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Desktops

This Nix module provides a convenient way to enable and configure various desktop environments and related settings within your NixOS system. It includes options for enabling core desktop requirements, setting up Wayland environment variables, choosing a display manager, and enabling support for specific compositors like Hyprland and Niri, as well as the KDE Plasma 6 desktop environment.

Options

Here's a detailed breakdown of the available options within the local.desktops scope:

local.desktops.enable

  • Type: boolean
  • Default: false
  • Description: Enables the core desktop environment support. This is the primary switch that activates the module's functionality, including setting up essential system packages and potentially configuring a display manager. If this option is set to true, the module proceeds to configure other options, like the display manager, environment variables, and specific desktop environments. If false, most of the module's configuration is skipped. It is the foundational setting upon which all others depend.

local.desktops.enableEnv

  • Type: boolean
  • Default: true
  • Description: Enables the setting of Wayland-specific environment variables. These variables are crucial for applications to function correctly within a Wayland environment. These variables configure application backends and display configurations to integrate smoothly with the Wayland display server. Disabling this might lead to compatibility issues with Wayland-native applications. When enabled, the module sets variables like NIXOS_OZONE_WL, CLUTTER_BACKEND, GDK_BACKEND, MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND and others.

local.desktops.displayManager

  • Type: enum [ "sddm" "gdm" "ly" "none" "dms" ]

  • Default: "dms"

  • Description: Specifies the display manager to use. The display manager handles the login process and starts the desktop environment.

    • "sddm": Enables the Simple Desktop Display Manager (SDDM), a modern and highly customizable display manager. Enables Wayland support for SDDM.
    • "gdm": Enables the GNOME Display Manager (GDM), the default display manager for GNOME-based systems.
    • "ly": Enables Ly, a lightweight TTY-based display manager.
    • "none": Disables any display manager. This is useful for headless systems or when managing display management through other means, such as a custom script.
    • "dms": Enables dms-greeter display manager, configured to use Hyprland as the compositor. This is typically used in conjunction with enabling Hyprland in the module.

local.desktops.hyprland

  • Type: boolean
  • Default: false
  • Description: Enables the Hyprland compositor. Hyprland is a dynamic tiling Wayland compositor based on wlroots, known for its customization options. This option ensures Hyprland is installed and configured to run. Uses a flake input to find the package.

local.desktops.niri

  • Type: boolean
  • Default: false
  • Description: Enables the Niri compositor. This option installs and configures the Niri compositor, providing an alternative desktop environment.

local.desktops.plasma6

  • Type: boolean
  • Default: false
  • Description: Enables the KDE Plasma 6 desktop environment. This option configures Plasma 6 as the active desktop environment, ensuring all necessary packages are installed and configured.