Possible to port over SDDM config to other distro?

Ask Fedora
1

Hello,

I’m wondering if it’s possible to port over Fedora’s LXQt spin SDDM config/template/design over to another distro that’s using LXQt for their desktop.

As I understand, one can install themes for sddm but I haven’t actually been able to confirm if using a different theme will actually change the layout/design of the login screen or simply apply different colors.

My aim is to port over Fedora’s particular lock-screen/design to my distro of choice.

I’ve never done this before and I’m just curious if the “theme” goes by a name or if the process will be different from what I’ve described thus far.

Any input or assistance is warmly accepted. :slight_smile:

TIA

2

Hi,

I am not for sure whether I got your intention.

Generally, LXQt and SDDM are two different processes on a system. LXQt is the desktop environment (which is based upon the toolkit Qt) while SDDM is the Display Manager. On one hand, you can use SDDM also with KDE or GNOME desktop environments, and on the other hand, you can use LXQt also with LightDM.

So, it is not important which desktop environment you are using: you can use SDDM with all (at least all widespread) desktop environments. So the answer to your question is generally yes.

Depending on the distro, it is usually very easy to change the display manager. Usually, this an be done using the distro’s package manager (e.g. dnf, yum, apt). So for example, “dnf install sddm”. That’s it.

After installing, you have to disable the old manager on your system, and then to enable the new one. This is to be done using the command line tool “systemctl” which controls systemd. It is very well documented on the internet.

Maybe this will be enough to fulfill your needs. If you want to copy the config as used on Fedora LXQt, you will find it in /etc/sddm/.

But be aware that after logging into your account, your desktop environment (e.g. LXQt) is started as user process and is then controlling most “things” that are displayed. These “things” are often independent applications. This includes the user’s lock-screen which can be part of a screensaver application like XScreenSaver (which is configured in /etc/xscreensaver/). So the LXQt configuration in your home directory is maybe a more interesting starting point: ~/.config/lxqt/

My Fedora is using SDDM with LXQt and XScreenSaver. Lock-screens are provided by XScreenSaver on my system but to be honest, I do not remember whether this is Fedora default or custom :wink:

Specific themes are maybe part of further packages, Fedora’s dnf is listing the following xscreensaver packages:
============================================================================ Name Exactly Matched: xscreensaver =============================================================================
xscreensaver.x86_64 : X screen saver and locker
=========================================================================== Name & Summary Matched: xscreensaver ============================================================================
xstar-xscreensaver.x86_64 : XScreenSaver support for xstar
qstars-xscreensaver.x86_64 : XScreenSaver support for qstars
tempest-xscreensaver.x86_64 : XScreenSaver support for tempest
xscreensaver-base.x86_64 : A minimal installation of xscreensaver
xscreensaver-base.x86_64 : A minimal installation of xscreensaver
xmountains-xscreensaver.noarch : XScreenSaver integration support
================================================================================ Name Matched: xscreensaver =================================================================================
xscreensaver-extras.x86_64 : An enhanced set of screensavers
xscreensaver-gl-base.x86_64 : A base package for screensavers that require OpenGL
rss-glx-xscreensaver.x86_64 : Really Slick Screensavers
xscreensaver-gl-extras.x86_64 : An enhanced set of screensavers that require OpenGL
xscreensaver-extras-gss.x86_64 : Desktop files of extras for other screensaver
xscreensaver-extras-base.x86_64 : A base package for screensavers
xscreensaver-gl-extras-gss.x86_64 : Desktop files of gl-extras for other screensaver

Regards,
0xc3

3

Let me be clearer, I want to port this to my particular distro of choice which happens to be using LXQt (I am not looking to change the DE and I aware I can change the DM between other DE and vice versa):

121c5ef2e8dbf67b4462a88256f0d4fbc7c5b296.png
121c5ef2e8dbf67b4462a88256f0d4fbc7c5b296.png1920×1080 150 KB

Incidentally, that lock screen you see above is not what I see when I run Lubuntu—which is what I’m trying to get this on.

What is it exactly that the lock screen (not screen saver) is in relation to with regards to the DM?

Is it a theme? Which DM is this Fedora spin launching with? How can I port this over to my distro of choice?

4

The lock screen is part of the screensaver. For example, if the lock screen is active on your users’ desktop environment, you still can log into another terminal and KILL the screensaver process in order to unlock the screen.

So this is not about the desktop environment or the display manager, but just about the screensaver: Fedora LXQt uses XScreenSaver by default.

I assume it can be installed by using your package manager. If you want to copy Fedora’s configuration, see:

system config:
/etc/xscreensaver/

user config:
~/.xscreensaver

Regards,
0xc3

1 Like
5

Thank-you!

When I asked elsewhere, they told me it was part of the DM. I appreciate the clarification!

I’ll be sure to try this out when I get the chance.