In your environment - Gnome

Ubuntu / Debian

A Gnome session for xmonad is part of the distribution package, however it is out of date. You can use the gnome-session-xmonad PPA to get an updated version.

Other Distributions

If your distribution is running Gnome and X similar to Ubuntu then you will need an Xsession file, Gnome session file, and (if that is your init system) a systemd session configuration. The following file listings are from gnome-session-xmonad source.

• Xsession: /usr/share/xsessions/gnome-xmonad.desktop

  [Desktop Entry]
  Name=GNOME + XMonad
  Comment=This session logs you into GNOME + XMonad
  Exec=/usr/bin/gnome-session --systemd --session=gnome-flashback-xmonad --disable-acceleration-check
  TryExec=xmonad
  Type=Application
  DesktopNames=GNOME-Flashback;GNOME;
  X-Ubuntu-Gettext-Domain=gnome-flashback
  

• Gnome session: /usr/share/gnome-session/sessions

  [GNOME Session]
  Name=GNOME + XMonad
  RequiredComponents=xmonad;gnome-flashback;gnome-panel;org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.A11ySettings;org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Color;org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Datetime;org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Housekeeping;org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Keyboard;org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.MediaKeys;org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Power;org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.PrintNotifications;org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Rfkill;org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.ScreensaverProxy;org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Sharing;org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Smartcard;org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Sound;org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.UsbProtection;org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Wacom;org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.XSettings;
  

• systemd session configuration: /usr/lib/systemd/user/gnome-session@gnome-xmonad.target.d

  [Unit]
  Wants=org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.A11ySettings.target
  Wants=org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Color.target
  Wants=org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Datetime.target
  Wants=org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Housekeeping.target
  Wants=org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Keyboard.target
  Wants=org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.MediaKeys.target
  Wants=org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Power.target
  Wants=org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.PrintNotifications.target
  Wants=org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Rfkill.target
  Wants=org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.ScreensaverProxy.target
  Wants=org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Sharing.target
  Wants=org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Smartcard.target
  Wants=org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Sound.target
  Wants=org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.UsbProtection.target
  Wants=org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Wacom.target
  Wants=org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.XSettings.target
  
  Requires=gnome-flashback.target
  Requires=indicators-pre.target
  
  # here we list the indicators that we want to load
  Wants=indicator-application.service
  Wants=indicator-bluetooth.service
  Wants=indicator-datetime.service
  Wants=indicator-keyboard.service
  Wants=indicator-messages.service
  Wants=indicator-power.service
  Wants=indicator-printers.service
  Wants=indicator-session.service
  Wants=indicator-sound.service
  

Common Problems

• gnome-terminal uses new rendering facilities for its titlebar, which means it won’t be hidden.
  • gsettings set org.gnome.Terminal.Legacy.Settings headerbar "@mb false" seems to fix this.
• window layout changing isn’t working (e.g. to switch from columns to rows)
  • Almost certainly some default Gnome or Ubuntu keybindings eating the key (In older versions of Ubuntu there was something in `org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys` but this will most likely change over time)
• In Ubuntu 20.04, the gnome-panel starts disappearing
  • gnome-panel --replace will bring it back.
  • This issue comment has a reliable fix but you lose desktop icons:
    • gsettings set org.gnome.gnome-flashback desktop false
    • gsettings set org.gnome.gnome-flashback root-background true
• In Ubuntu 20.04, the gnome-panel isn’t dark any more.
  • gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface icon-theme "ubuntu-mono-dark"
  • gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme Yaru-dark

Historical Versions of Ubuntu

The wiki has signifcant material on how to configure XMonad with Gnome for Ubuntu versions prior to 16.04 Xenial (LTS).