Is it possible to get GNOMED using atomic distro?

Ask Fedora
1

Is this even thing a thing like where you install GNOME app like ProtonVPN on KDE, when you restart your DE will be changed to GNOME (vice versa), this is solved by using Flaptak instead of the distro’s package.

Is this any different on atomic, rpm-ostree install (overlaying) a package or has the same side effect like traditional distro?

2

While getting ‘Gnomed’ sounds cool, it unfortunately isn’t real.

Use any KDE distro you want.

3

It is real.

The most common way this happens is that a user installs a package that relies on the Gnome Desktop, and next time they sign in, the login manager automatically chooses Gnome.

For example, ProtonVPN has separate install commands on their website for Ubuntu and Linux Mint. The Ubuntu-specific install command has a dependency on Gnome (an extension I believe). Some Linux Mint users miss this fact and use the Ubuntu specific command, which in turns installs the entire Gnome desktop alongside ProtonVPN.

4

Yes, this can happen if you overlay. Dependency management works the same way on Atomic layering and traditional Fedora.

5

While one should use third-party apps with care, be informed that there is a community maintained Proton VPN Flatpak app.

If you trust it and it suits you, you’d avoid the risk of layering unwanted dependency packages on top of the base OSTree image.

6

Are there any Fedora packages that will do this?

7

I took a look at the package provided by Proton VPN on their website, and while Proton explicitly mentions that the GUI app is supported on Fedora running GNOME specifically, it doesn’t seem to install the GNOME desktop as a dependency[1]. What would install the GNOME desktop though is if a user not on GNOME (say on KDE Plasma), would mistakenly follow the instructions regarding the activation of the (GNOME-specific) system tray icon.

  1. In case I am not mistaken, as I have tested it in a container. ↩︎

8

So one would not so much ‘get Gnomed’ as ‘install Gnome’.

9

Yes, GNOME would get installed as a dependency when running the command suggested by Proton VPN’s HowTo page for system tray icon activation.

The OP might share with us if this is what’s happened.