Is there any way (such as a command or environmental variable) to determine what window manager is the one actively running in the current session?
15 Answers
If you have wmctrl
installed, the first line of output from command
wmctrl -m
will show you the name of the window manager. If you don't have wmctrl
installed, use the following command to install it:
sudo apt-get install wmctrl
Note, man wmctrl
(that is, the man
page for wmctrl
) says in part:
-m
Display information about the window manager ...
On my Ubuntu 11.10 / Linux 3.0.0-14-generic #23-Ubuntu x86_64 / metacity 2.34.1 system, the first line of output from wmctrl -m
was: Name: Metacity
while echo $DESKTOP_SESSION
showed ubuntu-2d
and echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP
showed Unity
.
On a fresh Ubuntu 15.10 install of Ubuntu desktop
software on an old laptop, the first line of output from wmctrl -m
was: Name: Compiz
while the DESKTOP_SESSION
and XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP
values were ubuntu
and Unity
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5Unfortunately this doesn't work over ssh even if X11 is enabled. Apr 22, 2014 at 4:54
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2@Sridhar-Sarnobat on ubuntu 15.04, running
ssh -Y {host} 'wmctrl -m'
does return some values (e.g., "Name: Compiz", and several N/A's), but it makes sense thatssh
would have limited info about the window manager.– michaelMay 4, 2015 at 2:52 -
on debian running cinnamon, this does not work. output of wmctrl -m is Name: Mutter(Muffin) while $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=X-Cinnamon– FloydJan 2, 2016 at 8:58
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On Xubuntu Wily, running Window Maker 0.95.6 - wmctrl reports N/A for all entries. GDMSESSION is set to wmaker-common but XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP isnt set at all.– MeiJul 11, 2016 at 19:13
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1Note to wanderers from outside Ubuntu. On RedHat wmctrl is available from the nux-dextop repo (see unix.stackexchange.com/questions/447999/…) Jun 5, 2018 at 14:33
On Linux systems I tested environment variables XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP
and GDMSESSION
and got the following results.
You can use this line to get the output:
printf 'Desktop: %s\nSession: %s\n' "$XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP" "$GDMSESSION"
Ubuntu 18.04 and 20.04 (Ubuntu on GNOME)
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=ubuntu:GNOME
GDMSESSION=ubuntu
Ubuntu 18.04 (Ubuntu on Wayland)
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=ubuntu:GNOME
GDMSESSION=ubuntu-wayland
Ubuntu 16.04
Unity (7)
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=Unity
GDMSESSION=ubuntu
Ubuntu 14.04
Unity running with Mir
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=Unity
GDMSESSION=ubuntu
Note MIR_SERVER_NAME
is also set
MIR_SERVER_NAME=session-$NUMBER
Unity running without Mir
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=Unity
GDMSESSION=ubuntu
XFCE
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=XFCE
GDMSESSION=xfce
Ubuntu 12.04
KDE
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=
GDMSESSION=kde-plasma
Unity 3D
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=Unity
GDMSESSION=ubuntu
Unity 2D
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=Unity
GDMSESSION=ubuntu-2d
Gnome
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME
GDMSESSION=gnome-shell
Gnome Classic
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME
GDMSESSION=gnome-classic
Gnome Classic (no effects)
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME
GDMSESSION=gnome-fallback
Other Ubuntu based distributions
Mint 13 (Cinnamon)
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME
GDMSESSION=cinnamon
Mint 16 (KDE edition)
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=KDE
GDMSESSION=default
Mint 17 (Cinnamon)
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=X-Cinnamon
GDMSESSION=default
Lubuntu 12.04
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=LXDE
GDMSESSION=Lubuntu
Wasta 14.04 / 18.04
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=X-Cinnamon
GDMSESSION=cinnamon
Wasta 14.04 using Gnome desktop.
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME
GDMSESSION=gnome
Ubuntu Mate 18.04
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=MATE
GDMSESSION=mate
Xubuntu 18.04
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=XFCE
GDMSESSION=xubuntu
Kali Linux kali-rolling 2020.2
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME
GDMSESSION=lightdm-xsession
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12
In the terminal type env
to see all environment variables. Some of them are:
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP - Tells you what desktop environment you are using
GDMSESSION - Tells you what option you selected from the lightdm greeter to login.
To use them, go to the terminal and type:
echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP
(Will output for example 'unity' if you are using Unity)
or
echo $GDMSESSION
(Will output for example 'ubuntu' if you selected ubuntu in the login or 'ubuntu-2d' if you selected that one in the login.)
You have others if you look closer at the output of env
like DESKTOP_SESSION and COMPIZ_CONFIG_PROFILE
Since what you are looking for is the name of what Window Manager is in use, the only way I see how to get this is by looking in the process list. To do this there is a command called pgrep
( Wikipedia ). I did the following to get the name since the parameter -l adds the process ID:
pgrep -l compiz |cut -d " " -f2
since the process is running by the same user there is no need to prefix the sudo part. You can then use this to create a script that does an action based on the Window Manager.
To look for other types, just change the word compiz
to another like mutter
, kwin
, etc..
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4Those just tell me the session name and desktop environment. Example it says "GNOME" which is a desktop environment that can use Metacity, Mutter, Compiz or other window managers. It says "gnome-classic" which is a session name, there is no such window manager with that name. Oct 26, 2011 at 23:04
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1There you go. Found a command that can help with the process list. pgrep. Got to that part, at least it shows you the name of the window manager if found. Trying to check if I can add all of them together there. Your question is very good since Ubuntu 11.10 confuses a bit by using Compiz (Or mutter if when Gnome 3.x) so would be nice to point out the actual Window Manager that is used in Unity. Oct 27, 2011 at 0:11
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1
$XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP
is the current desktop environment, NOT the window manager. Feb 22, 2018 at 16:49 -
it seems that
GDMSESSION
returns the Window Manager - and of course$XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP
returns the Desktop Environment Nov 28, 2021 at 0:37
I found pstree
to be a big help.
Installation
sudo apt-get install pstree
output
This is what I got.
├─lightdm─┬─Xorg───2*[{Xorg}]
│ ├─lightdm─┬─gnome-session─┬─bluetooth-apple───2*[{bluetooth-apple}]
│ │ │ ├─compiz─┬─sh───gtk-window-deco───2*[{gtk-window-deco}]
│ │ │ │ └─5*[{compiz}]
│ │ │ ├─deja-dup-monito───2*[{deja-dup-monito}]
│ │ │ ├─gnome-fallback-───2*[{gnome-fallback-}]
│ │ │ ├─gnome-screensav───2*[{gnome-screensav}]
│ │ │ ├─gnome-settings-───2*[{gnome-settings-}]
│ │ │ ├─nautilus───2*[{nautilus}]
│ │ │ ├─nm-applet───2*[{nm-applet}]
│ │ │ ├─polkit-gnome-au───2*[{polkit-gnome-au}]
│ │ │ ├─ssh-agent
│ │ │ ├─telepathy-indic───2*[{telepathy-indic}]
│ │ │ ├─update-notifier───2*[{update-notifier}]
│ │ │ ├─vino-server───2*[{vino-server}]
│ │ │ ├─zeitgeist-datah───{zeitgeist-datah}
│ │ │ └─3*[{gnome-session}]
│ │ └─{lightdm}
│ └─2*[{lightdm}]
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2
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2
xprop -id $(xprop -root -notype | awk '$1=="_NET_SUPPORTING_WM_CHECK:"{print $5}') -notype -f _NET_WM_NAME 8t
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3Can you explain how this works? Also, I think you' re missing a
)
at the end. May 15, 2014 at 6:53 -
@LouisMatthijssen 1.
xprop -root -notype
displays all of the root window's properties (and omits types for easier parsing), the output is send toawk
via pipe; 2.awk
instruction$1=="_NET[blah]CK:"{print $5}'
compares first column of each row of the input it got through the pipe with a given string and if it finds the match it runs the code in brackets which prints the fifth column from this row - just so happens (entirely by accident, I bet) to be the ID of the "_NET_SUPPORTING_WM_CHECK" atom; 3. this ID is then used again to get the properties of the Windows Manager withxprop -id
– cprnMay 15, 2014 at 19:31 -
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+1,
neofetch
is a nifty little tool, thank you! (well, not so little, but at least it works well). Dec 27, 2023 at 14:11
#! /bin/bash
windowManagerName () {
local window=$(
xprop -root -notype
)
local identifier=$(
echo "${window}" |
awk '$1=="_NET_SUPPORTING_WM_CHECK:"{print $5}'
)
local attributes=$(
xprop -id "${identifier}" -notype -f _NET_WM_NAME 8t
)
local name=$(
echo "${attributes}" |
grep "_NET_WM_NAME = " |
cut --delimiter=' ' --fields=3 |
cut --delimiter='"' --fields=2
)
echo "${name}"
}
windowManagerName
Or in one line:
id=$(xprop -root -notype | awk '$1=="_NET_SUPPORTING_WM_CHECK:"{print $5}'); xprop -id "${id}" -notype -f _NET_WM_NAME 8t | grep "_NET_WM_NAME = " | cut --delimiter=' ' --fields=3 | cut --delimiter='"' --fields=2
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1this exactly answers the question! The only answer to the question I found. Jan 22, 2020 at 20:53
I've been testing also with KDE and my conclusion is:
a) Graphical way, with HardInfo: the answer is normally in "Operating System" > "Desktop Environment", but if not you can look to "Environment variables". HardInfo is ready with all the tested distros, except the one with KDE, but it can be easily and quickly installed (only 2 packages in Linux Mint 13).
b) Command line, with this command: ps -A | egrep -i "gnome|kde|mate|cinnamon|lx|xfce|jwm" -wo | sort -u
. The item that appears in more lines should be the answer (if there is a draw the item with "session" should be the solution). And it works through SSH.
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XFCE also has several
gnome-...
processes (and a kde hit withkdevtmpfs
)– Xen2050May 7, 2016 at 4:55 -
None of the above actually worked for me, I just wanted to know whether I had Gnome running as my current desktop session.
This is what worked, open a terminal
lsb_release -a
(to check which flavor or version I had installed on my UBUNTU machine)
ls /usr/bin/*session
(launches which desktop session/desktop environment currently in use)
gnome-shell --version
(to find out which version of gnome is installed)
This question is 9 years old, but still topical.
On my Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS, I get :
wmctrl -m: GNOME Shell
inxi -Sxx: Desktop = Gnome 3.36.4; wm = gnome-shell; dm = GDM3 3.36.3
gnome-shell -- version: 3.36.4
env:GDM_SESSION : ubuntu ; DESKTOP_SESSION: ubuntu ; XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP: ubuntu:GNOME
BUT
xprop... (from ruario): _NET_WM_NAME : GNOME Shell ; _GNOME_WM_KEYBINDINGS : Mutter, GNOME Shell ; _MUTTER_VERSION : 3.36.7
and neofetch: de = GNONE ; wm = Mutter
I deduce from this (but not very sure): GNOME is the desktop manager and GNOME Shell the window manager (Mutter must be a trace of my previous LTS versions 16.04 et 18.04).
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That shows how confusing all the content and conclusions are in this entire thread. Your window manager is Mutter, as pointed out very helpfully and accurately by neofetch. (I get Mutter as well on a new install of 20.04, if that helps.)– LeventeMar 7, 2021 at 17:04
You can use tool called inxi
. It can be obtained from Ubuntu Repositories by:
sudo apt install inxi
or from github : https://github.com/smxi/inxi
Just run the command as follows:
inxi -Sx
System: Host: blackhole Kernel: 5.1.15-050115-lowlatency x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 8.3.0
Desktop: i3 4.16.1-178-g31c0f1b8 Distro: Ubuntu 19.04 (Disco Dingo)
Note the Desktop: i3
part. In my case the window manager I use is i3
.
Option -S
displays system info and x
adds info about window manager.
This is sort of possible with dbus and the Accounts Service (both by default in Ubuntu).
$ qdbus --system org.freedesktop.Accounts \
> /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User1000 \
> org.freedesktop.Accounts.User.XSession
ubuntu
Worth noting that I've tested this with logging in through lightdm (that is the graphical login screen) , it did detect a classic desktop like blackbox , and obviously detects Unity. I suspect this is a value of what user selects on the login screen as session, that's why it's a bit easier to use that checking for processes
Script
The following script resulted as the best answer to a similar question I posted over at unix.se. It also works great with Unity and LXDE.
if [ "$XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP" = '' ]
then
desktop=$(echo "$XDG_DATA_DIRS" | sed 's/.*\(xfce\|kde\|gnome\).*/\1/')
else
desktop=$XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP
fi
desktop=${desktop,,} # convert to lower case
echo "$desktop"
Desktop Environment lxqt (e.g. Lubuntu >= 18.10)
One way is open ~/.config/lxqt/session.conf
and find
[General]
__userfile__=true
window_manager=openbox // <==
One solution that works through SSH :
$ cat /etc/X11/default-display-manager | xargs basename
lightdm