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Xfce: Difference between revisions

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[http://www.xfce.org Xfce] is a lightweight desktop environment based on GTK+. It includes a window manager, a file manager, desktop and panel.
[http://www.xfce.org Xfce] is a lightweight desktop environment based on GTK+. It includes a window manager, a file manager, desktop and panel.
This article is an extension of the documentation in the [https://nixos.org/manual/nixos/stable/#sec-xfce NixOS manual].


== Enabling ==
== Enabling ==
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       xfce.enable = true;
       xfce.enable = true;
     };
     };
    displayManager.defaultSession = "xfce";
   };
   };
  services.displayManager.defaultSession = "xfce";
   ...
   ...
}
}
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}}
}}
{{Evaluate}}
{{Evaluate}}
=== Excluding xfce applications ===
Xfce does not include as many applications by default as some other desktop environments. Still, those can be excluded as demonstrated in the example below. Place this before the <code>services.xserver</code> snippet from above.
{{file|/etc/nixos/configuration.nix|nix|
<nowiki>
{
  environment.xfce.excludePackages = with pkgs.xfce; [
    mousepad
    parole
  # ristretto
    xfce4-appfinder
  # xfce4-notifyd
    xfce4-screenshooter
  # xfce4-session
  # xfce4-settings
  # xfce4-taskmanager
  # xfce4-terminal
  ];
}
</nowiki>
}}


=== Using as a desktop manager and not a window manager ===
=== Using as a desktop manager and not a window manager ===
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       };
       };
     };
     };
    displayManager.defaultSession = "xfce";
     windowManager.i3.enable = true;
     windowManager.i3.enable = true;
   };
   };
  services.displayManager.defaultSession = "xfce";
   ...
   ...
}
}
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       };
       };
     };
     };
    displayManager.defaultSession = "xfce+xmonad";
   };
   };
  services.displayManager.defaultSession = "xfce+xmonad";
   ...
   ...
}
}
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[https://wiki.haskell.org/Xmonad/Frequently_asked_questions#Problems_with_Java_applications.2C_Applet_java_console Haskell Wiki FAQ: Problems with Java applications]
[https://wiki.haskell.org/Xmonad/Frequently_asked_questions#Problems_with_Java_applications.2C_Applet_java_console Haskell Wiki FAQ: Problems with Java applications]
== Customizing xfce declaratively ==
Xfce adheres to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedesktop.org XDG] desktop configuration, making it easy to declare user home directory configurations via [[Home Manager]]. xfce-specific configurations are stored in an [https://docs.xfce.org/xfce/xfconf/start xfconf database].
=== Defining xfconf value ===
Below assumes you have already enabled Home Manager in your NixOS configuration.
Launching <code>xfce4-settings-editor</code> you can view xfce personalizations already applied to the system. They're displayed in a tree view, but stored in a flat string format. You can query these same values from the command line with <code>xfconf-query</code> to quickly get the full key and value in a friendlier format. For instance:
{{file|||
<nowiki>
$ xfconf-query -c ristretto -lv
/window/navigationbar/position  left
/window/statusbar/show          true
/window/toolbar/show            false
</nowiki>
}}
Can be translated like so:
{{file|/etc/nixos/configuration.nix|nix|
<nowiki>
# Xfce Home Manager customizations
home-manager.users.${PRIMARY-USER} = { config, ... }: ({
  xfconf = {
    enable = true;
    settings = {
      ristretto = {
        "window/navigationbar/position" = "left";
        "window/statusbar/show" = true;
        "window/toolbar/show" = false;
      };
    };
  };
})
</nowiki>
}}
=== Using built-in wallpapers ===
Similarly, if you wish to use a built-in wallpaper declaratively you could follow this same pattern:
{{file|/etc/nixos/configuration.nix|nix|
<nowiki>
# Values based on `xfconf-query -c xfce4-desktop -lv`
home-manager.users.${PRIMARY-USER} = { config, ... }: ({
  xfconf = {
    enable = true;
    settings = {
      xfce4-desktop = {
        "backdrop/screen0/monitor0/workspace0/color-style" = 0;
        "backdrop/screen0/monitor0/workspace0/image-style" = 5;
        "backdrop/screen0/monitor0/workspace0/last-image" = "${pkgs.xfce.xfdesktop}/share/backgrounds/xfce/xfce-cp-dark.svg";
      };
    };
  };
})
</nowiki>
}}
However, the xfce settings seem to persist across system rebuilds which can lead to the wallpaper being set to a nix store that is cleaned up when older system generations are cleaned up. In other words, the wallpaper may be replaced by a blank screen upon reboot seemingly randomly. One workaround for this is to set a static directory path for the images via a symlink and using that within xfconf.
{{file|/etc/nixos/configuration.nix|nix|
<nowiki>
# ".xfce-wallpaper" directory is created below so that xfce's
# settings aren't pointed to a dynamic, moving nix store path
let background-dir = "/home/${PRIMARY-USER}/.xfce4-wallpapers";
  background-image = "${background-dir}/xfce-cp-dark.svg";
in {
  home-manager.users.${PRIMARY-USER} = { config, ... }: ({
    home.file.".xfce4-wallpapers".source = config.lib.file.mkOutOfStoreSymlink "${pkgs.xfce.xfdesktop}/share/backgrounds/xfce";
    xfconf = {
      enable = true;
      settings = {
        xfce4-desktop = {
          "backdrop/screen0/monitor0/workspace0/color-style" = 0;
          "backdrop/screen0/monitor0/workspace0/image-style" = 5;
          "backdrop/screen0/monitor0/workspace0/last-image" = background-image;
        };
      };
    };
  })
</nowiki>
}}


== Troubleshooting ==
== Troubleshooting ==
=== Pulseaudio ===
=== Pulseaudio ===
If you use pulse audio, set <code>nixpkgs.config.pulseaudio = true</code> as shown above. Otherwise, you may
If you use pulse audio, set <code>nixpkgs.config.pulseaudio = true</code> as shown above. Otherwise, you may
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[[Category:Desktop environment]]
[[Category:Desktop environment]]
[[Category:NixOS Manual]]
Retrieved from "https://wiki.nixos.org/wiki/Xfce"