Desktop environments and Window managers: Difference between revisions

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(cleaned up links in see also section)
(1. Added budgie* to list of desktop environments; 2. Added subsection →‎Mobile/tablet UI: ; moved sxmo* there from Desktop Environments listing)
 
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This page lists only the window managers and desktop environments for which packages are available in Alpine Linux. Do not add unsupported software here.
This page lists only the window managers and desktop environments for which packages are available in Alpine Linux. Do not add unsupported software here.
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'''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]]. For servers consider [[Alpine_Configuration_Framework_Design#Starting_ACF|Alpine Configuration Framework(ACF)]].


== Desktop Environments ==
'''Alpine Linux''' has no official desktop although setting up a graphical environment is proposed in the [[Installation#Post-Installation|post-installation]] guide.  Alpine Linux desktops may meet the needs for ''general'' daily desktop use:-
* Fewer packages still require [https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/ glibc], as numerous popular applications are now available here on [https://musl.libc.org/ musl]:  {{Pkg|libreoffice*}}, {{Pkg|chromium*}}, [[Firefox]], etc
* Several Alpine Linux desktop environments have been benchmarked to be competitive for both [https://everybytecounts.org/#desktop-environment-comparison speed and memory]
* Arguably, there is a reduced attack surface through the use of a comparatively lightweight '''musl''' and [[BusyBox]] system core


* [[Xfce]]
All window managers and desktop environments that are available in Alpine Linux are listed on this page. A quick installation using the [[Alpine_setup_scripts#setup-desktop|setup-desktop]] script is available for several [[Setup-desktop|desktops]].
 
{{Tip|For servers, consider using [[Alpine_Configuration_Framework_Design|Alpine Configuration Framework (ACF)]] for security considerations in that use case.}}
 
== Desktop environments ==
 
A ''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 and desktop widgets, and might also provide drag-and-drop functionality.
 
* {{Pkg|budgie*}}
* [[COSMIC]]
* [[GNOME]]
* [[KDE|KDE Plasma]]
* {{Pkg|lomiri*|arch=}}
* [[Lumina]]
* [[LXQt]]
* [[LXQt]]
* [[KDE|KDE Plasma]]
* [[GNOME]]
* [[MATE]]
* [[MATE]]
* [[Xfce]]


== Window Managers ==
=== Mobile/tablet UI ===
 
Certain desktop environments have been ported for use as ''mobile user interfaces'' (UI) while other mobile/tablet UIs may have been developed using other existing unix toolkits. ''Convergent desktop environments'' are designed with a view to be consistent regardless of the platform used (pc, mobile, tablet, etc) such as the aforementioned '''lomiri''' environment.
===  [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stacking_window_manager Stacking window managers] ===
* {{Pkg|phosh*}} - Wayland shell for GNOME on [https://phosh.mobi/ mobile devices].
(also known as '''floating window managers''')
* {{Pkg|plasma-mobile*}} - [https://plasma-mobile.org/ Mobile UI using a KDE Plasma foundation].
* X11:
* {{Pkg|sxmo*}} - [https://sxmo.org/ Minimalist mobile Linux environment.]
** [[Openbox]]
** [[Fluxbox]]
 
* Wayland:
** [[Weston]]
** [[LabWC]]
** {{Pkg|wayfire|arch=}}


=== [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiling_window_manager Tiling window managers] ===
== Window managers ==
(also known as '''Dynamic window managers''')
* X11:
** {{Pkg|bspwm|arch=}}
** {{Pkg|herbstluftwm|arch=}}
** [[twm]]
** [[dwm]]
** [[I3wm|i3]]
** [[AwesomeWM|Awesome]]
** {{Pkg|ratpoison|arch=}}
** {{Pkg|spectrwm |arch=}}
** {{Pkg|qtile |arch=}} 


* Wayland:
A ''window manager'' is software that controls the placement and appearance of windows within a windowing system in a graphical user interface. In the case of [[Wayland]], these are called ''compositors'' because they additionally perform the task of a ''compositing window manager''.
** [[Sway]]
** [[River]]
** {{Pkg|cagebreak|arch=}}
** {{Pkg|dwl|arch=}}
** [[Hyprland]]


=== Other Window Managers ===
Almost all components of a desktop need to be added manually by the user.  Both [[Alpine_Linux:Glossary#S|stacking]] (a.k.a. ''floating'') and [[Alpine_Linux:Glossary#T|tiling]]/''dynamic'' layouts are commonly used for window management.


* Wayland
{|class="wikitable sortable" align="center" style="width:100%; border:1px #0771a6 solid; background:#f9f9f9; text-align:left; border-collapse:collapse;"
** {{Pkg|cage |arch=}} ('''kiosk''' mode)
! WM Name !! Protocol!! Style !! Toolkit!!class="unsortable"|Inspiration
|-
| {{Pkg|2bwm|arch=}} || X11 || Stacking || C/Roff
|| [https://www.hack.org/~mc/hacks/mcwm mcwm]
|-
| [[AwesomeWM|Awesome]] ||X11  || Tiling || Lua ||
|-
| {{Pkg|berry|arch=}} || X11 || Stacking || C ||
|-
| {{Pkg|bspwm|arch=}} || X11 || Tiling || C ||
|-
|  {{Pkg|cage |arch=}} || Wayland || Kiosk || C/wlroots || {{Pkg|ratpoison|arch=}}
|-
| {{Pkg|cagebreak|arch=}} || Wayland || Tiling ||C/wlroots || {{Pkg|ratpoison|arch=}}, {{Pkg|cage|arch=}}
|-
| {{Pkg|compiz|arch=}} || X11 || Compositing || C++/C/Python ||
|-
| {{Pkg|cwm|arch=}} || X11 || Stacking || C ||
|-
| {{Pkg|dk|arch=}} || X11 || Tiling || C || {{Pkg|dwm|arch=}}, {{Pkg|bspwm|arch=}}, [https://xmonad.org/ xmonad]
|-
| {{Pkg|dwl|arch=}}  || Wayland || Tiling || C/wlroots||[[dwm]]
|-
| [[dwm]] || X11 || Tiling || C ||
|-
| [[Fluxbox]] || X11 || Stacking || C++ || [https://sourceforge.net/projects/blackboxwm/ blackbox]
|-
| {{Pkg|flwm|arch=}} || X11 || Stacking || C++/FLTK || [https://all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2]
|-
| {{Pkg|gamescope|arch=}} || X11/Wayland || Compositing || C++/C/Lua ||
|-
| {{Pkg|goomwwm||-
| {{Pkg|icewm|arch=}} || X11 || Stacking || C++/C/M4 ||
arch=}}  || X11 || Stacking || C/Roff ||
|-
| {{Pkg|herbstluftwm|arch=}} || X11 || Tiling || C++ ||
|-
| [[Hyprland]] || Wayland || Tiling || C++ ||
|-
| [[I3wm|i3]] || X11 || Tiling || C ||
|-
| {{Pkg|icewm|arch=}} || X11 || Stacking || C++/C/M4 ||
|-
| {{Pkg|jwm|arch=}} || X11 || Stacking || C ||
|-
| {{Pkg|kwin|arch=}} || X11/Wayland || Compositing || C++ ||
|-
| [[LabWC]] || Wayland || Stacking || C/wlroots||[[Openbox]]
|-
| {{Pkg|marco|arch=}} || X11 || Stacking || C || {{Pkg|metacity|arch=}}
|-
| {{Pkg|metacity|arch=kwin}} || X11 || Compositing || C ||
|-
| {{Pkg|mutter|arch=}} || X11/Wayland || Compositing || C ||
|-
| {{Pkg|mwm|arch=}} || X11 || Stacking || C ||
|-
| {{Pkg|niri|arch=}} || Wayland || Tiling || Rust/GLSL/other || [https://github.com/paperwm/PaperWM PaperWM]
|-
| [[Openbox]] || X11 || Stacking || C ||
|-
| {{Pkg|pekwm|arch=}} || X11 || Stacking || C++/CMake/Perl/C || [http://sapphire.sourceforge.net/ aewm++]
|-
| [[Qtile]] || X11/Wayland || Tiling || Python ||
|-
| {{Pkg|ratpoison|arch=}}  || X11 || Kiosk || C ||
|-
| [[River|river-classic/River]] || Wayland || Tiling || Zig || [[dwm]], [https://xmonad.org/ xmonad]
|-
| {{Pkg|spectrwm |arch=}}  || X11 || Tiling || C||  [https://xmonad.org/ xmonad], [[dwm]]
|-
| [[Sway]] || Wayland || Tiling || C/wlroots || [[I3wm|i3]]
|-
| {{Pkg|sxmo-dwm|arch=}} || X11 || Tiling || C || {{Pkg|dwm|arch=}}
|-
| [[twm]] || X11 || Tiling || C ||
|-
| {{Pkg|wayfire|arch=}} || Wayland || Stacking || C++/wlroots || {{Pkg|compiz|arch=}}
|-
| [[Weston]] || Wayland || Stacking ||  C ||
|-
| {{Pkg|windowmaker|arch=}} || X11 || Stacking || C/Shell/M4/Perl/Makefile/Emacs Lisp/other || NeXTSTEP
|-
| {{Pkg|xfwm4|arch=}} || X11 || Compositing || C/Makefile/Meson/other ||
|}


== See also ==
== See also ==

Latest revision as of 02:34, 14 January 2026

Alpine Linux has no official desktop although setting up a graphical environment is proposed in the post-installation guide. Alpine Linux desktops may meet the needs for general daily desktop use:-

  • Fewer packages still require glibc, as numerous popular applications are now available here on musl: libreoffice*, chromium*, Firefox, etc
  • Several Alpine Linux desktop environments have been benchmarked to be competitive for both speed and memory
  • Arguably, there is a reduced attack surface through the use of a comparatively lightweight musl and BusyBox system core

All window managers and desktop environments that are available in Alpine Linux are listed on this page. A quick installation using the setup-desktop script is available for several desktops.

Tip: For servers, consider using Alpine Configuration Framework (ACF) for security considerations in that use case.

Desktop environments

A 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 and desktop widgets, and might also provide drag-and-drop functionality.

Mobile/tablet UI

Certain desktop environments have been ported for use as mobile user interfaces (UI) while other mobile/tablet UIs may have been developed using other existing unix toolkits. Convergent desktop environments are designed with a view to be consistent regardless of the platform used (pc, mobile, tablet, etc) such as the aforementioned lomiri environment.

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 the case of Wayland, these are called compositors because they additionally perform the task of a compositing window manager.

Almost all components of a desktop need to be added manually by the user. Both stacking (a.k.a. floating) and tiling/dynamic layouts are commonly used for window management.

WM Name Protocol Style Toolkit Inspiration
2bwm X11 Stacking C/Roff mcwm
Awesome X11 Tiling Lua
berry X11 Stacking C
bspwm X11 Tiling C
cage Wayland Kiosk C/wlroots ratpoison
cagebreak Wayland Tiling C/wlroots ratpoison, cage
compiz X11 Compositing C++/C/Python
cwm X11 Stacking C
dk X11 Tiling C dwm, bspwm, xmonad
dwl Wayland Tiling C/wlroots dwm
dwm X11 Tiling C
Fluxbox X11 Stacking C++ blackbox
flwm X11 Stacking C++/FLTK wm2
gamescope X11/Wayland Compositing C++/C/Lua
goomwwm X11 Stacking C/Roff
herbstluftwm X11 Tiling C++
Hyprland Wayland Tiling C++
i3 X11 Tiling C
icewm X11 Stacking C++/C/M4
jwm X11 Stacking C
kwin X11/Wayland Compositing C++
LabWC Wayland Stacking C/wlroots Openbox
marco X11 Stacking C metacity
metacity X11 Compositing C
mutter X11/Wayland Compositing C
mwm X11 Stacking C
niri Wayland Tiling Rust/GLSL/other PaperWM
Openbox X11 Stacking C
pekwm X11 Stacking C++/CMake/Perl/C aewm++
Qtile X11/Wayland Tiling Python
ratpoison X11 Kiosk C
river-classic/River Wayland Tiling Zig dwm, xmonad
spectrwm X11 Tiling C xmonad, dwm
Sway Wayland Tiling C/wlroots i3
sxmo-dwm X11 Tiling C dwm
twm X11 Tiling C
wayfire Wayland Stacking C++/wlroots compiz
Weston Wayland Stacking C
windowmaker X11 Stacking C/Shell/M4/Perl/Makefile/Emacs Lisp/other NeXTSTEP
xfwm4 X11 Compositing C/Makefile/Meson/other

See also

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