Cutefish is a new desktop environment that resembles the Mac OS UI. It was recently featured in OMG! Ubuntu!.

^{image source: The OMG! Ubuntu! article}

Cutefish OS is Debian based, so the desktop environment may be installed in Ubuntu without too much hassle.

How to install the Cutefish DE in Ubuntu, let's say in the latest Ubuntu 21.04?

1 Answer

It is still too early. Currently they do not provide any PPA. However, there is a new Ubuntu based spin-off.

Possible way to install is to use sources from or adapt ArchLinux PKGBUILD files for building CuteFish components.

Draft of the installation process ontop of Ubuntu 21.04 is shown below:

sudo apt install -y git devscripts build-essential cmake ninja-build
sudo apt install -y qtbase5-dev qtquickcontrols2-5-dev libkf5networkmanagerqt-dev modemmanager-qt-dev debhelper extra-cmake-modules libkf5kio-dev libkf5screen-dev libqt5sensors5-dev qtdeclarative5-dev qttools5-dev qttools5-dev-tools libxcb-icccm4-dev qtbase5-private-dev kwin-dev libkdecorations2-dev libqt5xdg-dev libdbusmenu-qt5-dev libxcb-ewmh-dev libicu-dev libxcb-randr0-dev libsm-dev libxcb-xfixes0-dev libxcb-damage0-dev libxcb-composite0-dev libxcb-shm0-dev libxcb-util-dev libxcb-image0-dev libxtst-dev libpulse-dev libpolkit-qt5-1-dev libpolkit-agent-1-dev libqt5x11extras5-dev qml-module-qtquick2 qml-module-qtquick-controls2 libkf5bluezqt-dev libkf5bluezqt-dev libqt5opengl5-dev libxcursor-dev
mkdir -p ~/Downloads/cutefish
cd ~/Downloads/cutefish
git clone --branch=0.2
cd libcutefish
dpkg-buildpackage -uc -us -b
cd ~/Downloads/cutefish
git clone --branch=0.3
cd fishui
dpkg-buildpackage -uc -us -b
cd ~/Downloads/cutefish
git clone --branch=0.3
cd kwin-plugins
dpkg-buildpackage -uc -us -b
cd ~/Downloads/cutefish
git clone --branch=0.3
cd launcher
dpkg-buildpackage -uc -us -b
cd ~/Downloads/cutefish
git clone --branch=0.3
cd qt-plugins
dpkg-buildpackage -uc -us -b
cd ~/Downloads/cutefish
git clone --branch=0.2
cd wallpapers
dpkg-buildpackage -uc -us -b
cd ~/Downloads/cutefish
sudo apt-get install -y ./*.deb
cd ~/Downloads/cutefish
git clone --branch=0.3
cd dock
dpkg-buildpackage -uc -us -b
cd ~/Downloads/cutefish
git clone --branch=0.3
cd filemanager
dpkg-buildpackage -uc -us -b
cd ~/Downloads/cutefish
git clone --branch=0.3
cd settings
dpkg-buildpackage -uc -us -b
cd ~/Downloads/cutefish
git clone --branch=0.3
cd statusbar
dpkg-buildpackage -uc -us -b
cd ~/Downloads/cutefish
git clone --branch=0.3
cd core
dpkg-buildpackage -uc -us -b
cd ~/Downloads/cutefish
sudo apt-get install -y ./*.deb
## no debian directory
cd ~/Downloads/cutefish
git clone --branch=0.3
cd calculator
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
sudo make install
## no debian directory
cd ~/Downloads/cutefish
git clone --branch=0.3
cd icons
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
sudo make install

Then reboot and login to Catfish Desktop

to test it

Note: I prefer to run such experiments on-top of mini.iso. So the above was tested today by getting 20.04 LTS mini.iso, upgrading it to 21.04 and then following above guide.

Non-Ubuntu method for testing CuteFish desktop environment is to download ISO from manjaro-cutefish GitHub repository.