s what we went with. (For similar reasons, switching the desktop environment entirely is also difficult.)
|context=[https://forums.kicksecure.com/t/3-big-issues-in-kicksecure-18-my-laptop-is-basically-unusable-now/1443/2 Kicksecure developer @arraybolt3]
}}

= Forum Discussions =
* https://forums.kicksecure.com/t/multiple-workspaces-multiple-virtual-desktops-in-kicksecure-18-wayland-labwc/1443
* https://forums.kicksecure.com/t/kde-doesnt-work-correctly-with-kicksecure-18/1470
* https://forums.kicksecure.com/t/switch-lxqt-compositor-labwc-settings/1403

= See Also =
* [[Debian Packages|{{project_name_short}} Debian Packages, which ones are safe to remove?]]

= Footnotes =
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[[Category:Documentation]]