How to set the Ttk theme

ttk-themes.md

How to set the theme of a Ttk application on Linux

Ttk applications like git-gui and gitk look ugly by default on Linux because the default Ttk tries to emulate Motif. Here is how to make them less ugly.

1. Choose a Ttk theme. A partial list is provided by the official wiki of TCL.

2. If the chosen a theme that is not built-in:

   1. If not already done, create a directory dedicated to Ttk themes. Example: mkdir ~/.local/share/tk-themes
   2. Put the theme’s directory (there should be a pkgIndex.tcl file at its root) in it. For example, if we want the Clearlooks theme, we copy the content of the themes/clearlooks directory of the “Ttk themes” project (see the link above) in ~/.local/share/tk-themes/clearlooks
   3. If not already done, add the line export TCLLIBPATH=<directory> (where <directory> is the path to the directory where you put your Ttk themes) to your ~/.profile file (or whatever the script that executes when you log in). Example: echo 'export TCLLIBPATH="${HOME}/.local/share/tk-themes"' >> ~/.profile

3. Set *TkTheme to your chosen theme in your ~/.Xresources file. Example of configuration line:

   *TkTheme: clearlooks
   

4. Restart your X session or run xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources && source ~/.profile