Can we set Metacity as the default Window Manager in RHEL7?

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7(All releases)
  • Metacity
  • Mutter

Issue

  • Why Metacity(window manager) does not work in RHEL7?
  • How to replace the default window manager in RHEL7?

Resolution

Metacity was the default window manager for GNOME2 in RHEL6. This has been replaced by mutter on RHEL7 in GNOME3.
Therefore it is not possible to use Metacity as the default window manager in a GNOME3 session on RHEL7 systems.

Root Cause

  • Metacity is still provided in RHEL7 because it is required by the following programs. But, it can not be used in place of mutter on GNOME3.
      - firstboot
      - initial-setup-gui
      - subscription-manager-initial-setup-addon

Diagnostic Steps

Differences seen in the PSTREE output when metacity and mutter is used to launch GUI.

  • When X attempts to start gdm by running metacity it fails to launch the GUI successfully :
      [root@xxxxx]# pstree
        ├─gdm─┬─X───{X}
        │     ├─gdm-session-wor─┬─metacity─┬─ssh-agent
        │     │                 │          └─3*[{metacity}]
        │     │                 └─2*[{gdm-session-wor}]
        │     └─3*[{gdm}]
  • When X starts gdm and is running mutter , GUI starts successfully:
      [root@xxxxx]# pstree 
        ├─gdm─┬─X───{X}
        │     ├─gdm-session-wor─┬─gnome-session-b─┬─evolution-alarm───6*[{evolution-alarm+
        │     │                 │                 ├─gnome-shell─┬─firefox─┬─Web Content──+++
        │     │                 │                 │             │         ├─2*[Web Conten+
        │     │                 │                 │             │         ├─Web Content──+++
        │     │                 │                 │             │         └─64*[{firefox}+
        │     │                 │                 │             ├─ibus-daemon─┬─ibus-dcon+
        │     │                 │                 │             │             ├─ibus-engi+
        │     │                 │                 │             │             └─2*[{ibus-+
        │     │                 │                 │             └─13*[{gnome-shell}]
        │     │                 │                 ├─gsd-a11y-keyboa───3*[{gsd-a11y-keyboa+
        │     │                 │                 ├─gsd-a11y-settin───3*[{gsd-a11y-settin+
        │     │                 │                 ├─gsd-account───3*[{gsd-account}]
        │     │                 │                 ├─gsd-clipboard───2*[{gsd-clipboard}]
        │     │                 │                 ├─gsd-color───3*[{gsd-color}]
        │     │                 │                 ├─gsd-datetime───3*[{gsd-datetime}]
        │     │                 │                 ├─gsd-housekeepin───3*[{gsd-housekeepin+
        │     │                 │                 ├─gsd-keyboard───3*[{gsd-keyboard}]
        │     │                 │                 ├─gsd-media-keys───5*[{gsd-media-keys}]
        │     │                 │                 ├─gsd-mouse───3*[{gsd-mouse}]
        │     │                 │                 ├─gsd-power───4*[{gsd-power}]
        │     │                 │                 ├─gsd-print-notif───2*[{gsd-print-notif+
        │     │                 │                 ├─gsd-rfkill───2*[{gsd-rfkill}]
        │     │                 │                 ├─gsd-screensaver───2*[{gsd-screensaver+
        │     │                 │                 ├─gsd-sharing───3*[{gsd-sharing}]
        │     │                 │                 ├─gsd-smartcard───4*[{gsd-smartcard}]
        │     │                 │                 ├─gsd-sound───3*[{gsd-sound}]
        │     │                 │                 ├─gsd-wacom───2*[{gsd-wacom}]
        │     │                 │                 ├─gsd-xsettings───3*[{gsd-xsettings}]
        │     │                 │                 ├─nautilus-deskto───3*[{nautilus-deskto+
        │     │                 │                 ├─tracker-extract───14*[{tracker-extrac+
        │     │                 │                 ├─tracker-miner-a───3*[{tracker-miner-a+
        │     │                 │                 ├─tracker-miner-f───3*[{tracker-miner-f+
        │     │                 │                 ├─tracker-miner-u───3*[{tracker-miner-u+
        │     │                 │                 └─3*[{gnome-session-b}]
        │     │                 └─2*[{gdm-session-wor}]
        │     └─3*[{gdm}]

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