Date: Fri, 27 May 2016 10:42:03 -0400 From: Allan Jude <allanjude@freebsd.org> To: Craig Rodrigues <rodrigc@FreeBSD.org>, freebsd-sysinstall@freebsd.org Cc: Alfred Perlstein <alfred@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Fwd: Add option to sysinstall to install an X desktop, similar to Debian? Message-ID: <43826ffc-baef-a625-596a-71585e33b35d@freebsd.org> In-Reply-To: <CAG=rPVdPmpANEQd2H0m_7t9NAPb67TrwuN0PCf9xwpnk68KdYg@mail.gmail.com> References: <CAG=rPVcYbxG%2BpsB5XQCxq8YktMYQn3=DM42zLxT5yZGuaSb5Eg@mail.gmail.com> <CAG=rPVdPmpANEQd2H0m_7t9NAPb67TrwuN0PCf9xwpnk68KdYg@mail.gmail.com>
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On 2016-05-27 05:28, Craig Rodrigues wrote: > [Resending due to message size restriction of > freebsd-sysinstall@freebsd.org <mailto:freebsd-sysinstall@freebsd.org>] > > > Hi, > > I recently had to install Debian Linux 8.4.0 in a VM to test some things > I was working on. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was > to use Debian's text-based installer and get a usable desktop system up > and running very quickly. > > I really liked the menu option that allows you select a desktop environment > (one of GNOME, Xfce, KDE, Cinnamon, MATE, or LXDE). > I have a > screenshot: https://people.freebsd.org/~rodrigc/debian_desktop_installer.png > > Allan, do you think it would be possible to copy a subset of this Debian > screen to the > FreeBSD installer, with the option to install a desktop set to OFF by > default? > I'm sure that there are lots of opinions about which desktop to choose, > but having a menu with 6 options to choose from seems quite reasonable > to start with. > > Thanks. > > -- > Craig > I started building something like this after our interview with Alfred. It has gnome3, MATE, KDE4, and xfce4. I ran into a few problems with things not working out-of-the-box. If you install mate and gdm, it defaults to logging you in to a very very stripped down gnome-shell that is pulled in as a dependency of gdm. If you actually install the gnome3 metapackage, it adds like 300 more packages, and then the gnome-shell actually has applications in it. KDE4 works ok. xfce doesn't have a login manager. xdm doesn't have a startup script, you'd have to edit /etc/ttys to make it start at boot. kdm4 can't be installed as a separate package. gdm will default to starting gnome instead of xfce, even if the gnome package is not installed. I tried 'slim', but it always launches: 'exec /bin/sh - ~/.xinitrc %session' and files if that file does not exist in the user's home directory. So I got a little stalled out on it. -- Allan Jude
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