GNOME 50 for CentOS Stream 10

RPM packages bringing GNOME 50 to CentOS Stream 10 (EL10), hosted on COPR.

Packages are built in COPR (jreilly1821/c10s-gnome-50-fresh) targeting epel-10-x86_64. Most packages build directly from Fedora Rawhide dist-git. A small set require local spec modifications to work on EL10 — those are documented below.

Quick Install

dnf -y install dnf-plugins-core
dnf copr enable -y jreilly1821/c10s-gnome-50-fresh
dnf -y install gnome-shell gdm mutter gnome-session nautilus gnome50-el10-compat

Architecture

Fedora Rawhide dist-git  ──▶┐
                             ├──▶  COPR (epel-10-x86_64)  ──▶  repo.tunaos.org
Our GitHub repo (main)   ──▶┘

• ~50 packages pull directly from Fedora Rawhide dist-git — no local spec needed.
• 8 packages require a modified spec checked into this repo (see below).
• 1 package (gnome50-el10-compat) is EL10-specific, not in Fedora at all.

Build method per package is tracked in COPR-AUDIT.md.

Modified Specs (Diverge from Rawhide)

These packages cannot use Fedora Rawhide dist-git directly and must be built from the specs in this repository. Each entry documents exactly what was changed and why.

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glib2 — src/gnome-50/glib2/

Build method: SRPM upload Our version: 2.87.3 · Rawhide: 2.87.5

Changes from rawhide required for EL10:

• Manual meson invocation — replaced %meson / %meson_build / %meson_install macros with explicit meson setup --prefix=/usr --libdir=/usr/lib64 --buildtype=plain calls. The BuildSystem: meson macro had EL10 compatibility issues.
• Simplified BuildRequires — removed pkgconfig(gi-docgen), /usr/bin/rst2man, shared-mime-info, dbus-daemon, update-desktop-database (not available or needed on EL10 at build time). Added BuildRequires: gobject-introspection-devel in their place.
• Added %transfiletriggerin scriptlets — runs glib-compile-schemas when schemas are installed. EL10's stock %post scriptlets from mock-installed RPMs may not fire; this ensures schemas are always compiled.
• Removed Conflicts: gobject-introspection < 1.79.1 — avoids complications with EL10's stock gobject-introspection version.
• Version lag — currently at 2.87.3; rawhide is at 2.87.5. Needs rebasing.

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gdm — src/gnome-50/gdm/

Build method: SCM (just copr-scm-build src/gnome-50/gdm) Our version: 50rc · Rawhide: 50rc (same)

Changes from rawhide required for EL10:

• Added Requires: gnome50-el10-compat — pulls in the PAM fix for GDM's dynamic greeter user allocation on EL10. GDM 50 allocates greeter users (gdm-greeter-N) dynamically via systemd's Varlink userdb API. EL10's pam_unix.so calls unix_chkpwd which cannot resolve these dynamic users, returning PAM_AUTHINFO_UNAVAIL and preventing the greeter session from launching. gnome50-el10-compat overrides /etc/pam.d/systemd-user with account required pam_permit.so to work around this.

This is the only change from rawhide. All patches, build flags, and install sections are identical to Fedora's GDM spec.

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gjs — src/gnome-50/gjs/

Build method: SCM (just copr-scm-build src/gnome-50/gjs) Our version: 1.87.90 · Rawhide: 1.87.90 (same)

Changes from rawhide required for EL10:

• Tests disabled (%bcond_with tests) — rawhide unconditionally runs the gjs test suite via xwfb-run, which requires xwayland-run, dbus-x11, mesa-dri-drivers, and mutter at build time. None of these are available in the EL10 COPR buildroot. All test BuildRequires and the %meson_test call are gated behind %{with tests}, which defaults to off.
• Manual meson invocation — same pattern as glib2: explicit meson setup instead of %meson macro, for EL10 compat.

gjs-bootstrap.spec also exists in the same directory for breaking the circular dep with mutter during initial bootstrapping. just copr-scm-build automatically selects gjs.spec (non-bootstrap).

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gnome-desktop3 — src/gnome-50/gnome-desktop3/

Build method: SCM (just copr-scm-build src/gnome-50/gnome-desktop3) Our version: 44.5 · Rawhide: 44.5 (same)

Changes from rawhide required for EL10:

• Removed BuildRequires: pkgconfig(gtk+-3.0) — gtk3 is not available in EL10's COPR build environment.
• Added -Dlegacy_library=false to meson options — disables libgnome-desktop-3 (the legacy gtk3 library). Without this, the build fails trying to link against gtk3. The gtk4 library (libgnome-desktop-4) is still built normally and is what GNOME 50 packages actually use.
• Removed Requires: gnome-desktop3 from gnome-desktop4 subpackage — since the base package no longer ships a runtime library.
• Removed %files entries for libgnome-desktop-3* — not built.

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gtk4 — src/gnome-50/gtk4/

Build method: SCM (just copr-scm-build src/gnome-50/gtk4) Our version: 4.21.6-2 · Rawhide: 4.21.6 (same upstream)

Changes from rawhide required for EL10 (all gated behind %if !0%{?rhel}):

• Gated BuildRequires: pkgconfig(gstreamer-player-1.0) — gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free-devel depends on libgtk-3.so.0, which is not available in EL10.
• Added -Dmedia-gstreamer=disabled — the gstreamer media backend uses a gstreamer-full meson wrap that isn't available in the EL10 COPR buildroot. With --wrap-mode=nodownload enforced, meson would error out trying to fetch it. Gated behind %if 0%{?rhel}.
• Gated Requires: gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free-libs — runtime dep dropped on EL10 since the gstreamer backend is disabled.

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tinysparql — src/deps/tinysparql/

Build method: SCM (just copr-scm-build src/deps/tinysparql) Our version: 3.11rc · Rawhide: 3.11rc (same)

Changes from rawhide required for EL10 (all gated behind %if !0%{?rhel}):

• Gated BuildRequires: asciidoc — asciidoc requires source-highlight, which requires libboost_regex.so.1.83.0. EL10 ships boost with an ABI-incompatible version and source-highlight has not been rebuilt against it, so the dep chain is broken.
• Gated -Dman-pages meson option — man page generation requires asciidoc. On EL10 the option is set to disabled; on Fedora it uses auto.
• Gated %files entries for tinysparql*.1 man pages — not generated on EL10.

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gnome-autoar — src/deps/gnome-autoar/

Build method: SCM (just copr-scm-build src/deps/gnome-autoar) Our version: 0.4.5-4 · Rawhide: 0.4.5 (same upstream)

Changes from rawhide required for EL10:

• Added -Dgtk=false — disables the gnome-autoar-gtk widget subpackage, which requires gtk+-3.0. gtk3 is not in EL10.
• Added -Dvapi=false — disables Vala bindings (tied to the gtk widget).
• Added -Dgtk_doc=false and -Dtests=false — removes unnecessary gtk-doc and test dependencies.
• Removed BuildRequires: pkgconfig(gtk+-3.0) and vala.
• Removed %files entries for libgnome-autoar-gtk-0*, GnomeAutoarGtk-0.1.*, vala bindings, and gtk-doc.

nautilus uses gnome-autoar-0 (the core archive library), not the gtk widget. Disabling gtk has no functional impact.

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gnome50-el10-compat — src/deps/gnome50-el10-compat/

Build method: SRPM upload Not in Fedora — EL10-specific workaround package

This package ships runtime fixes required to run GNOME 50 on EL10 that do not apply to Fedora:

• /etc/pam.d/systemd-user override — replaces the account phase with account required pam_permit.so. EL10's pam_unix calls unix_chkpwd which cannot resolve GDM 50's dynamically-allocated greeter users (gdm-greeter-N), causing PAM_AUTHINFO_UNAVAIL and a broken greeter session.

• SELinux policy modules installed via semodule -X 300:

  • gdm-gnome50.pp — allows xdm_t to create/unlink sockets in systemd_userdbd_runtime_t directories, write passwd_file_t, create etc_t files. EL10's stock xdm_t policy does not permit GDM 50's Varlink userdb socket.
  • gdm-userdb-connect.pp — allows systemd_userdbd_t, chkpwd_t, and related domains to connect to xdm_t unix sockets.

Install gnome50-el10-compat whenever you install gdm. It is automatically pulled in as a dependency of the COPR-built gdm package.

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Package Source Quick Reference

# Must use local spec (SCM or SRPM upload):
glib2               → SRPM   src/gnome-50/glib2/
gdm                 → SCM    src/gnome-50/gdm/
gjs                 → SCM    src/gnome-50/gjs/
gtk4                → SCM    src/gnome-50/gtk4/
gnome-desktop3      → SCM    src/gnome-50/gnome-desktop3/
gnome-autoar        → SCM    src/deps/gnome-autoar/
tinysparql          → SCM    src/deps/tinysparql/
gnome50-el10-compat → SRPM   src/deps/gnome50-el10-compat/

# Everything else uses Fedora Rawhide dist-git directly:
mutter, gnome-shell, gtk4, libadwaita, pipewire, pango, fontconfig,
xdg-desktop-portal, xdg-desktop-portal-gnome, gobject-introspection,
gsettings-desktop-schemas, gnome-session, gnome-control-center,
gnome-settings-daemon, nautilus, meson, glycin, mozjs140, gi-docgen,
localsearch, tinysparql, libnotify, avahi, cairo, blueprint-compiler, …

Full per-package audit with exact diffs: COPR-AUDIT.md

Local Development

just copr-build <package>                      # Build from Fedora Rawhide dist-git
just copr-scm-build src/gnome-50/<package>     # Build from our modified spec
just copr-scm-build src/deps/<package>         # Build from our modified spec

just copr-status                               # Check recent build status
just copr-logs <build-id>                      # Download and view build logs

See CLAUDE.md for the full build workflow, known EL10 quirks, and debugging tips.

Known EL10 Runtime Issues

All addressed by installing gnome50-el10-compat. See workarounds/README.md for details.

Issue	Fix
SELinux: xdm_t policy blocks GDM 50's Varlink socket	Custom policy modules in gnome50-el10-compat
PAM: pam_unix can't resolve dynamic greeter users	/etc/pam.d/systemd-user override
GLib schemas not compiled after install	%transfiletriggerin in our glib2 spec
No Wayland by default	Set WaylandEnable=true in /etc/gdm/custom.conf

License

MIT