Pantheon
Pantheon is the default desktop environment originally created for the elementary OS distribution. It is written from scratch using Vala and the GTK3 toolkit. With regards to usability and appearance, the desktop has some similarities with GNOME Shell and Mac OS X.
Installation
Pantheon is split into several packages which are available in the AUR. To get a minimal desktop interface, you may start by installing pantheon-session-bzrAUR. This will pull the following core components:
- cerbereAUR: Watchdog service to keep core Pantheon apps running
- gala-bzrAUR: Window Manager
- wingpanelAUR: Top panel
- slingshot-launcherAUR: Application launcher
- plank: Dock
Additionally, you may install the following packages:
- audience-bzrAUR: Video player
- contractor-bzrAUR: Service for sharing data between apps
- dexter-contacts-bzrAUR: Contacts manager (does not build)
- eidete-bzrAUR: Simple screencaster
- elementary-icon-theme: elementary icons
- elementary-wallpapers-bzrAUR: elementary wallpaper collection
- elementary-scan-bzrAUR: Simple scan utility
- gtk-theme-elementaryAUR: elementary GTK theme
- feedler-bzrAUR: RSS feeds reader (does not build)
- footnote-bzrAUR: Note taking app
- geary: Email client
- indicator-pantheon-session-bzrAUR: Session indicator
- lightdm-pantheon-greeter-bzrAUR: LightDM greeter
- maya-calendar-bzrAUR: Calendar
- midori-graniteAUR: Web browser
- noise: Audio player
- pantheon-calculator-bzrAUR: Calculator
- pantheon-filesAUR: File explorer
- pantheon-notify-bzrAUR: Notification daemon
- pantheon-print-bzrAUR: Print settings
- pantheon-terminal: Terminal emulator
- plank-theme-pantheon-bzrAUR: Pantheon theme for plank
- scratch-text-editorAUR: Text editor
- snap-photobooth-bzrAUR: Webcam app
- switchboard-bzrAUR: Settings manager
- webcontracts-bzrAUR: Web services contracts for use with contractor-bzr
Additional Info
Unofficial repository
I have set up an unofficial repository for pantheon packages: http://pkgbuild.com/~alucryd/pantheon/. Add the following lines at the top of your sources in /etc/pacman.conf
:
[pantheon] SigLevel = Optional Server = http://pkgbuild.com/~alucryd/$repo/$arch
Github repository
All Pantheon related PKGBUILDs can be found on my GitHub repository: https://github.com/alucryd/aur-alucryd/tree/master/pantheon
Packages based on older evolution-data-server
dexter-contacts-bzrAUR and feedler-bzrAUR do not build because they are based on evolution-data-server 3.2. Arch Linux provides version 3.10 which uses a different Vala API.
Launching Pantheon
Via a Display Manager
pantheon-session-bzrAUR provides a session entry for display managers such as gdm or lightdm.
Via .xinitrc
You can also use ~/.xinitrc
to launch the Pantheon shell. The following code will successfully launch a Pantheon session:
#!/bin/sh if [ -d /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d ]; then for f in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/*; do [ -x "$f" ] && . "$f" done unset f fi gsettings-data-convert & xdg-user-dirs-gtk-update & /usr/lib/polkit-gnome/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1 & /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon/gnome-settings-daemon & /usr/lib/gnome-user-share/gnome-user-share & eval $(gnome-keyring-daemon --start --components=pkcs11,secrets,ssh,gpg) export GNOME_KEYRING_CONTROL GNOME_KEYRING_PID GPG_AGENT_INFO SSH_AUTH_SOCK exec cerbere
dconf-editor
and should look like this.Autostart applications
Pantheon, when launched via ~/.xinitrc
, does not support XDG autostart. However, there are 3 other ways to achieve this for applications which do not provide a systemd unit:
- You may add any program to your
~/.xinitrc
, preferably right before the exec cerbere line. This is the better choice for one-shot programs. - Or you may edit the
org.pantheon.cerbere.monitored-processes
key using dconf-editor and add the programs of your choice. This method is best for applications which keep running in the background. - Or you may use a program like dapperAUR, dex-gitAUR, or fb-autostartAUR to add support for XDG autostart in your
~/.xinitrc
.
Configuration
Configuring Pantheon is done via switchboard-bzrAUR and its plugs, most are available in the AUR and the custom repo. All pantheon settings can also be altered via dconf, they are located in the org.pantheon
key. Use dconf-editor for easy editing.
Part of the configuration is handled by gnome-control-center via a dedicated plug, which unfortunately only supports GNOME up to 3.6. Use gnome-control-center itself and gnome-tweak-tool instead.
Pantheon Files
If you want to enable context menu entries such as for file-roller to extract/compress archives, then you have to additionally install contractor-bzrAUR.
Known Issues
No transparency in pantheon-terminal
Transparency in pantheon-terminal is not functional. It appears to work briefly at start then background becomes opaque. See bug report: https://bugs.launchpad.net/pantheon-terminal/+bug/1260383
White icons in pantheon-files
Currently there seems to be a bug which displays the view icons in the top location in a white colour instead of black. This can be fixed by adding the following line to gtk-widgets.css
or gtk-widgets.css
of your gtk-theme-elementaryAUR theme:
GtkToolItem { color: @text_color; }
Wingpanel is transparent
Depending on your GTK theme, wingpanel can be completely transparent. This is the case for the elementary theme for example. The Numix theme seems to produce a solid panel, however it will become transparent upon certain events, reloading wingpanel makes it solid again.
Corrupted graphics in canonical indicators
Indicators behave incorrectly with every theme I've tried. They are very ancient, all of them date back to 2012 because the newer indicators depend on Ubuntu patches, and they should be killed with fire anyway. Wingpanel is doing just that and I hope the next major release will ship their new plugin system.
Can't interact with the LightDM Pantheon greeter
The Pantheon greeter needs to be run as root, edit /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf accordingly. See bug report: https://bugs.launchpad.net/pantheon-greeter/+bug/1282148
Troubleshooting
Gala crashes on start
It appears that unconfigured gala tries to use default gnome wallpaper as a background. However, the corresponding file is absent unless you have gnome-themes-standard installed. Thus, install gnome-themes-standard to workaround the crash. It is safe to remove this package after you configure pantheon in a way you want.