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 9: / Line 9: @@
 '''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]].
-{{Tip|For servers consider using [[Alpine_Configuration_Framework_Design#Starting_ACF|Alpine Configuration Framework(ACF)]] for security reasons.}}
+{{Tip|For servers consider using [[Alpine_Configuration_Framework_Design|Alpine Configuration Framework(ACF)]] for security reasons.}}
 == Desktop environments ==
@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 == Window managers ==
-A window manager is software that controls the placement and appearance of windows within a windowing system in a graphical user interface. 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.
+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 [[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.
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Latest revision as of 10:38, 10 March 2025

Desktop environments

Window managers

See also