A sensible NixOS Xfce configuration

a-sensible-nixos-xfce-configuration.md

A sensible NixOS Xfce Configuration

NixOS provides good support for the Xfce desktop environment out-of-the-box, but the defaults are minimal. The files in this Gist provide a more complete experience, including a suite of basic software and plugins as well as an optional home-manager configuration for theming.

The key additions to the default Xfce provided by NixOS are:

• Complete bluetooth / audio support with panel indicators and apps
• LightDM with theme
• Extra Xfce apps for calendaring, disk partitioning, etc.
• Various quality-of-life improving non-essentials

configuration.nix

{ config, pkgs, lib, ... }:

{
  imports = [
    ./hardware-configuration.nix
    ./xfce.nix
  ];
  
  # the rest of your nixos configuration
}

home.nix

{ config, pkgs, lib, ... }:

{
  imports = [
    ./xfce-home.nix
  ];
  
  # the rest of your home-manager configuration
}

xfce-home.nix

{ config, pkgs, lib, ... }:

{
  gtk = {
    enable = true;
      iconTheme = {
      name = "elementary-Xfce-dark";
      package = pkgs.elementary-xfce-icon-theme;
    };
    theme = {
      name = "zukitre-dark";
      package = pkgs.zuki-themes;
    };
    gtk3.extraConfig = {
      Settings = ''
        gtk-application-prefer-dark-theme=1
      '';
    };
    gtk4.extraConfig = {
      Settings = ''
        gtk-application-prefer-dark-theme=1
      '';
    };
  };

  programs.gpg.enable = true;

  services.gpg-agent.enable = true;
}

xfce.nix

{ pkgs, ... }:

{
  environment = {
    systemPackages = with pkgs; [
      blueman
      chromium
      deja-dup
      drawing
      elementary-xfce-icon-theme
      evince
      firefox
      foliate
      font-manager
      gimp-with-plugins
      gnome.file-roller
      gnome.gnome-disk-utility
      inkscape-with-extensions
      libqalculate
      libreoffice
      orca
      pavucontrol
      qalculate-gtk
      thunderbird
      wmctrl
      xclip
      xcolor
      xcolor
      xdo
      xdotool
      xfce.catfish
      xfce.gigolo
      xfce.orage
      xfce.xfburn
      xfce.xfce4-appfinder
      xfce.xfce4-clipman-plugin
      xfce.xfce4-cpugraph-plugin
      xfce.xfce4-dict
      xfce.xfce4-fsguard-plugin
      xfce.xfce4-genmon-plugin
      xfce.xfce4-netload-plugin
      xfce.xfce4-panel
      xfce.xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin
      xfce.xfce4-systemload-plugin
      xfce.xfce4-weather-plugin
      xfce.xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin
      xfce.xfce4-xkb-plugin
      xfce.xfdashboard
      xorg.xev
      xsel
      xtitle
      xwinmosaic
      zuki-themes
    ];
  };

  hardware = {
    bluetooth.enable = true;
  };

  programs = {
    dconf.enable = true;
    gnupg.agent = {
      enable = true;
      enableSSHSupport = true;
    };
    thunar = {
      enable = true;
      plugins = with pkgs.xfce; [
        thunar-archive-plugin
        thunar-media-tags-plugin
        thunar-volman
      ];
    };
  };

  security.pam.services.gdm.enableGnomeKeyring = true;

  services = {
    blueman.enable = true;
    gnome.gnome-keyring.enable = true;
    pipewire = {
      enable = true;
      alsa = {
        enable = true;
        support32Bit = true;
      };
      pulse.enable = true;
    };
    xserver = {
      enable = true;
      excludePackages = with pkgs; [
        xterm
      ];
      displayManager = {
        lightdm = {
          enable = true;
          greeters.slick = {
            enable = true;
            theme.name = "Zukitre-dark";
          };
        };
      };
      desktopManager.xfce.enable = true;
    };
  };

  sound.enable = true;
}

Thank you for making this available. It'll help me setup my wife's computer in no time!

One thing I noticed. Is sound.mediaKeys.enable = true; needed as the doc mentions that XFCE enables this by default.

You want to leave this disabled if you run a desktop environment like KDE, Gnome, Xfce, etc, as those handle such things

Also, pulseaudio is not enabled by default so this can probably be left out too but I guess it won't do any harm.

Thank you for making this available. It'll help me setup my wife's computer in no time!

One thing I noticed. Is sound.mediaKeys.enable = true; needed as the doc mentions that XFCE enables this by default.

You want to leave this disabled if you run a desktop environment like KDE, Gnome, Xfce, etc, as those handle such things

thanks, removed

Also, pulseaudio is not enabled by default so this can probably be left out too but I guess it won't do any harm.

thanks, removed

Just pointing out, in systemPackages xcolor is repeated

I have a flake-based system that uses home-manager. Here's my config with a very granular xfce setup:

flake.nix

{
  description = "NixOS config flake";

  inputs = {
    #nixpkgs.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
    nixpkgs.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixos-24.05";

    home-manager = {
      url = "github:nix-community/home-manager/release-24.05";
      inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
    };

    sops-nix = {
      url = "github:Mic92/sops-nix";
      inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
    };
  };

  outputs = {
    self,
    nixpkgs,
    home-manager,
    ...
  } @ inputs:
  let
    primary-user = "myusername";
  in
  {
    nixosConfigurations.proxima = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
      system = "x86_64-linux";
      modules = [
        inputs.home-manager.nixosModules.home-manager
        inputs.sops-nix.nixosModules.sops
        ./hosts/proxima/configuration.nix
      ];
      specialArgs = {
        inherit inputs primary-user;
      };
    };
    nixosConfigurations.toliman = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
      system = "x86_64-linux";
      modules = [
        inputs.home-manager.nixosModules.home-manager
        inputs.sops-nix.nixosModules.sops
        ./hosts/toliman/configuration.nix
      ];
      specialArgs = {
        inherit inputs primary-user;
      };
    };
  };
}

hosts/proxima/configuration.nix

{ config, pkgs, specialArgs, ... }:

{
  imports = [
    ./hardware-configuration.nix
    ../../modules/_all-systems.nix
    ../../modules/alacritty.nix
    ../../modules/chromium.nix
    ../../modules/cups.nix
    ../../modules/direnv.nix
    ../../modules/firefox.nix
    ../../modules/fish.nix
    ../../modules/flatpak.nix
    ../../modules/git.nix
    ../../modules/gnupg.nix
    ../../modules/helix.nix
    ../../modules/imv.nix
    ../../modules/nvim.nix
    ../../modules/pijul.nix
    ../../modules/pipewire.nix
    ../../modules/ripgrep.nix
    ../../modules/rofi.nix
    ../../modules/ssh.nix
    ../../modules/steam.nix
    ../../modules/tmux.nix
    ../../modules/virtualbox.nix
    ../../modules/xfce.nix
    ../../modules/zellij.nix
  ];

  #boot.kernelPackages = pkgs.linuxPackages_latest;

  # Bootloader
  boot.loader.systemd-boot.enable = true;
  boot.loader.efi.canTouchEfiVariables = true;

  # Home Manager
  home-manager.users.${specialArgs.primary-user} = {
    home.stateVersion = "24.05";
  };
  home-manager.users.root.home.stateVersion = "24.05";

  # Networking
  networking = {
    hostName = "proxima";
    networkmanager.enable = true;
  };

  # High DPI fonts
  console.earlySetup = true;
  console.font = "${pkgs.terminus_font}/share/consolefonts/ter-u16n.psf.gz";
  environment.variables = {
    #GDK_SCALE = "0.8";
    #GDK_DPI_SCALE = "0.8";
    _JAVA_OPTIONS = "-Dsun.java2d.uiScale=2";
  };
  #services.xserver.dpi = 180;

  # Audio via Pipewire
  security.rtkit.enable = true;
  services.pipewire = {
    enable = true;
    alsa.enable = true;
    alsa.support32Bit = true;
    #jack.enable = true;
    pulse.enable = true;
  };

  users = {
    users.${specialArgs.primary-user} = {
      isNormalUser = true;
      description = specialArgs.primary-user;
      extraGroups = [ "networkmanager" "wheel" ];
      hashedPasswordFile = config.sops.secrets.passwd.path;
      packages = with pkgs; [
        # Add your packages here
      ];
    };
  };

  system.stateVersion = "24.05";
}

modules/xfce.nix

{ config, pkgs, specialArgs, ... }:

let background-image = "${pkgs.xfce.xfdesktop}/share/backgrounds/xfce/xfce-leaves.svg";
in {
  environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
    # Shell, window manager and x11 packages need to be installed at the
    # system level or else you will experience quirks with nixOS 24.05.
    wmctrl # workspace switcher used by /usr/bin/switch-workspace
    xclip
    xfce.mousepad
    xfce.thunar-archive-plugin
    xfce.thunar-volman
    xfce.xfce4-genmon-plugin
    xfce.xfce4-netload-plugin
    xfce.xfce4-power-manager
    xfce.xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin
    xfce.xfce4-weather-plugin
    xfce.xfwm4-themes
    xorg.xinit
  ];
  environment.xfce.excludePackages = with pkgs; [
    xfce.xfce4-appfinder
    xfce.xfce4-taskmanager
    xfce.xfce4-terminal
  ];

  home-manager.users.${specialArgs.primary-user} = { config, ... }: ({
    home.file.".config/xfce4/helpers.rc".text = "TerminalEmulator=alacritty";
    home.pointerCursor = {
      name = "Vanilla-DMZ";
      package = pkgs.vanilla-dmz;
      size = 64;
      x11.enable = true;
    };
    gtk = {
      enable = true;
      theme = {
        name = "Orchis-Orange-Dark-Compact";
        package = pkgs.orchis-theme;
      };
      iconTheme = {
        name = "Paper";
        package = pkgs.paper-icon-theme;
      };
    };
    xdg = {
      userDirs = {
        createDirectories = false;
        desktop = "${config.home.homeDirectory}/desktop";
        documents = "${config.home.homeDirectory}/documents";
        download = "${config.home.homeDirectory}/downloads";
        enable = true;
        music = "${config.home.homeDirectory}/music";
        pictures = "${config.home.homeDirectory}/pictures";
        publicShare = "${config.home.homeDirectory}/public";
        templates = "${config.home.homeDirectory}/templates";
        videos = "${config.home.homeDirectory}/videos";
      };
    };
    xfconf = {
      enable = true;
      settings = {
        keyboards = {
          "Default/Numlock" = false;
        };
        thunar = {
          "last-view" = "ThunarCompactView";
          "misc-show-delete-action" = true;
        };
        xfce4-desktop = {
          "backdrop/screen0/monitor0/workspace0/color-style" = 0;
          "backdrop/screen0/monitor0/workspace0/image-style" = 5;
          "backdrop/screen0/monitor0/workspace0/last-image" = background-image;
          "backdrop/screen0/monitor0/workspace1/color-style" = 0;
          "backdrop/screen0/monitor0/workspace1/image-style" = 5;
          "backdrop/screen0/monitor0/workspace1/last-image" = background-image;
          "backdrop/screen0/monitorDP-1/workspace0/color-style" = 0;
          "backdrop/screen0/monitorDP-1/workspace0/image-style" = 5;
          "backdrop/screen0/monitorDP-1/workspace0/last-image" = background-image;
          "backdrop/screen0/monitorDP-1/workspace1/color-style" = 0;
          "backdrop/screen0/monitorDP-1/workspace1/image-style" = 5;
          "backdrop/screen0/monitorDP-1/workspace1/last-image" = background-image;
          "backdrop/screen0/monitorDP-2/workspace0/color-style" = 0;
          "backdrop/screen0/monitorDP-2/workspace0/image-style" = 5;
          "backdrop/screen0/monitorDP-2/workspace0/last-image" = background-image;
          "backdrop/screen0/monitorDP-2/workspace1/color-style" = 0;
          "backdrop/screen0/monitorDP-2/workspace1/image-style" = 5;
          "backdrop/screen0/monitorDP-2/workspace1/last-image" = background-image;
          "desktop-icons/show-thumbnails" = false;
          "desktop-icons/style" = 0;
          "windowlist-menu/show" = false;
        };
        xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts = {
          "commands/custom/<Super>space" = "rofi -show drun";
          "commands/custom/<Super>a" = "switch-workspace left";
          "commands/custom/<Super>1" = "switch-workspace left";
          "commands/custom/<Super>s" = "switch-workspace right";
          "commands/custom/<Super>2" = "switch-workspace right";
        };
        xfce4-notifyd = {
          date-time-custom-format = "%a %H:%M:%S";
        };
        xfce4-panel = {
          "configver" = 2;
          "panels/dark-mode" = true;
          "panels/panel-1/background-style" = 2;
          "panels/panel-1/enter-opacity" = 100;
          "panels/panel-1/icon-size" = 16;
          "panels/panel-1/length" = 100;
          "panels/panel-1/plugin-ids" = [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13];
          "panels/panel-1/position" = "p=6;x=0;y=0";
          "panels/panel-1/position-locked" = true;
          "panels/panel-1/size" = 26;
          "plugins/plugin-1" = "tasklist";
          "plugins/plugin-1/flat-buttons" = false;
          "plugins/plugin-1/grouping" = false;
          "plugins/plugin-1/show-handle" = false;
          "plugins/plugin-1/show-labels" = true;
          "plugins/plugin-1/show-tooltips" = false;
          "plugins/plugin-1/window-scrolling" = false;
          "plugins/plugin-2" = "separator";
          "plugins/plugin-2/expand" = true;
          "plugins/plugin-2/style" = 0;
          "plugins/plugin-3" = "netload";
          "plugins/plugin-4" = "genmon";
          "plugins/plugin-4/command" = "freemem";
          "plugins/plugin-4/enable-single-row" = true;
          "plugins/plugin-4/font" = "Sans 10";
          "plugins/plugin-4/style" = 0;
          "plugins/plugin-4/text" = "free memory";
          "plugins/plugin-4/update-period" = 30000;
          "plugins/plugin-4/use-label" = false;
          "plugins/plugin-5" = "pager";
          "plugins/plugin-5/rows" = 1;
          "plugins/plugin-6" = "weather";
          "plugins/plugin-6/cache-max-age" = 172800;
          "plugins/plugin-6/forecast/days" = 5;
          "plugins/plugin-6/forecast/layout" = 1;
          "plugins/plugin-6/labels/label0" = 3;
          "plugins/plugin-6/location/latitude" = "30.000";
          "plugins/plugin-6/location/longitude" = "-30.000";
          "plugins/plugin-6/location/name" = "My Secret Location";
          "plugins/plugin-6/msl" = 57;
          "plugins/plugin-6/offset" = "-04:00";
          "plugins/plugin-6/power-saving" = true;
          "plugins/plugin-6/round" = true;
          "plugins/plugin-6/scrollbox/animate" = "2";
          "plugins/plugin-6/scrollbox/color" = "rgba(0,0,0,0)";
          "plugins/plugin-6/scrollbox/lines" = 1;
          "plugins/plugin-6/scrollbox/show" = true;
          "plugins/plugin-6/scrollbox/use-color" = false;
          "plugins/plugin-6/single-row" = true;
          "plugins/plugin-6/timezone" = "American/New_York";
          "plugins/plugin-6/tooltip-style" = 1;
          "plugins/plugin-6/units/altitude" = 1;
          "plugins/plugin-6/units/apparent-temperature" = 0;
          "plugins/plugin-6/units/precipitation" = 1;
          "plugins/plugin-6/units/pressure" = 0;
          "plugins/plugin-6/units/temperature" = 1;
          "plugins/plugin-6/units/windspeed" = 1;
          "plugins/plugin-7" = "pulseaudio";
          "plugins/plugin-7/enable-keyboard-shortcuts" = true;
          "plugins/plugin-8" = "power-manager-plugin";
          "plugins/plugin-9" = "systray";
          "plugins/plugin-9/square-items" = true;
          "plugins/plugin-10" = "notification-plugin";
          "plugins/plugin-11" = "clock";
          "plugins/plugin-11/digital-date-font" = "Sans Bold 10";
          "plugins/plugin-11/digital-layout" = 3;
          "plugins/plugin-11/digital-time-font" = "Sans Bold 10";
          "plugins/plugin-11/digital-time-format" = "%a %d %R";
          "plugins/plugin-11/timezone" = "UTC";
          "plugins/plugin-12" = "clock";
          "plugins/plugin-12/digital-date-font" = "Sans Bold 10";
          "plugins/plugin-12/digital-layout" = 3;
          "plugins/plugin-12/digital-time-font" = "Sans Bold 10";
          "plugins/plugin-12/digital-time-format" = " %R";
          "plugins/plugin-12/mode" = 2;
          "plugins/plugin-12/tooltip-format" = "%x";
          "plugins/plugin-13" = "separator";
          "plugins/plugin-13/style" = 0;
        };
        xfce4-power-manager = {
          "xfce4-power-manager/blank-on-ac" = 30;
          "xfce4-power-manager/blank-on-battery" = 15;
          "xfce4-power-manager/dpms-enabled" = true;
          "xfce4-power-manager/dpms-on-ac-off" = 0;
          "xfce4-power-manager/dpms-on-ac-sleep" = 60;
          "xfce4-power-manager/dpms-on-battery-off" = 0;
          "xfce4-power-manager/dpms-on-battery-sleep" = 35;
        };
        xfce4-screensaver = {
          "lock/saver-activation/enabled" = false;
          "lock/user-switching/enabled" = false;
          "saver/idle-activation/enabled" = false;
          "saver/mode" = 0;
        };
        xfce4-screenshooter = {
          "imgur-custom-action-added" = false;
        };
        xfce4-session = {
          "general/SaveOnExit" = true;
        };
        xfwm4 = {
          "general/button_layout" = "O|HMC"; # titlebar minimize/maximize/close
          "general/focus_delay" = 0;
          "general/mousewheel_rollup" = false;
          "general/move_opacity" = 100;
          "general/raise_delay" = 0;
          "general/title_font" = "Sans Bold 9";
          "general/use_compositing" = true;
          "general/wrap_cycle" = true;
          "general/wrap_windows" = true;
          "general/wrap_workspaces" = false;
          "general/workspace_count" = 2;
          "general/workspace_names" = [ "1" "2" ];
        };
        xsettings = {
          "Gdk/WindowScalingFactor" = 1;
          "Gtk/ButtonImages" = false;
          "Gtk/CanChangeAccels" = false;
          "Gtk/ColorPalette" = "black:white:gray50:red:purple:blue:light blue:green:yellow:orange:lavender:brown:goldenrod4:dodger blue:pink:light green:gray10:gray30:gray75:gray90";
          "Gtk/CursorThemeName" = "Vanilla-DMZ";
          "Gtk/CursorThemeSize" = 16;
          "Gtk/DecorationLayout" = "menu:minimize,maximize,close";
          "Gtk/DialogsUseHeader" = false;
          "Gtk/FontName" = "Sans 10";
          "Gtk/MenuImages" = "1";
          "Gtk/MonospaceFontName" = "Monospace 10";
          "Gtk/TitlebarMiddleClick" = "lower";
          "Gtk/ToolbarIconSize" = 3;
          "Gtk/ToolbarStyle" = "icons";
          "Net/CursorBlink" = true;
          "Net/CursorBlinkTime" = 1200;
          "Net/DndDragThreshold" = 8;
          "Net/DoubleClickDistance" = 5;
          "Net/DoubleClickTime" = 400;
          "Net/EnableEventSounds" = false;
          "Net/EnableInputFeedbackSounds" = false;
          "Net/IconThemeName" = "Paper";
          "Net/ThemeName" = "Orchis-Orange-Dark-Compact";
        };
      };
    };
  });

  programs.thunar.plugins = with pkgs.xfce; [
    thunar-archive-plugin
    thunar-volman
  ];

  # X11
  services.xserver = {
    # Desktop environment
    desktopManager.xfce = {
      enable = true;
      noDesktop = false;
      enableXfwm = true;
    };

    displayManager = {
      lightdm = {
        enable = true;
        extraConfig = ''
          background = ${background-image}
        '';
        greeters.gtk.extraConfig = ''
          background = ${background-image}
        '';
      };
      startx.enable = true;
    };

    enable = true;

    excludePackages = with pkgs; [
      xterm
    ];

    exportConfiguration = true;

    xkb = {
      layout = "us";
      variant = "colemak";
    };
  };

  users.users.${specialArgs.primary-user}.packages = with pkgs; [
    gnome.file-roller
    orchis-theme     # gtk theme
    paper-icon-theme # xfce icons
    redshift         # blue light screen filter
    vanilla-dmz      # cursor set by home-manager
    # Genmon script to display free memory
    (writeShellApplication {
      name = "freemem";
      text = builtins.readFile ./xfce-freemem;
    })
    # Shell script to switch virtual desktops in xfce. xfce4 doesn't provide
    # the ability to create keyboard shortcuts for switching workspaces.
    (writeShellApplication {
      name = "switch-workspace";
      text = builtins.readFile ./xfce-switch-workspace;
    })
  ];

  xdg.portal = {
    enable = true;
    extraPortals = [ pkgs.xdg-desktop-portal-gtk ];
  };
}

modules/xfce-switch-workspace

#!/usr/bin/env bash

#
# Switch to workspace left, right, up, or down from current for
# workspaces arranged in `$num_rows' rows and `$num_cols'
# columns. Wraps around within the current row for left and right and
# within the current column for up and down.
#
# Usage: switch-workspace (left|right|up|down)
#

# Configuration
num_rows=1 ;
num_cols=2 ;

# Workspaces are numbered 0 .. $num_rows*$num_cols-1.

current=$( wmctrl -d | grep "\*" | cut -d ' ' -f 1 ) ;

row=$(( current / num_cols )) ;
col=$(( current % num_cols )) ;

case $1 in
  left)
    col=$(( ( col + num_cols - 1 ) % num_cols )) ;
  ;;
  right)
    col=$(( ( col + 1 ) % num_cols )) ;
  ;;
  up)
    row=$(( ( row + num_rows - 1 ) % num_rows )) ;
  ;;
  down)
    row=$(( ( row + 1 ) % num_rows )) ;
  ;;
esac ;

wmctrl -s $(( row * num_cols + col )) ;