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;
}

sound.enable has no longer any effect in recent version of nixos you can remove that

If anyone comes across this and has trouble making the panel config work like @jaythomas points out, the xconf.settings.xfce4-panel is (now?) missing a "panels" = [ 1 ]; to set up the array

Yup @kenpb. I would recommend rather than copying the xfconf settings from me is to launch xfce4-settings-editor and manually copy out the settings into nix. That way you can configure it how you want through the UI then set it in stone once you have it how you want it and avoid a bunch of rebuilds. The settings are nested so my config just shows you how to translate that to flat strings as home-manager expects it.

Hey @jaythomas, indeed, thanks, also, I think it was mentioned above too, typing xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -lv (or the component you want to copy) on a terminal will give the plain text version you can pretty much copy-paste into the nix file wit minor tweaks.

Good call! I forgot this thread mentioned xfconf-query ...it's been awhile.