Unity

Summary
This article discusses how to install and use Unity. Unity is a shell interface for the GNOME desktop environment. This article covers how to get Unity on your system and how to configure it to fit your needs.
Related
GNOME

Unity is a powerful desktop and netbook environment that brings consistency and elegance to the Ubuntu experience.

Installation

There are two ways to install Unity on Arch Linux: from the source and from a repository.

From source

All of the PKGBUILDs can be browsed on the Github repository, where Unity-For-Arch provides a minimal working Unity shell, and Unity-For-Arch-Extra provides some additional applications, including lightdm-ubuntu (lightdm with ubuntu patches), light-themes, unity-tweak-tool (a popular ubuntu tool) and some more.

To install a minimal Unity shell:

1. 'cd' into a directory, where you want to keep the sources, and run:

$ git clone https://github.com/chenxiaolong/Unity-for-Arch.git

For this to work, git is required.

2 Open the README file and build packages according to the ordered list. Basically run:

$ cd packagename
$ rm -rvf src pkg # Clears out any files from a previous build
$ makepkg -sci # '-s' means install needed dependencies, '-c' means clear left files after build and '-i' means install the package after it is built.

3. Log out and log into the Unity session.

To use lightdm to start Unity, follow the same steps mentionned above to install lightdm-ubuntu and lightdm-unity-greeter from the Unity-For-Arch-Extra repository. lightdm needs to be added to autostart daemons. For Systemd users, check the Systemd wiki page.

Tip: To complete this procedure automatically, this script can be used.

From repository (recommended)

[Unity-for-Arch]
SigLevel = Optional TrustAll
Server = http://dl.dropbox.com/u/486665/Repos/Unity-for-Arch/$arch

[Unity-for-Arch-Extra]
SigLevel = Optional TrustAll
Server = http://dl.dropbox.com/u/486665/Repos/Unity-for-Arch-Extra/$arch

to /etc/pacman.conf

Run:

$ pacman -Suy
$ pacman -S $(pacman -Slq Unity-for-Arch)

Tip: There are many ubuntu-patched packages that replace original Arch packages. It is also recommended to use freetype2-ubuntu from AUR.

Tip: You may want to view packages (yaourt -Sl Unity-for-Arch-Extra) from Unity-for-Arch-Extra and install packages from there as you require.

Warning: Remember that you are installing unofficial packages which are not supported by the Arch Linux developers.

Warning: Almost all packages related to Unity in AUR are outdated. Do not mix those packages with the ones provided from the repository.

Note: Compiled packages are also available at unity.humbug.in and unity.xe-xe.org however these are mostly outdated.

From testing repository

There is also a testing repository which provides bleeding edge features and is almost always synchronized to the changes made in Github repository. You may want to use it if you prefer newest features or if you've encountered some package conflicts while using the repositories mentioned above.

[Unity-for-Arch]
SigLevel = Optional TrustAll
Server = http://dl.dropbox.com/u/486665/Repos/Unity-for-Arch/$arch

[Unity-for-Arch-Extra] 
SigLevel = Optional TrustAll 
Server = http://dl.dropbox.com/u/486665/Repos/Unity-for-Arch-Extra/$arch

Update

For Unity repository, the update is the same as packages from official repositories.

Otherwise:

1. 'cd' into the 'Unity-for-Arch' directory where it was originally cloned

2. pull all of changes from github repository:

$ git pull

3. Check if packages need to be updated:

$ ./What_can_I_update\?.py

4. If any packages need to be updated, just build them like mentioned above in from source section.

Note: Sometimes if certain crucial package is updated, those package which depend on it will also need to be recompiled though they won't be reported. For example, Unity is often required to be recompiled if nux gets updated

Troubleshooting

Unity notifications doesn't work

Ensure following is installed: notify-osd

Screensaver locking doesn't work

Ensure following is installed: gnome-screensaver . For now you need to also create this file

/usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.gnome.ScreenSaver.service

[D-BUS Service]
Name=org.gnome.ScreenSaver
Exec=/usr/bin/gnome-screensaver --no-daemon

online accounts doesn't work

Ensure following is installed: signon-keyring-extension and gnome-keyring. You may also require telepathy to get certain accounts to work.

ssh keys aren't remembered by keyring

Ensure following is installed: gnome-keyring

KDE apps aren't integrated into the HUD and menubar

Ensure following is installed: appmenu-qt

Files and Folder lens doesn't seem to work or display anything

Ensure following is installed: zeitgeist and zeitgeist-datahub

Can't right click on desktop

Few things this addresses/fixes:

• Can't right click on the desktop
• Title bar at top doesn't display 'Arch Linux Desktop'
• Shortcut keys like Super and Alt doesn't work when there are no active windows

Simply install gnome-tweak-tool then open Tweak Tool and check Have file manager handle the desktop. You might want to uncheck Home icon visible on desktop and Trash icon visible on desktop.

Unity stops working after update

Try to run:

$ compiz.reset

and Log out and log into the Unity session.

If it still doesn't work, report an issue on github or discuss it on Arch forum.

Window decoration doesn't work properly

Try to install gnome-tweak-tool to adjust the theme.

Window decoration can't use certain theme

Install metacity-ubuntu instead of metacity.

Some gtk themes look ugly after update to Gnome 3.6

It also happens for unity default theme light-themes. Put

GtkLabel {
background-color: @transparent;
}

in .config/gtk3.0/gtk.css

Workspace switcher widget dissappeared

Check this setting: Go to settings, Appearance, Behaviour, Enable workspaces

Newly opened window is always placed at (0,0) on the screen

Metacity-ubuntu needs to be used instead of metacity. Metacity-ubuntu is now included in Unity-for-Arch again.

Window's titlebar still exists when maximized

Metacity-ubuntu needs to be used instead of metacity.

Indicator-messages doesn't work properly

Pidgin and a bunch of other applications can not be integrated into indicator-messages due to its API changes. Wait for the upstream software updates or you can help file a bug report.