How To Install The Ant GTK Theme On Linux
Looking for a theme that’s flat, but a little different? The Ant GTK theme may be up your alley. It’s a modern theme that doesn’t go the tiring route of “material design”. Instead, Ant goes with a different, more Apple-like setup.
Aside from the design, one of the best things about the Ant GTK theme is how many desktop environments support it. In fact, you’ll have trouble finding a Linux setup that it doesn’t look good on!
Pre-requisites
Installing the Ant GTK theme is done directly through Github, so installing the git package is required. In addition, there are a few dependencies that need installing. To get these packages working, open up a terminal and enter the commands that correspond to your Linux operating system.
Ubuntu
sudo apt install git gtk2-engines-murrine gtk2-engines-pixbuf
Debian
sudo apt-get install git gtk2-engines-murrine gtk2-engines-pixbuf
Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S git gtk-engine-murrine gtk-engines
Fedora
sudo dnf install git gtk-murrine-engine gtk2-engines
OpenSUSE
sudo zypper install git gtk-murrine-engine gtk2-engines
Generic Linux
The Ant GTK theme requires dependencies to run. If you’re on an obscure Linux distribution and don’t know what to install, don’t panic. Look through the package manager for the following things and install them to the system.
- gtk2-engines-murrine or gtk-murrine-engine
- gtk2-engines-pixbuf or gtk-engines or gtk2-engines
- git
Install Ant GTK
Ant is unique in that the developer doesn’t require users of the theme to build a theme from source. Instead, everything is pre-built and up on Github. To start the installation, open up a terminal and gain a root shell with su or sudo. Then use the CD command to move from the home folder to /usr/share/themes/.
su -
or
sudo -s cd /usr/share/themes
At this point, it’s safe to grab the Ant GTK theme directly from Github. In the terminal, run the git clone command.
git clone https://github.com/EliverLara/Ant.git
Running the clone command directly in the themes directory will install Ant. No further action is required!
Single User
For most users, installing themes system-wide is a good idea, especially if multiple users want access to it. However, if there is no need for multiple users to access Ant, installing the theme for a single user is a good idea.
To install the Ant GTK theme for a single user, open up a terminal and make a ~/.themes folder in the home directory. Then, use the CD command to move the terminal into themes.
mkdir -p ~/.themes cd ~/.themes
Install Ant by running a git clone command.
git clone https://github.com/EliverLara/Ant.git
When the clone command finishes running, Ant will be ready to use on your system.
Icon Themes
Unfortunately, the Ant GTK theme doesn’t come with an icon theme. If you want it to look it’s best, installing a fitting set of icons is a must
According to the developer, the icon theme that goes the best with Ant is the Boston icon theme. It’s a flat, unique theme that really fits Ant’s athletic.
To start the installation, grab the latest version of it from DeviantArt. Then, open up a terminal and follow the instructions below.
Install System-wide
Installing the Boston icon theme system-wide starts out by gaining a root shell in the terminal. Going this route, rather than using sudo will make moving files around much quicker.
Gain a root shell by using su or sudo -s.
su –
or
sudo -s
With the root terminal, cd into your user’s ~/Downloads folder. Then, run the unzip command to extract the contents of the Boston icons archive.
cd /home/username/Downloads unzip boston_icons_by_diazchris-d98nrpv.zip
When the icon archive file is completely extracted, use the mv command to move the icons from the ~/Downloads folder to /usr/share/icons.
mv Boston /usr/share/icons
Single User
Installing the Boston icon theme for a single user is a good idea if you don’t care much about sharing these icons with other users on the system. To do it, cd into the ~/Downloads folder and unzip the archive.
cd ~/Downloads unzip boston_icons_by_diazchris-d98nrpv.zip
Now that the archive is extracted, create a new ~/.icons folder using the mkdir command.
mkdir -p ~/.icons
Use the mv command and place the Boston icon theme inside of the newly created folder.
mv Boston ~/.icons
Activate Ant GTK Theme
Need help activating the Ant GTK theme? Navigate to the settings area of your Linux desktop and look for the “appearance” settings. From there, find “themes”, and select “Ant” to enable it.
Otherwise, choose the link your desktop environment below for an in-depth walkthrough on how to enable Ant and Boston!
