amazonlinux
[Feature Request] - Desktop Graphical User Interface (GUI) options (e.g. KDE/Gnome/xfce4) + xrdp/tigervnc
What package is missing from Amazon Linux 2022? Please describe and include package name.
@kde-desktop
@gnome-desktop
Is this an update to existing package or new package request?
New request.
Is this package available in Amazon Linux 2?
No.
Number of users impacted
Unknown.
@brenthuisman this is from release notes:
The following features will be introduced to Amazon Linux 2022 before it is released for general availability.
Graphical environment (such as MATE or GNOME)
We'll get GUI, eventually!
Although the earlier tech preview release notes indicated that we'd have a GUI with GA, that's obviously not the case as we've gone to GA with no GUI. It is still planned, and will be released as part of the standard quarterly point release process, but we don't have an ETA at this time.
Closing https://github.com/amazonlinux/amazon-linux-2023/issues/324 in favor of de-duplicating with this issue. That ask included xrdp and tigervnc
Hi All, did anyone find any workaround to manually install a GUI and VNC? If anyone if wondering why you need GUI, here is my reason: We use AL2 today all accross our AWS projects, build, servers and yes workstations. While vscode ssh plugin works for most actual dev, for QA automation is where it gets tricky. You cant run headed playwright tests and it makes debugging tests hard.
Hi All, did anyone find any workaround to manually install a GUI and VNC?
FYI all the dependencies for TigerVNC, xterm, and fvwm are there. You could probably build these in COPR easily enough.
But the question I'd love to have your input on is what type of GUI environment do you need? Would the above satisfy your needs? Would any other graphical applications be satisfied by using flatpak? Or do you need a more full GNOME/KDE/XFCE environment?
Hi @stewartsmith, thanks for your reply. Really any solution that will allow me to run chrome would work. If you have any suggestions on what to try I'd be happy to. Honestly I went with the above on AL2 because it was the most documented with tutorials on how to do it.
The need is still real and every day we're reminded that the AL2 EOL is getting closer. We need viable options.
, #_
~\_ ####_ Amazon Linux 2
~~ \_#####\
~~ \###| AL2 End of Life is 2025-06-30.
~~ \#/ ___
~~ V~' '->
~~~ / A newer version of Amazon Linux is available!
~~._. _/
_/ _/ Amazon Linux 2023, GA and supported until 2028-03-15.
_/m/' https://aws.amazon.com/linux/amazon-linux-2023/
I use NICE DCV server and to migrate to AL2023 I need NICE DCV support on there. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dcv/latest/adminguide/setting-up-installing-linux-server.html
@stewartsmith MATE, GNOME, KDE, XFCE -- anything. Or, at least some indication that there will actually be something. It's been over two years with no mention, nothing added to the roadmap, nothing.
My job mandates that I use Amazon Linux as my development environment, and I depend on the graphical desktop to do my job.
@msslss-work Can't you install any distro of your choice and run al2023 within distrobox on that host? Or setup a VM with AL2023? Something like VSCode has a terminal where you can run code remotely. Not sure what your work flow is though.
Adding on here, I need some sort of GUI to connect with the IBKR gateway which we want to run on AL2023. MATE, TIGERVNC, doesn't matter, just need something for literally a single window to forward to my local machine.
Thanks, the feedback is useful. I am not yet in a position to state our position here, but we are not ignoring this.
@ozbenh Thanks for the update.
As a note: Our interim solution has been to create our own Debian-based AMIs while still utilizing DCV. This is fine solution, but we would really have preferred to use an AWS provided (AL*) distribution for the sake of consistency and compatibility with our current environment and automation.
Amazon Linux 2 EOL is June 2025 next year with a glibc of 2.26. Amazon Linux 2023 has 2.34, but there doesn't seem to be any update of a desktop gui since this request in 2021... Any updates on options would be greatly appreciated as AL2 does not have a way to safely move up the glibc without segmentation errors. https://aws.amazon.com/amazon-linux-2/faqs/ https://docs.aws.amazon.com/linux/al2023/ug/compare-with-al2.html#graphical-desktop-support https://docs.aws.amazon.com/linux/al2023/ug/compare-with-al2.html https://docs.aws.amazon.com/linux/al2023/ug/deprecated-al2.html
AL2023 already has what's needed to run GUI apps. Here's a screenshot of xterm client launched on AL2023 and displayed on a remote X server:
We just added xterm and updated our core sets of X11 libraries. We are still working through our options for the next step
@ozbenh Has there been any movement on this? My team is in the same boat as many others here; need to use Amazon Linux, but also need a GUI desktop package in some form.
This was briefly mentioned by the PM during ReInvent, we are in the process of adding packages needed for a graphical desktop. I am unfortunately not in a position to provide a precise ETA at this point but things will become fairly obvious I suppose as things get updated and added during Q1
Any updates on this? +1 to many others with the same issue here, and EoL is now just 4 months away
We expect to have a graphical desktop available as part of an upcoming release.
When is the upcoming release? Kinda desperate here since we need MATE or something like that.
https://github.com/amazonlinux/amazon-linux-2023/issues/47#issuecomment-2421589709
I have a resolution for this conflict, but while waiting for one here our project was shut down as we couldn't wait for an official release. Since this was flagged in october of last year and we're losing cloud access i'm going to see if we can post it to github or not.