What is my current desktop environment?

Question

How can I get to know what my desktop environment is using Python? I like the result to be gnome or KDE or else.

Answer 1

I use this in one of my projects:

    def get_desktop_environment(self):
        #From http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2035657/what-is-my-current-desktop-environment
        # and http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=652320
        # and http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=652320
        # and http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1139057
        if sys.platform in ["win32", "cygwin"]:
            return "windows"
        elif sys.platform == "darwin":
            return "mac"
        else: #Most likely either a POSIX system or something not much common
            desktop_session = os.environ.get("DESKTOP_SESSION")
            if desktop_session is not None: #easier to match if we doesn't have  to deal with caracter cases
                desktop_session = desktop_session.lower()
                if desktop_session in ["gnome","unity", "cinnamon", "mate", "xfce4", "lxde", "fluxbox", 
                                       "blackbox", "openbox", "icewm", "jwm", "afterstep","trinity", "kde"]:
                    return desktop_session
                ## Special cases ##
                # Canonical sets $DESKTOP_SESSION to Lubuntu rather than LXDE if using LXDE.
                # There is no guarantee that they will not do the same with the other desktop environments.
                elif "xfce" in desktop_session or desktop_session.startswith("xubuntu"):
                    return "xfce4"
                elif desktop_session.startswith('ubuntustudio'):
                    return 'kde'
                elif desktop_session.startswith('ubuntu'):
                    return 'gnome'     
                elif desktop_session.startswith("lubuntu"):
                    return "lxde" 
                elif desktop_session.startswith("kubuntu"): 
                    return "kde" 
                elif desktop_session.startswith("razor"): # e.g. razorkwin
                    return "razor-qt"
                elif desktop_session.startswith("wmaker"): # e.g. wmaker-common
                    return "windowmaker"
            if os.environ.get('KDE_FULL_SESSION') == 'true':
                return "kde"
            elif os.environ.get('GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID'):
                if not "deprecated" in os.environ.get('GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID'):
                    return "gnome2"
            #From http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=652320
            elif self.is_running("xfce-mcs-manage"):
                return "xfce4"
            elif self.is_running("ksmserver"):
                return "kde"
        return "unknown"

    def is_running(self, process):
        #From http://www.bloggerpolis.com/2011/05/how-to-check-if-a-process-is-running-using-python/
        # and http://richarddingwall.name/2009/06/18/windows-equivalents-of-ps-and-kill-commands/
        try: #Linux/Unix
            s = subprocess.Popen(["ps", "axw"],stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
        except: #Windows
            s = subprocess.Popen(["tasklist", "/v"],stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
        for x in s.stdout:
            if re.search(process, x):
                return True
        return False

Answer 2

Tested in Ubuntu 9.10:

>>> import os
>>> os.environ.get('DESKTOP_SESSION')
'gnome'

Edit 2: As comments say, this is beginning to be even less reliable with newer GNOME versions. I'm now also running Ubuntu 18.04, and it returns 'ubuntu' instead of the prior 'gnome'.

Edit 1: As mentioned in comments below, this approach will not work for more some OSes. The other two answers provide workarounds.

Answer 3

You might try this:

def detect_desktop_environment():
    desktop_environment = 'generic'
    if os.environ.get('KDE_FULL_SESSION') == 'true':
        desktop_environment = 'kde'
    elif os.environ.get('GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID'):
        desktop_environment = 'gnome'
    else:
        try:
            info = getoutput('xprop -root _DT_SAVE_MODE')
            if ' = "xfce4"' in info:
                desktop_environment = 'xfce'
        except (OSError, RuntimeError):
            pass
    return desktop_environment

And read the discussion here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1139057

Answer 4

Sometimes people run a mix of desktop environments. Make your app desktop-agnostic using xdg-utils; that means using xdg-open to open a file or url, using xdg-user-dir DOCUMENTS to find the docs folder, xdg-email to send e-mail, and so on.