Unity
Related articles
Unity is a desktop shell for the GNOME desktop environment developed by Canonical Ltd for Ubuntu. Unity is implemented as a plugin of the Compiz window manager.
Installation
Unity can be installed on Arch Linux from an unofficial repository or alternatively from source. Note that whilst some Unity packages currently exist in the AUR, they are, almost without exception, outdated and should be avoided.
From the unofficial repository
Add the Unity-for-Arch repository. Available packages are listed on GitHub. It is recommended to install the freetype2-ubuntuAUR package.
Additional packages are available from Unity-for-Arch-Extra.
From source
All of the PKGBUILDs can be browsed on the GitHub repository, where Unity-For-Arch provides a minimal working Unity shell, and Unity-For-Arch-Extra provides some additional applications, including lightdm-ubuntuAUR (LightDM with Ubuntu patches), ubuntu-themesAUR, unity-tweak-tool (a popular Unity configuration tool) and more.
Install git and navigate to a directory in which the sources can be built, then do:
$ git clone https://github.com/chenxiaolong/Unity-for-Arch.git
Open the README
and build the packages according to the ordered list (see: Makepkg#Usage):
$ cd <package name> $ makepkg -sci
Updating
Navigate to the original directory and pull all changes:
$ git pull
Then, check, if any packages need updating:
$ ./"What_can_I_update?.py"
Standard and extended functionality
The following section lists packages that, whilst not required for the Unity shell to function, do serve to enhance the user experience:
Functionality | Package(s) |
---|---|
Notifications | notify-osd |
Screen locking | gnome-screensaver-ubuntu |
Online accounts | signon-keyring-extensionAUR, gnome-keyring, telepathy |
SSH | gnome-keyring |
HUD & menubar integration | appmenu-qt, firefox-ubuntuAUR, thunderbird-ubuntuAUR |
File and Folder lens | zeitgeist-ubuntu |
Configuration | gnome-tweak-tool, unity-tweak-tool |
Pidgin integration | pidgin-indicator |
Tips and tricks
Customize LightDM wallpaper and appearance
See LightDM#Changing background images/colors.
Autostart programs on login
See GNOME#Startup applications.
Troubleshooting
GTK3 applications consistently crash after GNOME 3.14 update
Uninstall overlay-scrollbarAUR, liboverlay-scrollbarAUR, and liboverlay-scrollbar3AUR.
Cannot right click on desktop
Other issues that this fix addresses:
- Title bar at the top doesn't display 'Arch Linux Desktop'
- Shortcut keys, such as
Super
andAlt
don't work when there are no active windows
Execute the following: gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background show-desktop-icons true
Unity stops working after update
Run:
$ compiz.reset
Then log out and log back into the Unity session.
If Unity still isn't working, report an issue on github or discuss it in this forum thread on the Arch Linux Forums.
Some GTK+ themes look ugly since GNOME 3.6
This affects the unity default theme and light themes. Use:
~/.config/gtk3.0/gtk.css
GtkLabel { background-color: @transparent; }
Workspace switcher widget disappeared
In ccsm (the Compiz Configuration Settings Manager), ensure that the following option is checked: Settings > Appearance > Behaviour > Enable workspaces.
No skype or other applications appear in indicator tray
Using skype as an example;
Append 'Skype' to the systray-whitelist
list in com.canonical.Unity.Panel
using dconf-editor or the gsettings command.
Reboot or logout afterwards.
Alternatively, replace the contents of systray-whitelist
with 'all'.
Known issues
Indicator-messages does not work properly
Pidgin and a number of other applications can not be integrated into indicator-messages due to its API changes. Users will have to wait for upstream to release software updates for the affected applications.
Pidgin-libnotify-ubuntu has unresolvable dependency
As of February 2015, the required package perlxml is unavailable, try pidgin-indicator.