FAQ.md

FAQ

General

What is DistroZSH?

A lightweight, framework-free, cross-distribution ZSH configuration. It detects your Linux distribution, loads its native color palette, and provides a fast, native-feeling prompt — without Oh My Zsh, Starship, Powerlevel10k or any other framework or external prompt engine.

Is this another Oh My Zsh?

No. DistroZSH is the opposite: no framework, no plugin manager, no prompt engine. Everything is native ZSH, and the only plugins loaded are the two standalone plugins that distributions already package (zsh-autosuggestions, zsh-syntax-highlighting).

Which fonts do I need?

None beyond what you already have. The prompt uses ┌ ─ └ ◉ $ # [ ] ( ), all present in standard monospace fonts (DejaVu Sans Mono, Noto Sans Mono, JetBrains Mono, Fira Code). No Nerd Fonts.

Which shells are supported?

ZSH 5.9 or newer. The installer is written in bash for maximum portability.

Detection and themes

How does it know my distribution?

It reads /etc/os-release and uses the standard ID and ID_LIKE fields. The registry maps known IDs (and their families) to a label, a theme and a package manager. Unknown distributions fall back to the neutral generic theme.

My distribution isn't listed. What happens?

You get the generic neutral theme, and the installer asks you to install zsh and the plugins manually if the package manager is unknown. You can still use DistroZSH fully — just pick any theme you like in config.zsh.

Can I force a theme?

Yes. Set DISTROZSH_THEME=<name> in ~/.config/distrozsh/config.zsh, e.g. DISTROZSH_THEME=kali on Fedora.

Can I make my own theme?

Yes. Copy themes/_template.zsh to ~/.config/distrozsh/themes/mine.zsh, edit the seven colors, and set DISTROZSH_THEME=mine. See docs/THEMES.md.

Prompt

What does the ◉ mean?

It is DistroZSH's identity separator, rendered as ┌──(user◉distribution)-[~/Projects]. It is deliberately not Kali's ㉿ symbol — that belongs to Kali.

How do I switch layouts?

Edit DISTROZSH_LAYOUT in config.zsh (options: kali, oneline, minimal, compact), or press Ctrl+P to toggle the current layout with the one-line layout.

Why is the current directory shown in full?

DistroZSH keeps the path un-abbreviated by design so you always know exactly where you are.

Why no clock / battery / git / docker in the prompt?

DistroZSH deliberately ships no flashy widgets. It favors startup speed, readability and a native Linux feel over decoration. Keep it simple — that is the point.

Installation

Which package managers are supported?

dnf (Fedora, RHEL family), apt (Debian family), pacman (Arch family), zypper (openSUSE).

My RHEL-family distro can't find the plugins

The plugins live in EPEL. The installer enables EPEL automatically; for Oracle Linux it installs oraclelinux-release-epel. See docs/INSTALLATION.md.

My openSUSE can't find the plugins

The plugins are not in the main OSS repos; they are in the OBS shells:zsh-users project. The installer adds the correct repository automatically. See docs/INSTALLATION.md.

Will this break my existing configuration?

No. An existing ~/.zshrc is backed up, and uninstall.sh restores it. Your config.zsh is preserved across reinstalls and even saved on uninstall.

Does the installer require root?

Only for installing system packages (it uses sudo). The engine is installed into ~/.config/distrozsh/ with no root needed.

How do I uninstall?

Run ./uninstall.sh. It restores your previous ~/.zshrc and default shell, saves config.zsh, and removes the engine. It never uninstalls zsh or the plugins.

Troubleshooting

The prompt shows no colors

Make sure $TERM advertises color support (e.g. xterm-256color). Some terminal multiplexers override $TERM to a color-less value.

The theme is wrong for my distro

Run ./scripts/distro-detect.sh to see what was detected, then force a theme with DISTROZSH_THEME=<name>.

Suggestions/autosuggestions don't appear

Confirm the package is installed and that your history file has entries. zsh-autosuggestions needs the history file to have content before it can suggest anything.

Startup is slower than expected

The prompt itself is built once at load time with zero subprocesses. If startup feels slow, check for slow items elsewhere in your interactive shell (login scripts, NFS-mounted $HOME, etc.) with zsh -x tracing.