This is a fairly complete set of icons for Gnome, KDE Plasma, XFCE, Mate and LXQT (including actions, apps, categories, devices, emblems, emotes, mimetypes, places and status), based on the icons and artwork by Paul Davey (Mattahan) (http://www.mattahan.com/). Some of them come from OxayotlTheGreat and his great job with his own remix, Buuf https://www.gnome-look.org/p/1012512)
With this theme I have "removed" as many symbolic icons as possible (that means linking the symbolic icon to the original icon). This is not always possible, especially for certain Gnome icons, because Gnome applies image effects to some icons, which make them look really bad if they are not real vector symbolic icons. Plasma also does this in some places, but it does not look bad (that is, filters are applied correctly).
This theme looks good both on light and dark themes.
Installation
There are two options:
To make this theme available for every user (including root, useful when you run apps with root privileges such as packet manager), copy this directory to `/usr/share/icons` (you'll need super-user rights).
If you just need to make it available for your user, you may copy it to `~/.icons` (`~` stands for your home directory, in case you don't know the basics of GNU/Linux shell)
But there is a better option, I think:
- clone the repo (git clone https://git.disroot.org/eudaimon/buuf-nestort.git) in a directory of your choice (such as ~/Themes/icon_sets). It will create a new directory called buuf-nestort with the theme inside.
- create a symbolic link to this new directory either in ~/.icons (just for you user) or /usr/share/icons (for everyone).
- Each time you want to update the theme, just go to its directory (~/Themes/icon_sets/buuf-nestort following the example) and perform an update with the command "git pull"
Customization
This theme includes many distributor logos. By default, `places/distributor-logo.png` links to `start-here.png`, which also links to `start-here-agnostic.png`, which looks like a drawer with lots of stuff inside. You may change this symbolic link to whichever icon you fancy more, using these commands (supposing you are in the places directory):
rm start-here.png
ln -s icon_you_d_like_as_start_button.png start-here.png
You need to do it before installing the theme (or, if you have already installed it, then operate on the directory where you installed it, bearing in mind that if you installed it in `/usr/share/icons`, you need root privileges).
I'd love to receive constructive feedback, for example to know which icons you miss more. I also try to keep up with the changes these desktops introduce through time.
I've decided to add an option to donate money: If I had enough time and income, I'd definitely dedicate much more time to this activity, which I enjoy very much. Thank you! https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=9LW4UGMXG6CQW
Ratings & Comments
115 Comments
10 Bellissime sul mio xfce :)
Once more into the breach my friend...any possibility of a new icon for the Heroic Games Launcher? Currently it's a ghastly drawn cyan shield and sword and I really can't find anything in the set that comes close.
Hi, Icon added! Please tell me if it works. I don't have the app installed. Bear in mind that if you are using the flatpak version, it's not strightforward to make them use your icon theme.
Holy cow it's perfect! Thank you so much.
And thank you too for your generosity! ^_^
You're very welcome. I don't have an artistic bone in my body but I appreciate those that do.
10 Amazing Icons! Always enjoyed the Buuf style and these capture it perfectly. Thank you!
10 That is my favorit Icon Theme. Thank you :)
Hello again, I've noticed that some Flatpaks (Blender and Extension Manager to name two) don't point to their new icons even though they exist and I need to change the .desktop file to use the correct one. Also with Ubuntu 24.04 copying to ~/.icons no longer works, they have to be in /usr/share/icons and have the folder permissions changed (sudo chmod 755 -R /usr/share/icons/buuf-nestort) in order for gnome-tweaks to see them. I haven't test the git clone method though. Excellent work my friend.
Hi, and thanks! Sorry for the delay in the response... Did you try putting them (or linking them) in ~/.local/share/icons ? I think some desktops are using this location for locally installed themes, instead of the ~/.icons one. Flatpaks are more difficult to make them respect custom themes or icons. By default they don't follow them. This article explains how to do it: https://itsfoss.com/flatpak-app-apply-theme/ I hope it works for you!
That worked! Once again thank you for all the effort you put into this stunning icon set.
Hi, I like the comical icons, but I don't like the theme changing some classical icons like Firefox and Steam. I usually have the icons as launchers on my XFCE panel. I can manually change Firefox icon in the launcher, but the app icon of the open window in the panel still shows the Buuf fox icon. It also changes my Steam app icon, but I can manually change it back. Is there any way of Buuf not changing the Firefox icon? Or the only way is to change manually? How do I change the Firefox icon of an opened window in the panel?
Hi amgh! To prevent my theme (or any other one) from using an icon, I can only see two ways: the easy one: remove the "offending" icon from the theme. This can be harmless, unless other icons are symlinked to the one you want to remove. In the case of Steam or Firefox, I don't recall there being any icons other than the own applications (and some name variants). So I'd say it is safe to remove them. They're in the `apps` folder (case-insensitive names: firefox*, org.mozilla.firefox*, steam*, com.valvesoftware.Steam* and that's it, I'd say). The other way that might work is to create an alternative .desktop file: copy the app's .desktop file to your local directory (for example: `cp /usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/` and then edit that file (which takes precedence over the one in /usr/share/applications) and tell it use another icon (you can explicit the path to the icon, instead of using a generic icon name (with a generic name, the icon is taken from current theme)). Firefox installs its original icons in the `/usr/share/icons/hicolor` folder (you can check in your distro's package manager which files does the firefox app install, and select any version (I'd use the scalable version)).
Thank you for the detailed reply. I replaced the main firefox and steam icons in the downloaded buuf's folder with the official icons. All the sub-links now seem to point back to the replaced official icons. Now everything is okay. Hopefully what I did won't cause problems.
One thing to bear in mind: deleting the icon might not always be the best way: if you are using a theme which updates itself (because you've installed it as a package, for example), when it is updated the icon will probably be restored. I'd only use this method if you don't intend to update the icon theme (which I don't think it is a good idea: icon themes should get regularly updated with new icons, or icon name changes!).
10 Holy cow this completely changed my Zorin 17 Gnome desktop. Incredible work my friend. If you find the time icons for corectrl (AMD video control, looks like a computer chip) and Psensor (thermometer) would be awesome.
Hi, thanks! :) I've added them, please tell me if they work correctly!
They work perfectly. Yay! no more manually changing icons
9 I really don't like it, but credit must be given where ccedit is due. Lots of work and uh... imagination ? :P
10 My new favorite icon theme! Feedback for missing icons would be for LibreWolf and the Mullvad browser.
Added! Please tell me if they don't work. And thanks ! :)
Thanks for the christmas gift, they work just fine! 👍👍
9 Cool and original
10 Hey, just made an update to my version, if you want to reuse some of it you can find the commit here :) : https://github.com/oxayotl/buuf-icon-theme/commit/90e5a4ea880356c3c164e03b148ca8e0507acd9a