Install CDE (Common Desktop Environment) on Rocky Linux 9.3

Rocky Linux is a community-driven project that emerged as a response to the discontinuation of CentOS Linux, a popular free and open-source operating system. CentOS Linux was widely used in enterprise environments due to its stability and long-term support.

When CentOS announced a shift in its focus towards CentOS Stream, a rolling-release distribution, many users were left searching for an alternative that provided the same reliability and compatibility with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

In response to this need, Gregory Kurtzer, one of the original co-founders of CentOS, announced the creation of Rocky Linux in December 2020. The goal of Rocky Linux was to provide a downstream, binary-compatible alternative to RHEL, following the traditional CentOS model of stability and long-term support.

With the support of a growing community of developers and users, Rocky Linux gained momentum quickly. By April 2021, the first beta release of Rocky Linux was made available for testing. The project garnered widespread attention and support from individuals and organizations eager for a CentOS replacement.

Ultimately, Rocky Linux became a prominent player in the realm of enterprise Linux distributions, offering a stable, free, and community-supported alternative to RHEL. It carries forward the ethos of CentOS, providing a reliable platform for businesses and developers alike.

The Common Desktop Environment (CDE) is a classic graphical user interface (GUI) developed in the early 1990s. It aimed to provide a consistent user experience across various UNIX-based operating systems, such as Sun Solaris, HP-UX, IBM AIX, and others.

CDE was born out of collaboration between major UNIX vendors, including IBM, Sun Microsystems, HP, and DEC. It integrated elements from existing desktop environments like HP's Motif and IBM's Common User Access (CUA) standards.

Released in 1993, CDE quickly gained popularity due to its familiar look and feel, making it easier for users to transition between different UNIX systems. Its features included a file manager, window manager, panel, and various utilities.

CDE remained a standard desktop environment for UNIX systems throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. However, with the rise of Linux and open-source alternatives like GNOME and KDE, its popularity declined.

In 2012, CDE was open-sourced under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). This move allowed enthusiasts to continue its development and keep the legacy of this iconic desktop environment alive, albeit in a niche capacity. Today, CDE serves as a reminder of the early days of graphical computing on UNIX systems.

We need to complete several steps to get it working correctly.

1. Boot the system -- System Ready.

2. Boot the system -- Logged In.

3. SSH session.

ssh -v -p 2222 [email protected]        

4. SSH session.

5. SSH session.

6. Switch to root.

sudo su        

7. Check for updates.

dnf update        

8. Check for updates.

9. Enable the EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) repository and install git and make tools.

dnf install -y git epel-release make        

10. Enable the EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) repository and install git and make tools.

11. Enable the EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) repository and install git and make tools.

12. Enable the EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) repository and install git and make tools.

13. Enable the EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) repository and install git and make tools.

14. Enable the EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) repository and install git and make tools.

15. Enable the EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) repository and install git and make tools.

16. Enable the EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) repository and install git and make tools.

17. Enable the EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) repository and install git and make tools.

18. Enable the EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) repository and install git and make tools.

19. Enable the EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) repository and install git and make tools.

20. Enable the EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) repository and install git and make tools.

21. Enable the EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) repository and install git and make tools.

22. Install additional tools and packages.

dnf install -y mock        

23. Install additional tools and packages.

24. Install additional tools and packages.

25. Install additional tools and packages.

26. Install additional tools and packages.

27. Install additional tools and packages.

28. Install additional tools and packages.

29. Install additional tools and packages.

30. Install additional tools and packages.

31. Install additional tools and packages.

dnf install -y mock        

32. We must prepare the execution environment.

sudo usermod -a -G mock alex        

33. We must download the source code.

git clone https://github.com/zssfred/cderpm.git        

34. We must prepare the execution environment.

cd cderpm        

make fetch        

35. We must edit the configure file.

Comment out "Requires: xinetd" from cde.spec.

nano cde.spec        

#Requires: xinetd        

Ctrl + S

Ctrl + X

36. The fun begins.

mock -r /etc/mock/rocky+epel-9-x86_64.cfg --sources ./ --spec ./cde.spec --resultdir /tmp/cde        

37. The fun is over.

38. Install the xserver and additional packages.

dnf group install -y base-x Standard        

39. Install the xserver and additional packages.

40. The main CDE package.

dnf install -y /tmp/cde/cde-2.3.2-3.el9.x86_64.rpm        

41. The main CDE package.

42. Enable the DT Messaging System.

systemctl enable dtlogin --now        

43. Login screen to the CDE graphical shell.

44. Login screen to the CDE graphical shell.

45. The CDE (Common Desktop Environment) running on Rocky Linux 9.3.

46. The CDE (Common Desktop Environment) running on Rocky Linux 9.3.

47. Now we can safely and gracefully shut down our system by running the command "poweroff".

poweroff        

That was fun! See you next time. #linux