Desktop environments and Window managers: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 18:44, 17 December 2025

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.

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

@@ 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. may are available and is attempted to be listed below:
+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.
-== Desktop environments ==
+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 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 Desktop]]
+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]].
-# [[LXDE]]
-# [[LXQT]]
-# [[KDE|KDE Plasma]]
-# [[Gnome]]
-# [[MATE]]
-==  [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stacking_window_manager Stacking (floating) window managers] ==
+{{Tip|For servers, consider using [[Alpine_Configuration_Framework_Design|Alpine Configuration Framework (ACF)]] for security considerations in that use case.}}
-# [[Openbox]]
+== Desktop environments ==
-== [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiling_window_manager Tiling (dynamic) window managers] ==
+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.
+* [[Xfce]]
+* [[LXQt]]
+* [[KDE|KDE Plasma]]
+* [[GNOME]]
+* [[MATE]]
+* [[COSMIC]]
+* {{Pkg|lomiri|arch=}}
+* {{Pkg|lumina-desktop*|arch=}}
+* {{Pkg|sxmo*}}
-# [[Dwm]]
+== Window managers ==
-# [[AwesomeWM|Awesome Window Manager]]
+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''.
-== Tutorial series ==
+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.
-{| class="wikitable"
+{|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
+|-
+| {{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]
 |-
-! Previous required  !! What's next to read
+| {{Pkg|flwm|arch=}} || X11 || Stacking || C++/FLTK || [https://all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ wm2]
 |-
-| [[Alpine newbie apk packages]] || [[Openbox]]
+| {{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 ==
+* [[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]
 [[Category:Desktop]]
-[[Category:Newbie]]
+[[Category:Desktop Environments]]
+[[Category:Window Managers]]
+[[Category:Compositor]]