(Wayland forky/sid) HowTo: deb packages for niri-wm + Noctalia shell

hhh · 2026-10-11 20:33:22

@unklar, did I link the adw-gtk3 themes?

Another update, xdg-desktop-portal-gnome has a hard dependency on nautilus which I didn't notice because I was using nautilus. xdg-desktop-portal-gtk is sufficient for 99.5% of things (everything but screencasting, I think?) but if you do install xdg-desktop-portal-wlr you'll need to start it in your niri config. For debian, add...

spawn-at-startup "/usr/libexec/xdg-desktop-portal-wlr"

unklar · 2026-10-12 11:43:26

hhh wrote:

@unklar, did I link the adw-gtk3 themes?
Another update, xdg-desktop-portal-gnome has a hard dependency on nautilus which I didn't notice because I was using nautilus. xdg-desktop-portal-gtk is sufficient for 99.5% of things (everything but screencasting, I think?) but if you do install xdg-desktop-portal-wlr you'll need to start it in your niri config. For debian, add...
spawn-at-startup "/usr/libexec/xdg-desktop-portal-wlr"

In my opinion, everything is OK.
Only xdg-desktop-portal-gtk is being used.
Therefore, the spawn... entry also exists.

unklar · 2026-10-12 12:07:01

hhh wrote:

@unklar, I hope you find this thread. I had an "I wonder if... Eureka!!!" moment. All these steps might not be necessary but let's get on the same page.
*Remove the papirus-folders script, it's part of the papirus-icon template so it's redundant...
wget -qO- https://git.io/papirus-folders-install | env uninstall=true sh
* Delete any Papirus folders you have in ~/.local/share/themes (it will be restored by the template scripts)
* Install papirus-icon-theme from Debian via apt or synaptic or whatever.
* Install inkscape from Debian!
* Make sure 'papirus-icons' is checked in Noctalia Settings>Templates>Community>Browse templates
* Logout/login (almost certainly not necessary, indulge me)
* Change your wallpaper (you must have 'Wallpaper" selected in Noctalia Settings>Appearance>Palette Source)
* Open Thunar
* PROFIT!!!
I have tested this with both nautilus and thunar. I'm using Thunar at the moment and it works even with Thunar open... change your wall and after a few seconds the icon color changes! If you're using nautilus and it's open, you won't see the change util you close/open it.
I have also purged inkscape and it is still working after repeated reboots, so either a package was left behind in spite of the purge or Noctalia stored something. I figured it might be an imagemagik package, but after removing Inkscape the only imagemagick package left is imagemagick-7-common, and I think that was already there. No matter, if it ain't broke don't fix it.
Let me know if it works for you!

*In my new installation, I haven't yet used the papirus-folder script.
*I just installed the papirus-icon-theme from Debian.
*I hesitated to use Inkscape because I could get it from three sources:
-unstable 1.4.3-2
-trixie 1.4-6
-siduction 1.3.2-1

*The rest will only work as you described, after installing inkscape (for simplicity, the unstable version). I will not uninstall the inkscape package for now (I remember many years ago, when @TBG was still active here, we also needed inkscape in Conky so that the weather symbol icons were displayed correctly).
*Thunar changes the directory colors after a short delay, depending on the wallpaper. I can confirm it's working exactly as you described! You're a pro!

hhh · 2026-10-12 13:18:15

Nice, thanks for confirming that whatever inkscape brings in gets the papirus-icons template working!

Where to get your packages should be a no-brainer. If you're running sid, 'sudo apt install' from sid, if forky get packages from forky, if siduction get packages from siduction.

The adw-gtk3 themes let GTK apps follow the color template your wall generates. You can get it from Sourceforge...
https://sourceforge.net/projects/adw-gtk3.mirror/

Or you can build it from source...
https://github.com/lassekongo83/adw-gtk3

hhh · 2026-10-12 15:50:23

I'm 99% sure that the papirus-icons template just requires...

sudo apt install imagemagick

, so you could remove inkscape and install that instead.

unklar · 2026-10-13 11:27:18

imagemagick It is listed under "Recommends" in inkscape, not under "Depends". Therefore, I can also say that it was probably already there.

hhh · 2026-10-13 12:05:13

unklar wrote:

imagemagick It is listed under "Recommends" in inkscape, not under "Depends".

Right, so if you ran 'sudo apt install inkscape' then imagemagick would get pulled in. You'd have to specify '--no-install-recommends' to get inkscape without imagemagick. You're thinking of the 'suggests' packages which need the '--install-suggests' option included to be installed.

The template is working for me on my testing partition with just imagemagick installed. I have to close thunar to get the theme and icon changes to apply, maybe because I've install tumbler (thumbnail preview) since then?

PackRat · Today 18:28:39

Will this thread ultimately get written up as a HowTo in the tutorial thread?

hhh · Today 19:26:45

@PackRat, short answer, yes, without all the noctalia stuff. That's assuming niri isn't already packaged for forky by the time of its release, which I think it probably will be. Hyprland if in trixie-backports now!

Longer answer...

I did the original post the way I've been doing my Debian Wayland setup for a while now... install a netinstall.iso, bring up my WiFi network (my laptop has no ethernet port), then...

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends gdm3 gnome-control-center nautilus-admin pkexec gedit xfce4-terminal firefox-esr network-manager

This installs a fairly minimal, Wayland-only GNOME session. Then I add gnome-tweaks and gnome-shell-extension-manager and build out a GNOME desktop or I install something else and then purge gdm3 and gnome-control-center, it's way easier for me than doing everything from a TTY.

So I started doing that on a testing partition but with sid so I could try out the newer compositors that aren't packaged yet. Then I tried niri and somehow stumbled on cargo-deb, and thought that might be worthy of sharing. But a bunch of things after the original post are lies, because I had packages installed via GNOME, which I realized when I tried to set up a niri+noctalia desktop without the GNOME crutch...

Now that I've wiped my drive and done a "pure" install...

https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic … 02#p153402

... I can create a new testing partition and take detailed notes, and hopefully prevent the back-and-forth that this thread has in it.

But there's also the issue of reorganizing the forum, which I was pondering this morning. So, we have some discussions ahead of us!

#61 2026-10-11 20:33:22

Re: (Wayland forky/sid) HowTo: deb packages for niri-wm + Noctalia shell

#62 2026-10-12 11:43:26

Re: (Wayland forky/sid) HowTo: deb packages for niri-wm + Noctalia shell

#63 2026-10-12 12:07:01

Re: (Wayland forky/sid) HowTo: deb packages for niri-wm + Noctalia shell

#64 2026-10-12 13:18:15

Re: (Wayland forky/sid) HowTo: deb packages for niri-wm + Noctalia shell

#65 2026-10-12 15:50:23

Re: (Wayland forky/sid) HowTo: deb packages for niri-wm + Noctalia shell

#66 2026-10-13 11:27:18

Re: (Wayland forky/sid) HowTo: deb packages for niri-wm + Noctalia shell

#67 2026-10-13 12:05:13

Re: (Wayland forky/sid) HowTo: deb packages for niri-wm + Noctalia shell

#68 Today 18:28:39

Re: (Wayland forky/sid) HowTo: deb packages for niri-wm + Noctalia shell

#69 Today 19:26:45

Re: (Wayland forky/sid) HowTo: deb packages for niri-wm + Noctalia shell

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