What is my current desktop environment?

Question

How can I get to know what my desktop environment is using Python? I like the result to be gnome or KDE or else.

Answer 1

You might try this:

def detect_desktop_environment():
    desktop_environment = 'generic'
    if os.environ.get('KDE_FULL_SESSION') == 'true':
        desktop_environment = 'kde'
    elif os.environ.get('GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID'):
        desktop_environment = 'gnome'
    else:
        try:
            info = getoutput('xprop -root _DT_SAVE_MODE')
            if ' = "xfce4"' in info:
                desktop_environment = 'xfce'
        except (OSError, RuntimeError):
            pass
    return desktop_environment

And read the discussion here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1139057