Xfce Forum

peterries

Member

Registered: 2020-01-15

Posts: 4

How to use self compiled xfwm4 4.14 on Xubuntu 18.04 with 4.12

Hi,

as I suppose my feature request https://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16354 won't be considered too soon I wanted to try it on my own (first time ever) to get my coloured shadow around windows. I find it hard to disinguish the active window from inactive ones lying behind the active with some very dark themes as "Plata Noir" e. g.

What I did up to now:

* pulled the sources from xfwm4 4.14 as i could not compile 4.12 due to some dependencies and wrong versions
* successfully compiled (autogen / make / make install) to a separate destination (~/mycompiledxfwm4)
* have compiled files/libs/themes/... in the destination directory

What I don't know:
* how can I activate / test / use / install it so I can see if it is working (create a deb package from ~/mycompiledxfwm4?)
* revert to xfce's original xfwm4

Or is this not possible due to dependencies to other xfce components?

(I try all of this in a VM)

Thanks for hints/feedback

BR
Peter

alcornoqui

Member

Registered: 2014-07-28

Posts: 832

Re: How to use self compiled xfwm4 4.14 on Xubuntu 18.04 with 4.12

Are you following these instructions?

Last edited by alcornoqui (2020-01-15 15:40:37)

peterries

Member

Registered: 2020-01-15

Posts: 4

Re: How to use self compiled xfwm4 4.14 on Xubuntu 18.04 with 4.12

Yes I followed them. I can build binaries but now I don't know how to "use" them without breaking something. I used a $PREFIX in my homedirectory - files are there. If I don't use a $PREFIX I suppose make install will overwrite my xfwm4 instalation from Xubuntu 18.04 and I don't know how to revert this if "my" version doesn't work.

alcornoqui

Member

Registered: 2014-07-28

Posts: 832

Re: How to use self compiled xfwm4 4.14 on Xubuntu 18.04 with 4.12

I found this instructions in other thread, I think they'll work with minor adaptations.

If you need to undo these changes and revert back to the version from the repositories, first (from the xfce4-sensors-plugin build directory) run:

sudo make uninstall

...then reinstall the package:

sudo apt-get install xfce4-sensors-plugin

More details in the link above.

Welcome to the forum!

Last edited by alcornoqui (2020-01-15 17:35:27)

MrEen

Member

Registered: 2019-04-19

Posts: 295

Re: How to use self compiled xfwm4 4.14 on Xubuntu 18.04 with 4.12

I found this instructions in other thread, I think they'll work with minor adaptations.

Just a heads up. You pasted the same link as earlier. I think you meant to paste a different link.

alcornoqui

Member

Registered: 2014-07-28

Posts: 832

Re: How to use self compiled xfwm4 4.14 on Xubuntu 18.04 with 4.12

Thanks! I've edited the post and the link is now correct.

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: How to use self compiled xfwm4 4.14 on Xubuntu 18.04 with 4.12

I'm not sure that building the newer git version of xfwm4 in a 4.12 environment is a good idea - you may run into library compatibility issues and need to build more components. If you do want to deal with the more recent versions of Xfce, it might be a good idea to install a more recent distro version (debian sid?) into a VM and then build xfwm 4.14 packages there.

You can follow these debian-specific instructions to create a patched version of the current package for the version you currently have installed.

---

Please remember to mark your thread [SOLVED] to make it easier for others to find
--- How To Ask For Help | FAQ | Developer Wiki  |  Community | Contribute ---

peterries

Member

Registered: 2020-01-15

Posts: 4

Re: How to use self compiled xfwm4 4.14 on Xubuntu 18.04 with 4.12

Hi & thanks to all,

I yesterday managed to compile my own xfwm4 version with a blue colored shadow. The hardest part was to find the missing packages when launching ./autogen.sh... In the end "sudo make install" created binaries and files in /usr/local... which is before /usr... in path so I can easily revert to original xfcw4.

(I tried it on my "spare-laptop" with xubuntu 19.04 and xfce 4.14)

/Peter

Last edited by peterries (2020-01-16 08:12:39)

Clio

Member

Registered: 2011-01-25

Posts: 102

Re: How to use self compiled xfwm4 4.14 on Xubuntu 18.04 with 4.12

@peterries
'make install' is not a good idea, because the installation is not done by the package manager. Better is the package checkinstall, so your own packages will show up there and can be removed cleanly.
The commands are:
./autogen.sh
make
checkinstall

peterries

Member

Registered: 2020-01-15

Posts: 4

Re: How to use self compiled xfwm4 4.14 on Xubuntu 18.04 with 4.12

@peterries
'make install' is not a good idea, because the installation is not done by the package manager. Better is the package checkinstall, so your own packages will show up there and can be removed cleanly.
The commands are:
./autogen.sh
make
checkinstall

thanks for the hint... the missing link for a proper build/install