QXDC — Quirino's XFCE Default Config

Opinionated, automated XFCE desktop configuration for Debian, Alpine, and Arch. Because reinstalling your OS shouldn't mean spending two hours clicking through settings.

Versao em portugues brasileiro disponivel em README-pt-br.md

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Why

We already have plenty of mods and styles for our desktops. But I usually need to reinstall and reinvent my usability choices from scratch, and I don't want to use any of the available "Refisefuquis"¹ out there. QXDC is my answer: a reproducible, non-interactive desktop configurator that does exactly what I want and nothing else.

What it does

QXDC turns a fresh Linux install into a productive XFCE desktop in minutes. No GUI wizards, no dumb questions, no Swiss landscape wallpapers nobody asked for.

It installs packages, configures themes, adjusts panels, deploys dotfiles, enables services, and removes bloat. All via CLI, all reproducible, all versioned. Works on Debian, Alpine, and Arch.

Supported distributions

Family	Distros	Pkg manager	Profile
Debian	Debian 12+, Ubuntu 22.04+, Mint, Pop	apt	full, minimal, lab
Alpine	Alpine 3.24+	apk	alpine-live
Arch	Arch, Manjaro, EndeavourOS	pacman/yay	arch-live

Quick start

Interactive installer (recommended)

git clone https://github.com/luizfpq/QXDC.git
cd QXDC
./install.sh

The installer detects your distro, suggests the right profile, and guides you through the process. It shows what will be done before executing.

Flags:

• ./install.sh --auto — skip questions, detect everything automatically
• ./install.sh --dry-run — preview without executing

Alpine Linux (from base install)

apk add git bash
git clone https://github.com/luizfpq/QXDC.git && cd QXDC
./install.sh

The alpine-live profile installs the full desktop stack: Xorg, XFCE4, LightDM, Pipewire, NetworkManager, drivers, theme, and apps. It takes Alpine from a bare base system to a complete graphical desktop.

Arch Linux

git clone https://github.com/luizfpq/QXDC.git && cd QXDC
./install.sh

Debian (traditional)

sudo apt install git
git clone https://github.com/luizfpq/QXDC.git && cd QXDC
./install.sh

Manual (advanced)

Run individual modules:

./qxdc.sh packages install --profile full --yes
./qxdc.sh desktop theme --profile full --yes
./qxdc.sh system services --profile alpine-live --yes
./qxdc.sh apps browser --profile full --yes

Preview before running:

./qxdc.sh all install --profile alpine-live --dry-run

Screenshots

Desktop	Apps

Chrome	LightDM

Look and feel

Item	Value	Source
GTK/WM Theme	Arc-Lighter	jnsh/arc-theme
Icons	Papirus-Dark	PapirusDevelopmentTeam/papirus-icon-theme
Folder Colors	paleorange	PapirusDevelopmentTeam/papirus-folders
Terminal Colors	Nighty-Lighter	Based on Gogh-Co/Gogh
System Fetch	fastfetch	fastfetch-cli/fastfetch
Font	Noto Sans 10	Google Noto Fonts
Mono Font	Hack Nerd Font Mono 10	ryanoasis/nerd-fonts
Panel 2	Dock with ~12% opacity
Wallpaper	QXDC-docs/main-wallpaper.jpg
LightDM	Same wallpaper + Arc-Lighter

Structure

QXDC/
├── install.sh               # Interactive installer (v2.3+)
├── qxdc.sh                  # CLI entrypoint (advanced usage)
├── lib/
│   ├── common.sh            # Logging, colors, flags, run(), run_sudo()
│   ├── distro.sh            # Distro detection, pkg_install/remove/update
│   └── config.sh            # YAML-like config parser
├── modules/
│   ├── packages/            # install.sh, purge.sh
│   ├── desktop/             # fonts.sh, theme.sh, settings.sh, wallpaper.sh
│   ├── apps/                # browser.sh, editor.sh, fastfetch.sh, ...
│   ├── dotfiles/            # files/ (ready-made configs)
│   └── system/              # services.sh, hardware.sh, nvidia.sh
├── config/
│   ├── defaults.yml         # Default configuration (Debian)
│   ├── profiles/            # minimal, full, lab, alpine-live, arch-live
│   └── packages-map/        # Debian->Alpine/Arch reference mappings
├── CONTRIBUTING.md          # Guide for adding distros and modules
└── tests/
    └── shellcheck.sh        # Lint

Profiles

Profile	Target	What it does
full	Debian with XFCE	Complete productive desktop, everything configured
minimal	Debian with XFCE	Bare minimum packages, no visual changes
lab	Debian VM	Debug tools, no visual frills
alpine-live	Alpine (bare)	Full stack: Xorg + XFCE + LightDM + drivers + services + apps
arch-live	Arch (bare)	Full stack: same as alpine-live but with pacman package names

Flags

Flag	Effect
--dry-run	Preview without executing
--yes / -y	Skip confirmations
--verbose / -v	Detailed output
--profile <p>	Select configuration profile

Multi-distro support

QXDC detects the running distro and adapts:

• Package manager: apt (Debian), apk (Alpine), pacman/yay (Arch)
• Privilege escalation: sudo (Debian/Arch), doas (Alpine), or none if already root
• Service management: systemd (Debian/Arch), OpenRC (Alpine)
• Repositories: enables contrib+non-free (Debian), community+testing (Alpine)
• Debian-only modules: stremio, heroic skip gracefully on other distros

NVIDIA drivers

The system nvidia module installs NVIDIA drivers using the official NVIDIA repository (Debian only).

./qxdc.sh system nvidia --yes
./qxdc.sh system nvidia --driver proprietary --yes
./qxdc.sh system nvidia --mode compute --yes

Error diagnostics

When a module fails, QXDC shows:

• The module's exit code
• The last 5 lines of stderr inline
• A final summary listing all failed modules

Logs are written to /tmp/qxdc-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.log. Per-module logs available in /tmp/qxdc-modules/ when using all install.

Common issues

Symptom	Cause	Fix
"DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS not defined"	Running outside XFCE session	Run desktop modules after logging into XFCE
"sudo/doas: command not found"	Neither installed	Install one, or run as root
"doas: a tty is required"	Non-interactive session with persist	Use permit nopass :wheel in doas.conf or run as root
Desktop modules fail but packages works	No graphical session	Expected. Packages install first, theme applies after login
"no such package" on Alpine	Missing testing repo	QXDC enables it automatically via enable_nonfree_repos

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for instructions on adding support for new distros, creating profiles, and writing modules.

Background

QXDC started in 2021 as a monolithic bash script. Version 2.0 was a ground-up rewrite: modular, declarative, non-interactive. Version 2.1+ expanded to Alpine and Arch, making it a truly distro-agnostic desktop configurator.

Related repositories

Repo	Status	Role
QXDC-docs	Active	Static assets (wallpapers, screenshots)
lftk	Active	Complementary toolkit (server/infra)
ironqui	Archived	Previous Ansible attempt (absorbed into QXDC 2.0)

License

MIT

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¹ Refisefuquis — "Release de Fim de Semana e Fundo de Quintal". Weekend hobby distros with no support, no innovation, no purpose. QXDC is proudly one of these, except this one actually works.