Set default terminal emulator in GNOME

tomsk · 2023-06-22 13:40:45

Hello,

I cannot find it anywhere, how can I set default terminal emulator to Kitty instead of GNOME Terminal in GNOME desktop environment?

I found lot of solutions about setting gsettings but they look all deprecated.

seth · 2023-06-22 14:27:48

You don't.
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 3#p2104363

Trilby · 2023-06-22 15:36:01

Take my comment there with a grain of salt. I linked to other sources, but I don't know how reliable they are. I have no experience with gnome - and sadly neither do most gnome-users who contribute to the discussions I linked to as references. I find it very hard to believe there is no way to change the default TE in a major DE... hard, but not impossible, and if any DE were to f*** up that badly, it'd certainly be gnome, but it would surprise me even from them.

What is certainly clear is that there is no documented way of making such a change.

Last edited by Trilby (2023-06-22 15:39:15)

seth · 2023-06-22 15:47:22

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 1#p2085601

xdg-terminal-exec seems to have arrived, but I've not tested that and it's neither universal nor uncontested contested, so it'll probably be gone in no time as well.

I suspect adopting $TERMINAL would have been too easy…

espritlibre · 2023-06-22 23:02:46

gnome-terminal/3 dots menu/Prefernces/your Profile/Command/Run a custom command instead of my shell

seth · 2023-06-23 05:41:31

That allows you to by default have gnome-terminal run eg. fish while keeping bash your users login shell.
It does not change what terminal emulator actually gets used by default (gnome-terminal or gnome-console, the OP would prefer kitty)

tomsk · 2023-06-23 20:42:03

Idk what to do, so I did:

[root@tomsk-PC tomsk]# whereis gnome-terminal
gnome-terminal: /usr/bin/gnome-terminal /usr/lib/gnome-terminal /usr/share/man/man1/gnome-terminal.1.gz
[root@tomsk-PC tomsk]# whereis kitty
kitty: /usr/bin/kitty /usr/lib/kitty /usr/share/man/man1/kitty.1.gz
[root@tomsk-PC tomsk]# rm /usr/bin/gnome-terminal
[root@tomsk-PC tomsk]# ln -s /usr/bin/kitty /usr/bin/gnome-terminal

seth · 2023-06-24 06:02:53

seth wrote:

murky as hell

Then see
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/glib/-/i … te_1745989
but also the linked https://github.com/ublue-os/main/issues … 1551600704

· It's just a messy shell script, with a vastly over-complicated design.
· It was only temporarily added to GLib (see commit comment), to appease people who were annoyed that GNOME had removed the dconf flags for switching terminal. They put it at the top of the terminal binary list, which means that if it's detected on the system, it gets launched as if it's the terminal binary.
· Their plan is to remove it from GLib after they finish work on another spec called xdg-default-apps instead, since xdg-terminal-exec is an overcomplicated and hacky script.

seth wrote:

…as everything gnome

Please always remember to mark resolved threads by editing your initial posts subject - so others will know that there's no task left, but maybe a solution to find.
Thanks.

tomsk · 2023-06-24 08:26:44

So https://github.com/ublue-os/main/issues … 1551600704 this is "way" to change GNOME Terminal for anything else?

seth · 2023-06-24 12:03:16

It's a crutch on the verge of breaking soon(-ish) that will be used by glib2 code, nothing else and it will never be because it's a gnome-proprietary extension to XDG… until it gets removed.
There is (for now) no (longer a) sane way to alter the gnome default terminal emulator, just a bunch of murky hacks.

Trilby · 2023-06-24 12:08:08

seth wrote:

just a bunch of murky hacks

Fun fact, that is what the sign over the door to the office of gnome devs says.

seth · 2023-06-24 12:55:04

realmotylek · 2025-06-13 22:06:37

I did a hacky method, that at least allows you to open Kitty by clicking "Open in Console". It works, but yeah. Still not a good solution as this disables the GNOME Terminal as it won't run due to D-Bus errors.
You can check out here: https://github.com/jotkauser/gnomeconsolemock
If you even will this after entire 2 years

Arch Linux

#1 2023-06-22 13:40:45

Set default terminal emulator in GNOME

#2 2023-06-22 14:27:48

Re: Set default terminal emulator in GNOME

#3 2023-06-22 15:36:01

Re: Set default terminal emulator in GNOME

#4 2023-06-22 15:47:22

Re: Set default terminal emulator in GNOME

#5 2023-06-22 23:02:46

Re: Set default terminal emulator in GNOME

#6 2023-06-23 05:41:31

Re: Set default terminal emulator in GNOME

#7 2023-06-23 20:42:03

Re: Set default terminal emulator in GNOME

#8 2023-06-24 06:02:53

Re: Set default terminal emulator in GNOME

#9 2023-06-24 08:26:44

Re: Set default terminal emulator in GNOME

#10 2023-06-24 12:03:16

Re: Set default terminal emulator in GNOME

#11 2023-06-24 12:08:08

Re: Set default terminal emulator in GNOME

#12 2023-06-24 12:55:04

Re: Set default terminal emulator in GNOME

#13 2025-06-13 22:06:37

Re: Set default terminal emulator in GNOME

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