Tech Over Tea Bringing GNOME Back To Non-Systemd Distros | Swagtoy
Dec 26, 2025
Swagtoy, a software developer specializing in Gentoo and OpenRC projects, discusses the fallout from GNOME's decision to drop support for non-systemd systems. He dives into why Artix considered removing GNOME, misconceptions about its systemd dependency, and the practical challenges users face without integration. Swagtoy explains how he ported GNOME session to OpenRC, the significance of user services, and compares GNOME's approach to that of other desktop environments. He also shares insights about the philosophical choices of Gen2 and collaborations within the open-source community.
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GNOME Shifted Session Duties Intentionally
- GNOME 49 moved many session responsibilities to systemd by design to simplify and reduce GNOME session code.
- That change intentionally allowed other init systems to integrate by replacing a small systemd-specific component.
Artix Dropped GNOME Over Porting Burden
- Artix reacted by dropping GNOME packages because maintainers lacked time to reimplement non-systemd paths.
- Swagtoy found that running GNOME shell directly still worked, only log out/shutdown integration broke.
Patch The Leader Module, Not All Of GNOME
- Replace the systemd-specific leader module with a small alternative for your init system.
- Modify just the leader C file and add init service scripts to run GNOME services under your init.