# Hello Again, OpenBSD!

In 2026, it's easier than ever to use OpenBSD as a daily-driver. It's so easy to use, an English Language graduate can install it*.

=> https://www.openbsd.org/ OpenBSD

*With the help of the handbook, anyway...

=> https://www.openbsdhandbook.com/ handbook

After playing around with the BIOS settings on my Beelink, I managed to get to the point where the OpenBSD installer finally recognised the re0 LAN interface. Installing the system is fairly easy after you've done it a countless times on virtual machines and a handful of times on bare metal.

My issue is that, every time I have set up OpenBSD for myself in the past, I never put the effort in to make it just right for my use case. Since I had a particularly bad day today, I figured I would try and brighten it by setting myself a problem-solving challenge.

The end goal was fairly simple: Install and then configure OpenBSD to boot into the xenodm(1) login manager that will, upon logging in, take you to a fully-fledged, 'modern' desktop environment. No booting into CLI, no invoking a desktop session from shell... I was aiming for a completely seamless, fairly modern desktop experience.

## Entering MATE Through xenodm(1)

After installing the base OpenBSD 7.8 system, updating the firmware and configuring things like doas(1), I decided I would get to work installing my favourite desktop environment, MATE, using the command below:

=> https://mate-desktop.org/ MATE

```
doas pkg_add mate mate-extras
```

After it had finished, I needed to ensure that the correct daemons would run on boot, since MATE requires dbus to handle things like shutting down and restarting from within the desktop environment. I think it's the same for most other DEs, come to think of it. I remember having issues with XFCE in the past because I hadn't set this up properly.

To do this, I simply ran:

```
doas rcctl enable messagebus xenodm
doas rcctl start messagebus
```

I figured I would also need to add myself to the operators group, so I could shutdown or restart without having to enter a password every time:

```
doas usermod -G operator daniel
```

This will work for you too, if your name is Daniel. If it isn't, replace daniel with your username.

I then tweaked the xenodm(1) config to point to MATE (via mate-session(1)) instead of fvwm(1). I realised there wasn't a config file out of the box, so I made one and opened it with my second-favourite terminal text editor, nano(1), in lieu of micro(1). Not because it isn't available on OpenBSD but because, in my haste, I forgot about its existence.

```
nano ~/.xsession
```

I then proceeded to add the following, which is the most vital part of this process:

```
#!/bin/sh
if [ -x /usr/local/bin/dbus-launch -a -z "$DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS" ]; then
    eval `dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-session`
fi

exec mate-session
```

The initial part of this config ensures that the session has a — get this — dbus bus. The latter part runs the MATE session itself.

Upon saving the file and exiting nano(1), I changed the permissions of the new file to ensure that it is executable.

```
chmod +x ~/.xsession
```

I then restarted the system, tapped in my disk passphrase, hit enter and waited anxiously whilst it booted in its (beautifully) tardy, SMT-less fashion.

Everything booted as normal without errors and I was immediately thrown into xenodm(1) which at this point, only musters feelings of pain due to past trauma with things not going my way and, regrettably, booting into the very antequated fvwm(1).

However, upon logging in this time, it worked!

I rejoiced as I was greeted with the pleasant green and blue hues of the MATE desktop I had pined for so desperately.

## Challenge Completed, Now What?

Since I had fairly quickly completed what I had initially set out to do, I figured I would spend some time configuring some of the more superficial aspects of the desktop to suit me. I changed the window, icon and cursor themes and even found a wonderful OpenBSD themed wallpaper by eliasgriffin on Reddit.

=> https://www.reddit.com/r/openbsd/comments/1710p9i/openbsd_wallpaper/ OpenBSD themed wallpaper

I changed the MATE Terminal colour defaults to Solarized Light, and did the same for Geany. I installed a whole host of other programs to fully flesh out my installation as a daily-driver including Atril Document Viewer, LibreOffice, feh, MPV, Chromium and Red Shift.

=> https://ethanschoonover.com/solarized/ Solarized Light

I was thinking about also installing Calibre so I can use this machine as my main library for swapping books on both my Kindle and Kobo devices. It would be cool to set up a mini web server with lighttpd as well and, since I intend to keep this machine on at least most of the time, I could host a few static webpages for fun. I mean, it is OpenBSD after all — it would be a shame not to.

— Daniel C. Bush, 8th Feb 2026 (20:25 GMT) Enquiries: daniel.c.bush@outlook.com

=> mailto:daniel.c.bush@icloud.com?subject=Re:Hello-Again-OpenBSD! daniel.c.bush@outlook.com