Score:1

Ubuntu 21.10 gnome shell login not available

fr flag

A fresh install of Ubuntu 21.10, and GNOME shell is not a login option! When I start Ubuntu on other machines, the options "GNOME", "GNOME Classic" and "GNOME on Xorg" are listed when logging in (cog wheel, bottom right). But not on this. All I find here is "Ubuntu" and "Ubuntu on Xorg". Gnome shell is indeed installed, which has been sufficient before:

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
gnome-shell is already the newest version (40.5-1ubuntu2).
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

I'd like to use GNOME shell – what am I missing?

user.dz avatar
ng flag
Have you tried login into "Ubuntu"? because Gnome-shell (Wayland) is currently the main desktop environment for Ubuntu release.
fr flag
@user.dz Yes indeed, it makes no difference.
heynnema avatar
ru flag
What makes you believe that gnome-shell is not available? The "Ubuntu" login option provides gnome-shell in a Wayland environment, and "Ubuntu on Xorg" provides gnome-shell in a X11/Xorg environment. Please clarify.
fr flag
@heynnema There were too many changes at once, and I didn't recognise the GNOME desktop any more. I use some extensions all the time, and had to reinstall them since their "home" changed. Not easy to keep up with everything, but better now when some of the debris has been cleared. I'll get there, eventually :)
heynnema avatar
ru flag
gnome-shell extensions would have to be reinstalled after a clean install of 21.10 (not because their "home" had changed). Keep the number of extensions down, as any one can cause problems.
fr flag
@heynnema It might help if GNOME could could come up with a version-stable API. Don't know, but that is maybe impossible.
heynnema avatar
ru flag
I don't know what you're asking... "version-stable API"?
fr flag
Simply an API that won't change when the software is updated. As it is now, all extensions have to be updated with new versions of GNOME. I believe that is because they tap into inner workings of the system instead of relying on a stable set of hooks (an API). I might very well be wrong, but this is my immediate wish.
Score:2
cn flag

Ubuntu desktop is actually a customized version of Gnome Shell, so you are using it logging in to Gnome Shell.

Moving to a pure Gnome Shell session is possible on Ubuntu 21.10 by installing gnome-session:

sudo apt install gnome-session

Now, you will find options to log into pure Gnome Shell, either on Wayland or Xorg, in the menu you obtained with the cog wheel.

You can also change the colors on the login screen from Ubuntu styled to default Gnome Shell.

On Ubuntu 21.10, run

sudo update-alternatives --config gdm-theme.gresource 

On Ubuntu 20.04, the command is different:

sudo update-alternatives --config gdm3-theme.gresource

Select a different theme from Yaru there.

Score:1
fr flag

This turned out to be just my confusion with respect to shell extensions, so I vote for removing the whole discussion.

Bovine avatar
ru flag
I would vote for leaving it ... the answer posted by @vanadium has a lot of good info about Gnome and alternate themes.
fr flag
@Bovine yes. I saw that answer a bit too late, but agree.
mangohost

Post an answer

Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.