To get the source, either clone the git repository with e.g.
git clone https://github.com/jnsh/arc-theme --depth 1
Or download and extract a snapshot of the master git branch, or the latest release tarball.
The following packages are always required for building the theme:
meson
version 0.53.0 or later
The following packages are only required for building certain themes:
sassc
for GTK 3, GTK 4, Cinnamon, and GNOME Shellglib-compile-resources
fromglib2
(or its development files, e.g.libglib2.0-dev-bin
for Debian based distros orglib2-devel
for RPM based distros), for GTK 3 and GTK 4 (and GNOME Shell if thegnome_shell_gresource
build option is enabled)
You can avoid these dependencies by choosing to not build specific themes using the themes
build option.
The following packages are only required for building certain themes from a git snapshot:
inkscape
for GTK 2, GTK 3, GTK 4 and Xfwm
These packages aren't required when building from a release tarball.
For the GTK 2 theme to function properly, install the following:
gnome-themes-extra
, orgnome-themes-standard
before GNOME version 3.28- The murrine GTK 2 engine. This has different names depending on the distribution:
gtk-engine-murrine
(Arch Linux)gtk2-engines-murrine
(Debian, Ubuntu, elementary OS)gtk-murrine-engine
(Fedora)gtk2-engine-murrine
(openSUSE)gtk-engines-murrine
(Gentoo)
Arc-theme uses Meson build system, refer to its documentation for further information about the build process.
The following instructions should work for most common cases.
First you need to setup and configure a new build directory (e.g. build/
) from the cloned/extracted source code directory.
You should at least configure the build prefix with --prefix=
option, usually /usr
for system wide installation, or $HOME/.local
for installing for your user only. Additionally you may set any Arc-theme specific build options according to your needs and preferences, with -Doption=value
command line argument.
For example, configure to install in your home directory, and to only build the Arc-Darker variant with:
meson setup --prefix=$HOME/.local -Dvariants=darker build/
The build options can later be changed with meson configure
command, e.g.
meson configure --prefix=/usr -Dvariants=light,darker build/
Build and install the theme according to your configuration by running the following:
meson install -C build/
Some themes (at least GTK 2) aren't loaded from ~/.local/share/themes/
. You can work around this e.g. by symlinking the Arc theme directories in ~/.local/share/themes/
to ~/.themes/
with following commands:
mkdir -p ~/.themes/
for d in Arc{,-Dark,-Darker,-Lighter}{,-solid}; do
[ -d ~/.local/share/themes/$d ] && ln -s ~/.local/share/themes/$d ~/.themes/;
done
The source code comes branched for different versions of GNOME Shell, and Cinnamon. Only one version of those themes will be built and installed, and using the wrong versions will likely result in visual issues.
The versions that will be built can be set manually with cinnamon_version
and gnome_shell_version
build options.
Otherwise the build system tries to determine correct versions using the following packages on the build environment:
gnome-shell
for detecting GNOME Shell versioncinnamon
for detecting Cinnamon version
Note: The build setup for Cinnamon and GNOME Shell themes will fail, if their versions can't be determined either from the build options, or from installed packages.
Arc-theme specific build options can be set or changed with meson configure -Doption=value <build_directory>
e.g.
meson configure -Dthemes=cinnamon,plank,xfwm -Dtransparency=false -Dcinnamon_version=5.0 build/
Option | Default value | Description |
---|---|---|
themes |
cinnamon,gnome-shell,gtk2,gtk3,gtk4,metacity,plank,unity,xfwm |
List of themes to build |
variants |
light,darker,dark,lighter |
List of theme variants to build |
transparency |
true |
Enable or disable transparency |
cinnamon_version |
- | Build Cinnamon theme for specific version |
gnome_shell_version |
- | Build GNOME Shell theme for specific version |
gnome_shell_gresource |
false |
Compile GNOME Shell theme into a gresource file |
Manually remove the theme directories from your install location, e.g.
rm -rf ~/.local/share/themes/Arc{,-Dark,-Darker,-Lighter}{,-solid}