How to install the Xenlism icon theme on Linux
Xenlism is a custom icon theme replacement for the Linux desktop. Its design focuses on a uniform, square-like shape with neat logos in the center and has gained popularity due to its consistent design and focus on providing impressive replacement icons for a wide variety of programs on the platform.
In this post, we’ll walk you through how to install the Xenlism icon theme for Linux. We’ll also talk about how to enable the theme on various desktop environments, such as Gnome, KDE Plasma 5, Mate, etc.
Get Xenlism
The Xenlism icon theme, like most other icon replacements for Linux, is up on GitHub. The reason it’s on GitHub is that the developer feels it’s the easiest way to control the source code, and create an excellent, transparent delivery system for Linux users looking use it. However, since it’s on the GitHub website, Linux users must install the Git tool to grab the icon files.
Install Git
Installing the Git package on Linux isn’t difficult. A lot of Linux distributions include the tool by default, as their packaging system relies on Git in some way. Still, Git isn’t always installed for every Linux OS, so it’s a good idea to go over how to get it going.
To start the installation, launch a terminal window on your Linux desktop. To do this, press the Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard. Then, follow along below with the command-line instructions that correspond with the Linux operating system you are using.
Ubuntu
sudo apt install git
Debian
sudo apt-get install git
Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S git
Fedora
sudo dnf install git -y
OpenSUSE
sudo zypper install git
Generic Linux
As stated earlier, the Git package is incredibly important to many Linux operating systems and open source projects. For this reason, it shouldn’t be difficult at all to find and install the Git package by opening up your package manager, search for “git,” and install it how you usually would.
Can’t find the Git package in the sources for your Linux operating system? Head over to Pkgs.org. On their listing for Git, they outline quite a few Linux OS’s, as well as links to packages for Git. Alternatively, download the source code for the tool from the development website and compile it.
Download Xenlism
After installing the Git tool, it’s safe to download the Xenlism icon theme to your Linux desktop with the following command.
https://github.com/xenlism/wildfire.git
Let the Xenlism icon theme download to your system. When the download is done, all of the files will show up in a folder labeled “wildfire.” To take a look at the contents of this folder, use CD to move into the directory and run LS to view.
cd wildfire
ls
Install Xenlism
To set up the Xenlism icon theme on Linux, you’ll need to move the terminal into the “icons” sub-directory in the “wildfire” folder using the CD command.
cd icons
Once in the “icons” directory, run the LS command to reveal the icons included in the Xenlism icon pack.
ls
Ensure the contents of the “icons” directory on your Linux PC reflect what it looks like on GitHub. Then, follow either the system-wide instructions or single-user instructions below.
Install system-wide
Installing Xenlism system-wide is the easiest way to ensure everyone using your Linux PC has the ability to access the icon theme. To do it, use the mv command with sudo and place everything in /usr/share/icons/.
sudo mv Xenlism-* /usr/share/icons
Install for a single-user
Only want the Xenlism icon theme to be available for one user on your Linux PC? Install it as a single-user, by placing all of the files in ~/.icons in the home directory.
mkdir -p ~/.icons mv Xenlism-* ~/.icons
Activate Xenlism
Once installed, you must manually switch your default icon theme to the Xenlism icon theme. To do this, open up the system settings application on your Linux desktop environment.
Now that the setting application is open on your Linux PC, it’s time to look through the settings for the “Appearance” section and click on it with the mouse. Alternatively, if you can’t find “appearance,” look for “icons” or “themes,” or something similar.
After you’ve selected the “appearance,” “icons” or “themes” option in settings, look through for the option to modify system icons. Then, use the menu to apply the Xenlism icon theme as your default system icon theme.
Need help with setting up the Xenlism icon theme on your Linux PC? We’ve got your back! Look at the list of links below for more information on each of the popular Linux desktop environments for further guidance on how to apply icon themes.
