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Installer Branding

Overview

DisplayOS customizes the Debian Installer's appearance through three mechanisms:

  1. Custom header image — replaces the Debian logo.
  2. GTK2 theme — controls graphical installer colors.
  3. Newt palette — controls text-mode installer colors.

All branding is generated by scripts/06-installer-branding.sh.

Installer Header

Place your custom header image at assets/installer-header.png. During the build, it is copied to config/includes.installer/usr/share/graphics/logo_debian.png, replacing the default Debian logo in the installer UI.

Specifications:

  • Format: PNG (transparency supported)
  • Recommended size: match the original Debian installer header dimensions

If the file is missing, the installer falls back to the default Debian header.

Color Configuration

Edit config.env to set installer colors:

INSTALLER_PRIMARY_COLOR="#0197F6"      # Primary brand color
INSTALLER_SECONDARY_COLOR="#66C0F9"    # Secondary/accent color
INSTALLER_TEXT_COLOR="#99D5FB"          # Text on colored backgrounds
INSTALLER_BG_COLOR="#001E31"           # Dialog background

All values must be in #RRGGBB hex format (6-digit, no shorthand).

How Colors Are Used

Graphical installer (GTK2):

UI Element Color Variable
Button hover / highlight INSTALLER_PRIMARY_COLOR
Banner background INSTALLER_PRIMARY_COLOR
Progress bar fill INSTALLER_PRIMARY_COLOR
Selected items INSTALLER_PRIMARY_COLOR
Active / pressed buttons INSTALLER_SECONDARY_COLOR
Text on colored backgrounds INSTALLER_TEXT_COLOR
Dialog background INSTALLER_BG_COLOR
Button background INSTALLER_BG_COLOR

Colors are converted from hex to GTK2's 0-65535 integer RGB range using this formula:

GTK_value = hex_component * 257

For example, #0197F6 becomes R=257, G=38759, B=63222.

Text-mode installer (Newt):

The text-mode palette uses fixed terminal color names (not hex). The current palette uses a blue-and-white scheme:

Element Foreground Background
Root / border / window white blue
Title yellow blue
Buttons black cyan
Active buttons white blue
Entry fields black lightgray
List items black lightgray
Active list items black cyan
Progress bar (empty) white blue
Progress bar (full) white cyan

NOTE: The text-mode palette is currently hardcoded in scripts/06-installer-branding.sh and does not use the INSTALLER_*_COLOR variables. To customize text-mode colors, edit the palette directly in the script.

Example Color Schemes

Default (Dark Blue):

INSTALLER_PRIMARY_COLOR="#0197F6"
INSTALLER_SECONDARY_COLOR="#66C0F9"
INSTALLER_TEXT_COLOR="#99D5FB"
INSTALLER_BG_COLOR="#001E31"

Corporate Red:

INSTALLER_PRIMARY_COLOR="#DC0000"
INSTALLER_SECONDARY_COLOR="#FF4444"
INSTALLER_TEXT_COLOR="#FFFFFF"
INSTALLER_BG_COLOR="#1A0000"

Corporate Green:

INSTALLER_PRIMARY_COLOR="#10B981"
INSTALLER_SECONDARY_COLOR="#34D399"
INSTALLER_TEXT_COLOR="#FFFFFF"
INSTALLER_BG_COLOR="#001A10"

Light Theme:

INSTALLER_PRIMARY_COLOR="#3B82F6"
INSTALLER_SECONDARY_COLOR="#60A5FA"
INSTALLER_TEXT_COLOR="#FFFFFF"
INSTALLER_BG_COLOR="#F5F5F5"

Testing

Graphical Installer

Boot the ISO and select "Graphical install" from the boot menu. Verify:

  • Logo appears in the header area.
  • Banner background uses INSTALLER_PRIMARY_COLOR.
  • Buttons change color on hover.
  • Progress bars use brand colors.
  • Dialog backgrounds use INSTALLER_BG_COLOR.

Text-Mode Installer

Boot the ISO and select "Install" (text mode). Verify:

  • Dialog boxes use the configured color scheme.
  • Text is readable against the background.
  • Buttons and selections are clearly visible.

Generated Files

The branding step creates these files in config/includes.installer/:

Path Purpose
usr/share/graphics/logo_debian.png Installer header image
usr/share/themes/Clearlooks/gtk-2.0/gtkrc GTK2 theme for graphical installer
usr/lib/newt/palette Color palette for text-mode installer

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