Post installation setup for desktop linux

Automated post-installation setup script for Linux desktop environments. This project automates system configuration, package installation, debloating, and desktop environment setup across multiple Linux distributions and desktop environments.

Features

• Automatic Distro Detection: Detects your Linux distribution and desktop environment automatically
• Debloating: Removes unnecessary pre-installed packages to reduce system bloat
• Package Management: Installs essential system, development, and application packages
• Shell Configuration: Sets up Bash with aliases, Starship prompt, and syntax highlighting for Nano
• Font Setup: Installs and configures fonts including Nerd Fonts for terminal use
• Terminal Emulator Setup: Configures Alacritty, Kitty, WezTerm, or GNOME Terminal with themes
• Desktop Environment Configuration: Applies dconf settings for GNOME, KDE, Cinnamon, and XFCE
• Home Directory Setup: Configures user home files (.bashrc, .profile, .xresources, etc.)
• Security: Sets up keyring, sudo configuration, and autologin capabilities
• Hardware Support: Installs drivers for Intel, VMware, VirtualBox, Hyper-V, and QEMU
• System Customization: Applies kernel parameters, journald, and core dump configurations

Prerequisites

• A supported Linux distribution (see Supported Scenarios)
• Sudo access for system-level configuration
• Internet connection to download packages and resources
• curl command-line tool (required)

Supported scenario

NOTE: KDE's config system is all over the places and many things are only possible from UI. So, I could automate only few things. That's one of the reasons I don't like KDE.

Distrution Type	Specific	Desktop Environment
Arch	Arch	Gnome, KDE, Cinnamon, XFCE
	EndeavourOS	Gnome, KDE, Cinnamon
Debian	Debian	Gnome, XFCE
	Ubuntu	Gnome
	Mint	Cinnamon, XFCE
	LMDE	Cinnamon
Fedora	Fedora (Non-Silverblue)	Gnome, KDE, Cinnamon, XFCE
OpenSUSE	Tumbleweed, Leap	Gnome, KDE, Cinnamon, XFCE

Project Structure

Main Scripts

• setup.sh - Entry point that detects whether running local or remote and executes setup-main.sh
• scripts/setup-main.sh - Primary orchestration script that handles:
  • Distribution and desktop environment detection
  • Variable initialization for package managers
  • Package installation and system configuration
  • Home directory and dconf setup
• scripts/setup-guide.sh - Quick reference and example usage

/debloat

Contains lists of packages to uninstall for each distribution to reduce bloat:

• arch.txt - Packages to remove from Arch-based systems
• debian.txt - Packages to remove from Debian-based systems
• fedora.txt - Packages to remove from Fedora
• opensuse.txt - Packages to remove from OpenSUSE

/desktop

Desktop environment configuration scripts and dconf boolean settings:

• gnome.sh - GNOME setup: installs tweaks, extensions, applies dconf settings
• gnome.dconf - GNOME dconf database settings (schemas, keybindings, appearance)
• kde.sh - KDE Plasma setup and limited configuration (KDE is mostly UI-driven)
• cinnamon.sh - Cinnamon setup: installs packages, applies themes
• cinnamon.dconf - Cinnamon dconf settings (panel, themes, animations)
• xfce.sh - XFCE setup: installs packages, configures panels and themes
• xfce.dconf - XFCE dconf settings (panel layout, window manager behavior)
• gterm.dconf - GNOME Terminal color scheme and appearance settings
• common.dconf - Shared dconf settings applied across all desktop environments

/distros

Distribution-specific setup and package lists. Each distro has:

Arch-based systems:

• arch.sh - Package manager commands and package lists for Arch (pacman)
• arch.aliases - Useful shell aliases for Arch (pacman, yay, etc.)

Debian-based systems:

• debian.sh - Package manager commands and package lists for Debian/Ubuntu (apt)
• debian.aliases - Useful shell aliases for Debian systems

Fedora:

• fedora.sh - Package manager commands and package lists for Fedora (dnf)
• fedora.aliases - Useful shell aliases for Fedora (dnf, rpm, etc.)

OpenSUSE:

• opensuse.sh - Package manager commands and package lists for OpenSUSE (zypper)
• opensuse.aliases - Useful shell aliases for OpenSUSE

/home

User home directory configuration files and templates:

• .bashrc - Bash initialization (custom functions, sourcing from .aliases)
• .profile - Shell login profile environment setup
• .xinitrc - X11 initialization (for startx)
• .xprofile - X11 session startup profile
• .xsessionrc - X11 session configuration
• .Xresources - X11 resource database (font DPI, colors, etc.)
• .config/ - Desktop environment and application configs
• .local/ - User-local binaries and data files
• .config/fontconfig/fonts.conf - Font rendering configuration
• .config/nano/nanorc - Nano editor configuration
• .config/alacritty/alacritty.toml - Alacritty terminal emulator config
• .config/kitty/kitty.conf - Kitty terminal emulator config
• .local/share/keyrings/ - GNOME Keyring files

/specific

Fine-grained, distro-version specific configurations:

• arch.sh - Arch-specific setup hooks
• debian.sh - Debian-specific setup hooks
• ubuntu.sh - Ubuntu-specific setup hooks
• linuxmint.sh - Linux Mint-specific setup hooks
• linuxmint.dconf - Linux Mint dconf settings
• neon.sh - KDE Neon-specific setup hooks

/system

System-level configuration files (require sudo):

Kernel and System Parameters:

• etc/sysctl.d/999-sysctl.conf - Kernel parameters (network, memory, security)

Systemd Services:

• etc/systemd/journald.conf.d/00-journal-size.conf - Journal size and retention policy
• etc/systemd/coredump.conf.d/custom.conf - Core dump handling configuration

Display Manager:

• etc/dconf/db/gdm.d/95-gdm-settings - GNOME Display Manager (GDM) login screen settings

Customization

Modifying Package Lists

To customize which packages are installed/removed:

1. For your specific distribution, edit /distros/{arch,debian,fedora,opensuse}.sh:

   • Modify *_PACKAGES_TO_INSTALL variables to add/remove packages
   • Update UNINSTALL_CMD options for removal behavior

2. For debloating, edit /debloat/{arch,debian,fedora,opensuse}.txt:

   • Add or remove one package name per line
   • Comment out lines starting with # to skip removal

3. For your specific distro version, edit /specific/{arch,debian,ubuntu,linuxmint,neon}.sh:

   • Add distro-specific hooks and configurations
   • Override variables from /distros scripts if needed

Customizing Desktop Environment Settings

Edit the relevant dconf file in /desktop/:

• GNOME: Modify gnome.dconf (keybindings, schema settings, appearance)
• XFCE: Modify xfce.dconf (panel, window manager, workspace)
• Cinnamon: Modify cinnamon.dconf (animations, themes, effects)
• Common: Modify common.dconf (settings applied to all DEs)

DConf files use a simple key=value format. See DConf documentation for details.

Terminal Emulator Configuration

Configure terminal theme and appearance:

• Alacritty (.config/alacritty/alacritty.toml): Edit for font, colors, padding
• Kitty (.config/kitty/kitty.conf): Edit for font, opacity, keybindings
• WezTerm (.config/wezterm/wezterm.lua): Configure with Lua scripting

Themes are downloaded from upstream projects (Catppuccin by default).

Shell Aliases and Functions

Customize /distros/{distro}.aliases to add your own shell aliases sourced at login.

Logging and Debugging

The setup script creates a log file in your home directory for each run:

~/setup-2026-02-21-14:30:45.log

View the log:

cat ~/setup-*.log
tail -f ~/setup-*.log # Follow in real-time

Notes and Limitations

• KDE Plasmi: KDE's configuration system is complex and mostly UI-driven. The automation covers basic packages and themes only. Manual configuration of many settings is still required.
• GDM Configuration: Commented out in the main setup—uncomment /desktop/gnome.sh if you need to customize the login screen.
• Waylan d/Xorg: The script detects your current session; some settings may not apply if switching between Wayland and Xorg.
• Interactive Setup: The script includes interactive checks and may pause for confirmation on some steps.

Requirements

• Supported Distributions: Arch, Debian, Fedora, OpenSUSE (and their derivatives)
• Sudo Access: Required for system-level configuration
• Internet Connection: Needed for downloading packages and resources
• curl: Required for downloading remote files
• jq: JSON parser (installed during setup if not present)

License

This project is provided as-is for personal use and customization.

Installation

Quick Start - Option #1 (Remote)

Run without cloning this repo. It downloads required files when needed:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/krish-gh/linux-setup/main/setup.sh | bash

Option #2 (Local Clone)

Clone the repo first and run from local files:

git clone https://github.com/krish-gh/linux-setup.git &&. linux-setup/setup.sh &&
rm -rf linux-setup

The script will:

1. Detect your distribution and desktop environment
2. Display detected configuration
3. Ask for confirmation before making any changes
4. Create a timestamped log file at ~/setup-YYYY-MM-DD-HH:MM:SS.log

Setup Overview

The setup process is orchestrated by setup-main.sh which performs the following in order:

1. Detection Phase: Identifies Linux distribution, package manager, and desktop environment
2. System Update: Refreshes package sources and updates the system
3. Debloating: Removes unnecessary pre-installed packages from /debloat directory
4. Package Installation: Installs software in categories:
   • System packages (firmware, ALSA, power management)
   • Hardware drivers (Intel, VMware, VirtualBox, etc.)
   • Fonts and rendering improvements
   • Terminal utilities (Shellcheck, Starship, Fastfetch)
   • Applications (Firefox, VLC, Seahorse, etc.)
   • Development tools (Git, Python, Visual Studio Code, etc.)
   • DE-specific packages and themes
5. Shell Configuration: Sets up Bash completion, aliases, and Starship prompt
6. Font Installation: Configures fonts with proper hinting and installs Nerd Fonts
7. Terminal Emulator: Sets up terminal configuration with color themes
8. Home Directory: Copies configuration files and sets up keyring
9. Desktop Environment: Applies aesthetic and behavior settings via dconf
10. System Configuration: Sets kernel parameters, journald logging, and core dumps
11. Permissions: Configures sudo rules and autologin group membership

Configuration Files

Distribution-Specific Variables

Each distro script (in /distros) defines package managers and package lists:

• Package manager commands (install, remove, update)
• System packages by category
• Hardware-specific drivers
• Application packages
• Development packages
• Desktop environment packages

Desktop Environment Settings

DConf files (in /desktop) store graphical settings for:

• GNOME: Window manager, keyboard shortcuts, color scheme
• Cinnamon: Panel layout, themes, animations
• XFCE: Panel configuration, window behavior
• KDE: Limited automation (requires manual configuration in many cases)

Package Removal Lists

Files in /debloat contain package names to remove by distribution:

• Games, media players (if pre-installed)
• Extra applications
• Language plugins
• Accessibility tools (if not needed)