Desktop environments and Window managers: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 10:38, 10 March 2025

Alpine Linux has no official desktop and setting up a graphical environment is not even part of Installation. All window managers and desktop environments that are available in Alpine Linux are listed in this page. Quick installation using setup-desktop script is available for few desktops.

Tip: For servers consider using Alpine Configuration Framework(ACF) for security reasons.

Desktop environments

Desktop environment (DE) is made of a bundle of programs that share a common graphical user interface (GUI), sometimes described as a graphical shell. A desktop environment typically consists of icons, windows, toolbars, folders, wallpapers desktop widgets and might also provide drag and drop.

Window managers

A window manager is software that controls the placement and appearance of windows within a windowing system in a graphical user interface. In case of Wayland, these are called compositors because they additionally perform the task of a compositing window manager.

Almost all components of a desktop needs to be added manually by the user. A stacking a.k.a. floating or tiling a.k.a. dynamic layout is commonly used for window management.

WM Name	Protocol	Style	Toolkit	Inspiration
Awesome	X11	Tiling	Lua
berry	X11	Stacking	C
bspwm	X11	Tiling	C
cage	Wayland	Kiosk	C/wlroots	ratpoison
cagebreak	Wayland	Tiling	C/wlroots	ratpoison and cage
cwm	X11	Stacking	C
dwl	Wayland	Tiling	C/wlroots	dwm
dwm	X11	Tiling	C
Fluxbox	X11	Stacking	C++	Blackbox
herbstluftwm	X11	Tiling	C++
Hyprland	Wayland	Tiling	C++
i3	X11	Tiling	C
jwm	X11	Stacking	C
LabWC	Wayland	Stacking	C/wlroots	Openbox
mwm	X11	Stacking	C
Openbox	X11	Stacking	C
Qtile	Both	Tiling	Python
ratpoison	X11	Kiosk	C
River	Wayland	Tiling	Zig	dwm and xmonad
spectrwm	X11	Tiling	C	xmonad and dwm
Sway	Wayland	Tiling	C/wlroots	i3
twm	X11	Tiling	C
wayfire	Wayland	Stacking	C++/wlroots	Compiz
Weston	Wayland	Stacking	C

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{TOC right}}
+<!-- COMMENT FOR EDITORS
-'''Alpine Linux has no official desktop.''' Older versions used Xfce4, but now, all GUI and graphical interfaces are community contributed. Environments such as LXDE, Mate, etc are available, but are not fully supported due to some dependencies.
+Do not add any content about specific desktop environment or window manager in this page. Please add all the content to the respective wiki pages. If wiki page does not exist for the specific window manage, please create and add the content.
-== Complete Desktops ==
+This page lists only the window managers and desktop environments for which packages are available in Alpine Linux. Do not add unsupported software here.
+-->
-Alpine is not a graphics-focused system, however there are several complete desktops packages available for installation:
+'''Alpine Linux''' has no official desktop and setting up a graphical environment is not even part of [[Installation]]. All window managers and desktop environments that are available in Alpine Linux are listed in this page. Quick installation using [[Alpine_setup_scripts#setup-desktop|setup-desktop]] script is available for few [[Setup-desktop|desktops]].
-# [[XFCE Setup]]
+{{Tip|For servers consider using [[Alpine_Configuration_Framework_Design|Alpine Configuration Framework(ACF)]] for security reasons.}}
-# [[Alpine Newbies LXDE Desktop Environment]]
-# [[Alpine Newbies Openbox Window Manager]]
-# [[KDE]]
-# [[Gnome Setup]]
-==  Community Contributions ==
-There are some contributions that will periodically be complete desktops available using the Community Repository Packages, like the [[Alpine Newbies MATE Desktop Environment|MATE Desktop environment]]; others need Wayland, causing some compatibility problems:
+== Desktop environments ==
-# [[MATE]]
+Desktop environment (DE) is made of a bundle of programs that share a common graphical user interface (GUI), sometimes described as a graphical shell. A desktop environment typically consists of icons, windows, toolbars, folders, wallpapers desktop widgets and might also provide drag and drop.
-# [[Awesome(wm)_Setup|Awesome Window Manager]]
+* [[Xfce]]
+* [[LXQt]]
+* [[KDE|KDE Plasma]]
+* [[GNOME]]
+* [[MATE]]
-== Upstream and external ones ==
+== Window managers ==
-All of the original upstream desktops can be installed using the traditional Unix-like method of downloading and compiling them:
+A window manager is software that controls the placement and appearance of windows within a windowing system in a graphical user interface. In case of [[Wayland]], these are called  compositors because they additionally perform the task of a compositing window manager.
-# [[Dwm|Dynamic Window Manager for X]]
+Almost all components of a desktop needs to be added manually by the user. A [[Alpine_Linux:Glossary#S|stacking]] a.k.a. floating or [[Alpine_Linux:Glossary#T|tiling]] a.k.a. dynamic layout is commonly used for window management.
-# [[Alpine LXQT Desktop Environment]]
-==Desktop Multimedia ==
+{|class="wikitable sortable" align="center" style="width:100%; border:1px #0771a6 solid; background:#f9f9f9; text-align:left; border-collapse:collapse;"
+! WM Name !! Protocol!! Style !! Toolkit!!class="unsortable"|Inspiration
-After getting your preferred desktop, you can also improve your desktop with:
+|-
+| [[AwesomeWM|Awesome]] ||X11  || Tiling || Lua ||
-* [[Alpine multimedia for users]] (Audio and video multimedia related software and setup)
+|-
-* [[Alpine multimedia for editing and amateurs]] (Amateur related such editing and converting tools)
+| {{Pkg|berry|arch=}} || X11 || Stacking || C ||
+|-
-== Desktop emulation and gaming ==
+| {{Pkg|bspwm|arch=}} || X11 || Tiling || C ||
+|-
-Alpine is capable of providing a good platform to play games and enjoy:
+|  {{Pkg|cage |arch=}} || Wayland || Kiosk || C/wlroots || ratpoison
+|-
-* [[Alpine games packages and options]]
+| {{Pkg|cagebreak|arch=}} || Wayland || Tiling ||C/wlroots || ratpoison and cage
-* [[Alpine emulators packages and options]]
+|-
-* [[Alpine games from upstreams sources]]
+| {{Pkg|cwm|arch=}} || X11 || Stacking || C ||
-* [[Alpine emulators from upstreams sources]]
+|-
-* [[Steam]]
+| {{Pkg|dwl|arch=}}  || Wayland || Tiling || C/wlroots||[[dwm]]
+|-
-== Tutorial series ==
+| [[dwm]] || X11 || Tiling || C ||
+|-
-{| class="wikitable"
+| [[Fluxbox]] || X11 || Stacking || C++ ||Blackbox
+|-
+| {{Pkg|herbstluftwm|arch=}} || X11 || Tiling || C++ ||
+|-
+| [[Hyprland]] || Wayland || Tiling || C++ ||
+|-
+| [[I3wm|i3]] || X11 || Tiling || C ||
+|-
+| {{Pkg|jwm|arch=}} || X11 || Stacking || C ||
+|-
+| [[LabWC]] || Wayland || Stacking || C/wlroots||[[Openbox]]
+|-
+| {{Pkg|mwm|arch=}} || X11 || Stacking || C ||
+|-
+| [[Openbox]] || X11 || Stacking || C ||
+|-
+| [[Qtile]] || Both || Tiling || Python ||
+|-
+| {{Pkg|ratpoison|arch=}}  || X11 || Kiosk || C ||
+|-
+| [[River]] || Wayland || Tiling || Zig || [[dwm]] and xmonad
+|-
+| {{Pkg|spectrwm |arch=}}  || X11 || Tiling || C||xmonad and [[dwm]]
+|-
+| [[Sway]] || Wayland || Tiling || C/wlroots || [[I3wm|i3]]
+|-
+| [[twm]] || X11 || Tiling || C ||
 |-
-! Previous required  !! What's next to read
+| {{Pkg|wayfire|arch=}} || Wayland || Stacking || C++/wlroots || Compiz
 |-
-| [[Alpine newbie apk packages]] || [[Alpine Newbies Openbox Window Manager|Alpine Newbies: Xorg and Openbox]]
+| [[Weston]] || Wayland || Stacking ||  C ||
 |}
-== See Also ==
+== See also ==
+* [[Installation#Post-Installation|Post Installation]]
-* [[Fonts|Fonts configuration and settings in alpine]]
+* [[Wayland]]
-* [[Alpine newbie]]
+* [[Xorg]]
-* [[Alpine newbie install manual]]
+* [[Display manager]]
-* [[Alpine newbie apk packages]]
+* [https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Desktop_environment Desktop environment - Archwiki]
-* [[Alpine newbie developer]]
+* [https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Desktop_environment Desktop environment - Gentoo Wiki]
-* [[Alpine newbie lammers]]
 [[Category:Desktop]]
-[[Category:Multimedia]]
+[[Category:Desktop Environments]]
-[[Category:Newbie]]
+[[Category:Window Managers]]
+[[Category:Compositor]]