GNOME

From Alpine Linux
Revision as of 14:54, 14 November 2019 by Manneveru (talk | contribs) (Extra step that helped me launching session from GDM)

Initial setup

Start by booting up Alpine (see these instructions on how to do that)
When you Alpine is up and running, do the initial setup.

# setup-alpine

# setup-xorg-base

Installing packages

Install basic desktop system and gnome packages. As of right now, these are in the testing repo.
This might take a few minutes depending on your network speed.

# apk add gnome


If you want to you can also install additional GNOME apps for a more complete GNOME experience with:

# apk add gnome-apps


Setting up udev

You'll have to enable udev in order for GNOME to function properly.

# apk add udev

  1. /etc/init.d/udev start && /etc/init.d/udev-trigger start && /etc/init.d/udev-settle start
  2. rc-update add udev sysinit
  3. rc-update add udev-trigger sysinit
  4. rc-update add udev-settle sysinit

Setting up Xorg

Even when using GNOME Wayland you'll still need a setup Xorg for XWayland.

Video packages

$ apk search xf86-video

Then install the driver matching to your card, e.g. if you have an Intel iGPU:

# apk add xf86-video-intel

Input packages

Usually libinput is the best choice, as it's integrated best with GNOME and offers advanced functionality (e.g. palm rejection for touchpads).

# apk add xf86-input-libinput

Starting your desktop

Start GDM and login with your user.

rc-service gdm start

Once you have verified that it actually works you can make gdm start up at boot:

rc-update add gdm

Troubleshooting

If you are unable to login, check /var/log/gdm/greeter.log, there may be output there from X to indicate failed modules, etc.

If logging in from GDM returns to logging screen, try

# apk add bash

(bug report: #10953 sorry cannot link yet)