GNOME Desktop on slackbuilds.org (Slackware 15.0)

reddog83 · 11-13-2022, 07:53 AM

Acutally we are not mentioning dropline gnome. 0xBF has submitted SlackBuild's for Gnome Desktop to SBo. As well as there is another group that is working on Gnome for Current as well. They have Gnome 42 building on Current and Gnome 43 is in testing.

0XBF · 11-19-2022, 10:28 AM

Over the past few weeks I have been updating some of the software versions for the GNOME desktop SlackBuilds I'm maintaining on slackbuilds.org. I wanted to get gnome-shell onto the 41.x branch and have done a few other updates and improvements along with this. The summary of whats been added/updated/changed is listed below.

*Note that if you want to update these based off the list below, there are a couple updates that also added dependencies. Use sqg+sbopkg to pick up the dependencies properly. You could also opt to re-build the whole gnome-basic or gnome-all queue to just run the build again and ensure everything is at the latest version (What I usually do, since the full queue takes approximately an hour for my machine to complete).

Quote:

'gnome-shell' Upgraded to 41.9. Note: Prior to this update I was supplying 40.10. This gnome-shell 41.9 version build includes its own copy of gsettings-desktop-schemas-41.0 to allow gnome-shell 41.9 to run on Slackware-15.0. BTW, GNOME Desktop versions 42 or newer have too many dependency upgrades required in Slackware 15.0 to make it feasible to support with the slackbuilds.org methodology so expect to stay on the 41 branch for my Slackware 15.0 gnome-shell and mutter builds. At least 41 is still getting updates. Note: This version has a new dependency 'adobe-source-code-pro-font', which is a default monospaced font used in some of gnome-41's gsettings schemas. Without the font, things like gnome-terminal may show up with a very wide kerning on the default font.

'mutter' Upgraded to 41.9. Mutter and gnome-shell always move as a pair so this is upgraded to match gnome-shell 41.9. This version also adds 'xvfb-run' as a dependency for mutter.

'gnome-shell-extensions' Upgraded to 41.2. This is done to match the gnome-shell/mutter upgrade to the 41.x branch. If you had some custom extensions installed on the older 40.x version, you may have to update those extensions after updating gnome-shell-extensions. The gnome-shell-extensions application will list what extensions are no longer valid once you open it.

'gdm' Rebuilt. The SlackBuild has been updated to provide proper .new file handling for /etc/gdm/custom.conf (Thanks LuckyCyborg). I also added a wrapper script to sed out Slackware's -nodaemon option from rc.4 when rc.4 starts gdm so that editing rc.4 is no longer needed. GDM should just work now. If Pat ever fixes that bug I will get rid of the wrapper but it does the job for now.

'gnome-session' Rebuilt. I re-did the profile script patch to also add the path for the new gsettings schemas so that a user can view and edit the new schemas in dconf-editor if so desired.

'cups-pk-helper' Added. This provides policykit rules to allow a user to authenticate and add/edit printers in gnome-control-center. Prior to adding this, the "Printers" panel in gnome-control-center would only list existing printers, without ability to add/edit them.

'gnome-control-center' Upgraded to 41.7. Added cups-pk-helper as a dependency.

'gnome-maps' Upgraded to 42.3.

'grilo' Upgraded to 0.3.15. Note: This newer grilo version uses libsoup3 as a dependency. Grilo is used in the gnome-photos deps.

'tracker-miners' Upgraded to 3.3.1. Used in nautilus' deps.

'gnome-shell-extension-appindicator' - This one has been on slackbuilds.org for a while now, but I haven't added it to any queue files for builds because its been finicky with gnome-shell 40.x. It seems to be working properly now with gnome-shell 41.x so I am adding it to the queues. This extension is needed for legacy tray icons to show up in the system tray (e.g. hplip, discord, hexchat, etc). Including it in the queue build ensures that its ready from the get go.

Amended Build/Installation Instructions.

I updated the gnome-all and gnome-basic queue files to include the updates and new dependencies noted above. With the update to the GDM build, some of the build/installation instructions from Post #1 of this thread can be removed. I can no longer edit that post so I will repost the instructions and amend them below:

Quote:

Building and Installing:

There are two queue files that I have put together:

1. gnome-basic.sqf - A minimal GNOME desktop without any additional GNOME applications. This provides the basic GNOME Shell, GNOME Session Manager, GDM display manager, and ability to tweak the system and extensions.

2. gnome-all.sqf - This builds most of the available GNOME software from slackbuilds.org, some of which integrate into the GNOME desktop to provide more features. See the queuefile for details of what is included.

I recommend the 'gnome-all' queue, as the basic version is very "barebones".

Before starting either build you will need to create a 'colord' group and user, which is needed by the colord dependency for the GNOME desktop. Use the following commands as root to set this up:
Code:

Code:

groupadd -g 303 colord
useradd -d /var/lib/colord -u 303 -g colord -s /bin/false colord

If using the gnome-all.sqf queuefile then you will also need to set up an 'avahi' group and user, which is an optional dependency that is used in the full build. The following commands will set up an avahi group and user:
Code:

Code:

groupadd -g 214 avahi
useradd -u 214 -g 214 -c Avahi -d /dev/null -s /bin/false avahi

If you fail to set these users and groups up before starting, then the queue will fail when it reaches colord and/or avahi.

Here is example steps for using 'sbopkg' to install the 'gnome-all' build. Note that this is done after setting up the above groups/users, and sbopkg is synced:
Code:

Code:

wget -P /var/lib/sbopkg/queues https://raw.githubusercontent.com/0x.../gnome-all.sqf
sbopkg -i gnome-all

Or, the 'gnome-basic' queue could be built with the following:
Code:

Code:

wget -P /var/lib/sbopkg/queues https://raw.githubusercontent.com/0x...nome-basic.sqf
sbopkg -i gnome-basic

Post Install Setup:
If you use the gnome-all.sqf queuefile, then you will also install avahi which is an optional dependency. Avahi has a couple daemons that should be started at boot and stopped at shutdown. This can be done using rc.local and rc.local_shutdown scripts (this information is also in the Avahi README).

Start the daemons with the following in /etc/rc.d/rc.local:
Code:

Code:

# Start avahidaemon
if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.avahidaemon ]; then
 /etc/rc.d/rc.avahidaemon start
fi
# Start avahidnsconfd
if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.avahidnsconfd ]; then
  /etc/rc.d/rc.avahidnsconfd start
fi

Stop the daemons with the following in /etc/rc.d/rc.local_shutdown:
Code:

Code:

# Stop avahidnsconfd
if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.avahidnsconfd ]; then
  /etc/rc.d/rc.avahidnsconfd stop
fi
# Stop avahidaemon
if [ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.avahidaemon ]; then
  /etc/rc.d/rc.avahidaemon stop
fi

At this point the GNOME desktop will be installed and ready to use. You can select it with 'xwmconfig' in runlevel 3, or use a display manager in runlevel 4 (gdm is recommended for lock screen functionality in GNOME).

I have tested the queue build as of this morning and all is functioning well here. If you have issues with the build or following the above instructions, feel free to post about it here.

Obligatory neofetch attached

reddog83 · 11-20-2022, 09:18 AM

In this repository I have included some of the work I have done. I have included a game and the support library for that game. ( I will be adding more as time allows ) for Gnome 41. As well as Epiphany web browser since the main components are already in Gnome 41's ( 0XBF ) version. Here you will find also a few more system extensions for Gnome 41 which are the Arc Menu and dash-to-panel. With 0XBF's appindicator all three of these extension's work great together to bring the look and feel of Plasma to Gnome, meaning the panel now has a Menu and appindicator all together.

https://github.com/nater1983/repository.N4t3R

0XBF · 11-26-2022, 08:29 AM

When using an application like Firefox and you download a file and select "Open in Folder", chances are you will start Dolphin (KDE's file manager).

While I have nothing against dolphin, I'm trying to use the GNOME desktop suite, which should be "Nautilus" aka "GNOME Files" instead. Dolphin also doesnt follow GNOME's light/dark theme and may alter theme settings in GNOME without your consent.

The Problem:
Firefox gets its default file manager from the dbus service called 'org.freedesktop.FileManager1'. On a full install of Slackware with GNOME added on, there are actually 3 services competing to provide this name on the session dbus:

Code:

$ grep FileManager1 /usr/share/dbus-1/services/*
/usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.freedesktop.FileManager1.service:Name=org.freedesktop.FileManager1
/usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.kde.dolphin.FileManager1.service:Name=org.freedesktop.FileManager1
/usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.xfce.Thunar.FileManager1.service:Name=org.freedesktop.FileManager1

The '/usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.freedesktop.FileManager1.service' is for Nautilus, the other two for dolphin and Thunar respectively.

If you are in a desktop session you can see which one is running to provide the FileManager1 service with:

Code:

$ qdbus org.freedesktop.FileManager1
/
/MainApplication
/org
/org/freedesktop
/org/freedesktop/FileManager1
/org/kde
/org/kde/dolphin

In the above case, it is dolphin that is providing the FileManager1 service.

The Fix:
You can enforce/override which of these is the default by using your user's '~/.local/share/dbus-1/services' directory. Services listed in here are prioritized over the system wide ones in '/usr/share/dbus-1/services'.

If you have a user account you prefer to use GNOME with, just copy the Nautilus entry from the system wide directory to your user's local directory.

Code:

$ cp /usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.freedesktop.FileManager1.service ~/.local/share/dbus-1/services/

You will have to restart the desktop session for the changes to take effect. This can be done by logging out and back in again. Afterwords, Nautilus should be the default file manager, which you can confirm with qdbus if you like.

Code:

$ qdbus org.freedesktop.FileManager1
/
/org
/org/freedesktop
/org/freedesktop/FileManager1
/org/gnome
/org/gnome/Nautilus
/org/gnome/Nautilus/FileOperations2
/org/gnome/Nautilus/SearchProvider

Firefox should now reliably use Nautilus when opening folders, along with any other programs that use the FileManager1 service.

Cheers,

Bob

0XBF · 12-11-2022, 12:44 PM

There is an issue with my 'gnome-shell-extension-appindicator' package on slackbuilds.org. This is the package that provides legacy system tray support via a built in gnome-shell extension.

With the current version it can cause gnome-shell to crash when exiting a third party system tray application. Examples of third party packages affected are 'sun' and 'alltray'.

I have an updated version of the gnome-shell-extension-appindicator package in the pending queue of slackbuilds.org. This version fixes the crash issue allowing those system tray programs to work properly.

The updated package should get added by the next SBo update, next Saturday (Dec 17, 2022).

If you want the update sooner, you could build it yourself from my github copy here: https://github.com/0xBOBF/gnome-slac...n-appindicator

If you dont use the extension or use the web installed version from extensions.gnome.org then you will not be affected by any of this.

0XBF · 12-11-2022, 12:52 PM

I should also mention that the libarchive 3.6.2 update in slackware-stable (15.0) has the queue build currently broken thanks to a number of packages that use libarchive and will complain about missing the iconv.pc file.

This is an ongoing issue that affects a lot more than just the gnome builds and needs to be fixed upstream or downgraded. There is ongoing discussion and some "temporary fixes" listed in the thread here: https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ds-4175719632/

0XBF · 02-18-2023, 12:01 PM

I've made some updates regarding gnome slackbuilds and the gnome-all queue that I maintain:

1. Added 'gnome-browser-connector' to slackbuilds.org as a replacement for 'chrome-gnome-shell'.

'chrome-gnome-shell' was renamed to 'gnome-browser-connector' in the gnome 42 releases and onwards. Using this updated version removes in-browser warnings about older api versions on the extensions.gnome.org webpage. It also can be built on 15.0 and -current, whereas the older version fails to build in -current. If you upgrade to this, then chrome-gnome-shell can be removed.

2. I added a few other programs to the gnome-all.sqf list that I keep. These were added to slackbuilds.org within recent weeks.

- eog - The "eye of gnome" image viewer (GNOME's default image viewer), which was added to slackbuilds.org by Nate Russell
- gnome-clocks - GNOME's world clock application, added recently by Charadon
- gnome-builder (and deps) - GNOME's IDE, added by Charadon (Adds a fair chunk of deps, so its at the end of the queue in case one should decide to trim it from the list).

If there's any other gnome programs from "gnome-core" that get added to slackbuilds.org, I will try to add those to my gnome-all list as well.

3. I also removed avahi from the gnome-all list, since nothing actually depended on it afaik.

The queue still builds fine and people who want it can always add it in after. Again, just keeping the list to the gnome-core applications when I can here.

Thats all for now.

0XBF · 02-18-2023, 12:01 PM

I've made some updates regarding gnome slackbuilds and the gnome-all queue that I maintain:

1. Added 'gnome-browser-connector' to slackbuilds.org as a replacement for 'chrome-gnome-shell'.

'chrome-gnome-shell' was renamed to 'gnome-browser-connector' in the gnome 42 releases and onwards. Using this updated version removes in-browser warnings about older api versions on the extensions.gnome.org webpage. It also can be built on 15.0 and -current, whereas the older version fails to build in -current. If you upgrade to this, then chrome-gnome-shell can be removed.

2. I added a few other programs to the gnome-all.sqf list that I keep. These were added to slackbuilds.org within recent weeks.

- eog - The "eye of gnome" image viewer (GNOME's default image viewer), which was added to slackbuilds.org by Nate Russell
- gnome-clocks - GNOME's world clock application, added recently by Charadon
- gnome-builder (and deps) - GNOME's IDE, added by Charadon (Adds a fair chunk of deps, so its at the end of the queue in case one should decide to trim it from the list).

If there's any other gnome programs from "gnome-core" that get added to slackbuilds.org, I will try to add those to my gnome-all list as well.

3. I also removed avahi from the gnome-all list, since nothing actually depended on it afaik.

The queue still builds fine and people who want it can always add it in after. Again, just keeping the list to the gnome-core applications when I can here.

Thats all for now.

bittin_ · 03-20-2023, 12:14 AM

thanks @rizitis for the updated GNOME 43 and MATE packages just saw them in another thread and installing them right now

-- bittin Luna (GNOME Foundation Member and fairly new Slackware current user)

reddog83 · 03-20-2023, 11:21 AM

Welcome to Slackware @bittin_

rizitis · 03-20-2023, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bittin_

thanks @rizitis for the updated GNOME 43 and MATE packages just saw them in another thread and installing them right now

-- bittin Luna (GNOME Foundation Member and fairly new Slackware current user)

Welcome to Slackware

ps: I m not the maintainer of these DE, I just provide them in my signature

bittin_ · 03-20-2023, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rizitis

Welcome to Slackware

ps: I m not the maintainer of these DE, I just provide them in my signature

ah alright i see got a bit confused

bittin_ · 03-22-2023, 09:53 PM

and now at GNOME 44 thanks @reddog83 for the help as i did not really understand everything how Slackpkg+ and libaries worked

reddog83 · 03-22-2023, 09:58 PM

You are very welcome my friend.

saxa · 03-23-2023, 01:04 PM

Good job peeps !