Parch

source: handbook ch. 11, 16, 18, 68; live parch-iso-* repositories

Desktop profiles

Every Parch edition is the same skeleton with a different desktop stacked on top. Once you can read one edition, you can read them all, the differences concentrate in four places: the package list, the display manager, user defaults in /etc/skel, and the theming packages pulled from the world repository.

How the editions differ

EditionDesktopDisplay managerSignature packages
parch-iso-plasmaKDE PlasmaSDDMplasma group, parch-sddm, parch-plymouth
Parch-iso-gnomeGNOMEGDMgnome group, gnome-parch
parch-iso-xfceXfceLightDMxfce4, xfce4-goodies
parch-iso-hyprlandHyprland (Wayland)SDDMhyprland, waybar, kitty, wofi
parch-iso-cosmicCOSMICCOSMIC's greetercosmic session packages
parch-iso-dwmdwmnone/consoledwm + suckless tools
parch-iso-mini / parch-iso-liteReduced desktopvariestrimmed variants of the above
parch-iso-base, parch-iso-templatenone (CLI)nonegetty autologin only

Exact package names drift as packages are renamed or split, treat the table as the map, and packages.x86_64 in each repo as the territory. For the current state of the theme/meta packages, check the world repository listing (see Package lists).

Plasma (parch-iso-plasma)

The flagship. The package list pulls the Plasma group (KWin, Plasma Shell, Dolphin, Konsole), Plasma Wayland session support, and Parch theming:

  • parch-sddm, the Parch SDDM theme, so the login screen matches the desktop.
  • parch-plymouth, the Parch boot splash (see below).
  • parch-grub-theme, the Parch GRUB look for the boot menu.

Display-manager wiring is SDDM: the profile ships the display-manager.service symlink to sddm.service and the autologin drop-in at airootfs/etc/sddm.conf.d/autologin.conf with Session=plasma.

User defaults land in airootfs/etc/skel/.config/: kdeglobals for colors and widget style, plasmarc for panel layout, and friends. Files in /etc/skel are copied to the live user's home and to the home of the user Calamares creates during installation, so skel is the single place a desktop's default look is defined.

GNOME (Parch-iso-gnome)

Same skeleton, GNOME instead: the gnome group provides GNOME Shell and core apps, and GDM replaces SDDM as the display manager (with its own display-manager.service symlink and autologin configuration, GDM uses airootfs/etc/gdm/custom.conf with AutomaticLogin for live sessions). The Parch look comes from the gnome-parch theme package, which carries the GNOME shell theme, icons, and wallpaper integration.

GNOME defaults are best shipped as dconf keyfiles under airootfs/etc/dconf/db/local.d/ (theme, wallpaper, extensions), applied system-wide with dconf update.

Xfce (parch-iso-xfce)

The lightweight GTK edition: xfce4 plus xfce4-goodies, with LightDM and lightdm-gtk-greeter as the display manager. Xfce settings are shipped as xfconf channel files under airootfs/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/, panel layout, desktop settings, and window manager preferences are all plain XML.

Hyprland (parch-iso-hyprland)

The tiling Wayland edition. There is no full desktop group, the list names the compositor and its companions: hyprland, waybar (status bar), kitty (terminal), wofi (launcher), dunst (notifications), polkit-kde-agent, and Qt Wayland support. Configuration lives in airootfs/etc/skel/.config/hypr/hyprland.conf (keybinds, autostart with exec-once, window rules) and airootfs/etc/skel/.config/waybar/. Sessions are reached through SDDM with Session=hyprland.

Plymouth and the graphical boot

Desktop editions boot to a splash instead of console text. The pieces:

  • parch-plymouth from world, the Parch splash theme (the handbook also names an alternative animated theme, parch-plymouth-waves).
  • The plymouth mkinitcpio hook in the airootfs mkinitcpio configuration, placed right after udev so graphics device nodes exist before the splash starts.
  • Kernel parameters in the boot entries (see Bootloader configuration): quiet splash loglevel=3 for a clean, flicker-free transition.

The active theme is selected in airootfs/etc/plymouth/plymouthd.conf (Theme=parch-plymouth). If you swap kernels or themes, remember early KMS matters too: the appropriate driver module (i915, amdgpu) belongs in the mkinitcpio MODULES array for a smooth handoff.

Making a new desktop edition

Everything below assumes you forked an existing profile rather than starting from nothing, see the Custom edition tutorial for the full walkthrough.

  • Swap the package set: remove the old desktop group from packages.x86_64, add the new one plus its display manager, and keep exactly one display manager.

  • Repoint the display-manager symlink: airootfs/etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service must link to your DM's unit (sddm.service, gdm.service, lightdm.service, ...).

  • Fix autologin: SDDM editions set Session= in airootfs/etc/sddm.conf.d/autologin.conf; GDM editions set AutomaticLogin in etc/gdm/custom.conf. The session name must match an installed session desktop file.

  • Ship user defaults in /etc/skel: desktop configuration for the new environment under airootfs/etc/skel/.config/.

  • Keep the theme packages coherent: add the matching Parch theme (parch-sddm for SDDM, gnome-parch for GNOME, parch-grub-theme and parch-plymouth for branding) and remove ones tied to the old desktop.

  • Update Calamares branding if the edition has its own look: slideshow and branding live under airootfs/etc/calamares/ (see Calamares installer).

  • Rename the ISO: iso_name, iso_label, and iso_publisher in profiledef.sh.

  • Build and test both firmwares in QEMU, then a real installer run to disk (see Testing an ISO).

Expected results

  • A new edition boots to its display manager with autologin working and the Parch theme visible on the login screen, boot splash, and GRUB menu.
  • The Calamares installation produces a system where the created user gets the same desktop defaults (because they came from /etc/skel).

Troubleshooting

  • Boots to a black screen with a blinking cursor, the display-manager.service symlink points at a DM that is not installed, or the SDDM Session= name has no matching session file. Check ls /usr/share/wayland-sessions/ /usr/share/xsessions/ in the live VM.
  • Login screen shows but the default theme does not, the theme package is missing from packages.x86_64, or the SDDM/GDM configuration references a theme name that the package does not provide.
  • Two display managers fight at boot, you added a DM but left the old one in the list; exactly one should remain.
  • Splash never appears / console text flashes instead, the plymouth hook is missing from the mkinitcpio configuration, or quiet splash was dropped from the kernel command line.
  • User defaults ignored after install, files were placed in a user's home in airootfs/ instead of /etc/skel/; homes for created users come only from skel.