CYANOTYPE
BLUEPRINT DESKTOP
Documentation / Install
Blueprint Desktop 1.1.0 for Linux x86_64. Cut on 31 October 2026 from tip 2c55d43c, on Debian. Motif and Xft are inside the package. The window manager itself needs libX11.so.6 and libXext.so.6 from the host. The rest of the .deb still needs the host GL, ALSA, and PAM libraries, and the X libraries those pull in.
The dependency names are the ones from the Debian system it was built on. dpkg will refuse the package until they are installed:
libasound2t64 libaudit1 libcap-ng0 libcrypt1 libglvnd0 libgl1 libglx0 libpam0g libx11-6 libxau6 libxcb1 libxdamage1 libxdmcp6 libxext6 libxfixes3 libxtst6
An older Debian that still calls the ALSA package libasound2, without the t64 suffix, will not satisfy this line. Install the names above, or use the portable archive on a machine that already has those libraries under their sonames.
From the downloads page:
SHA256SUMS lists every file on that page. Each line is the SHA-256 digest, two spaces, then the name. From the directory that holds the files you downloaded and a copy of SHA256SUMS:
grep x86_64 SHA256SUMS | sha256sum -c -
Both lines have to read OK. Do not install a file that does not match.
You have to be root.
dpkg -i cyanotype-1.1.0-linux-x86_64.deb
The package name is cyanotype. Files land in /usr/local. If dpkg stops because a dependency is missing, install that package and run dpkg -i again. Do not force it with --force-depends. A program that cannot find libGL or libasound will just fail later.
Remove it later with:
dpkg -r cyanotype
Same desktop, no dpkg. Make a work directory first. The archive unpacks its install files into the current directory.
mkdir cyanotype-1.1.0 cd cyanotype-1.1.0 tar -xzf ../cyanotype-1.1.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
You get cyanotype.install, cyanotype.license, cyanotype.readme, cyanotype.remove, cyanotype.ss, and cyanotype.sw. As root:
./cyanotype.install
It prints the copyright, asks if you want to continue, and installs into /usr/local. ./cyanotype.install now accepts the license without the prompts. The portable install does not ask dpkg about the dependency names above. The libraries still have to be on the machine or the programs will not start.
From that same directory, as root, ./cyanotype.remove takes this install back off.
CyLogin, the graphical login, is in the package and is not turned on. Leave it off if gdm, lightdm, or whatever you already use owns the console. This install does not replace that.
If you mean to switch the console login, set this in the environment of the install command:
CYANOTYPE_EPM_ENABLE_CYLOGIN=yes dpkg -i cyanotype-1.1.0-linux-x86_64.deb
The same variable works in front of ./cyanotype.install now. Or later, as root:
/usr/local/bin/cylogin-enable
On a PAM build the service name is cylogin. A sample is shipped at /usr/local/share/cylogin/pam.d-cylogin. Read Setting Up CyLogin before you enable it. Missing /etc/pam.d/cylogin fails closed. CyLogin is a replacement for the console login, not a menu inside the desk.
The session command is /usr/local/bin/startcyanotype.sh. It starts the window manager and the rest of the desk, and it waits on the window manager. When the window manager exits, the session ends. The first run creates ~/.cyanotype for that account.
Run it as the X session, not from a terminal inside another window manager. If you start X yourself:
xinit /usr/local/bin/startcyanotype.sh
If a display manager logs you in, put this in the session file it runs:
exec /usr/local/bin/startcyanotype.sh
cyhelp is in /usr/local/bin. The books on this site are the same text.
After you have replaced binaries in a desk that is already up, startcyanotype.sh --restart reloads the desk and does not kill the window manager.
Programs you want started with the desk, and only on a cold start, go in ~/.cyanotype/startup/ as executable files. They run in name order after the desk is up. --restart does not run them again.
Cyanotype Project. Blueprint Desktop. BSD 2-clause.
Not affiliated with Silicon Graphics. SGI, IRIX, and Indigo Magic
belong to their owners. 1.0 is aimed at 31 October 2026.