Xfce Forum

etr

Member

Registered: 2020-03-01

Posts: 19

Custom derived icon theme's icons not detected/used by window manager.

I made a test theme based on default Numix theme in MX Linux, and changed the folders to blue. Problem is that while some things in XFCE recognize and use the new theme's icons, other parts do not. For example Thunar works as expected with the new theme loaded, while the xfce4 panel's window buttons plugin, and the window manager itself, do not reflect the existing icons of the active theme.

index.theme:
https://pastebin.com/e57dhpuj

screenshot:
https://ibb.co/r3pHjvM

As can be seen, Thunar shows the blue icons of the active theme, while the window (manager) and panel window buttons do not (they show the orange icons of the inherited theme). I have logged in and out and also restarted xfwm4 (--replace), but nothing. And the theme has no cache in ~/.cache/xfce4.

I'd appreciate any help.

Last edited by etr (2020-03-01 20:20:30)

Aravisian

Member

Registered: 2019-08-17

Posts: 410

Re: Custom derived icon theme's icons not detected/used by window manager.

Try checking your .svg Symbolic /places icons and see if that resolves it for you.
You can install inkscape with sudo apt install and then open your .png file using Inkscape, click the image object within Inkscape, then click the Padlock icon mid-right of the toolbar to ensure the resize applies in both directions. Then resize it to 16px or whatever you have in your symbolic icons folder. Open the .svg icon you wish to replace in inkscape and click that image object within inkscape and select Cut on the right side toolbar. In the other Inkscpae window, select copy on the right side toolbar (making sure the object is still selected) then paste in the other right side toolbar (OR click edit- paste in place).
Then save.

Last edited by Aravisian (2020-03-01 15:30:55)

etr

Member

Registered: 2020-03-01

Posts: 19

Re: Custom derived icon theme's icons not detected/used by window manager.

Hi Aravisian, thanks for the reply.

I do not have any symbolic folder, since the numix theme that my "theme" inherits doesn't have that.

*EDIT*

The original numix theme has only 18 *-symbolic icons, and only in scalable/places, of which one is a 'folder-symbolic.svg'. That one is, along with the other 17, gray (not orange). Also, the Icons are all svg, as that is what numix icons all are.

Last edited by etr (2020-03-01 19:32:55)

Aravisian

Member

Registered: 2019-08-17

Posts: 410

Re: Custom derived icon theme's icons not detected/used by window manager.

Hi Aravisian, thanks for the reply.

I do not have any symbolic folder, since the numix theme that my "theme" inherits doesn't have that.

*EDIT*

The original numix theme has only 18 *-symbolic icons, and only in scalable/places, of which one is a 'folder-symbolic.svg'. That one is, along with the other 17, gray (not orange). Also, the Icons are all svg, as that is what numix icons all are.

Ok, the icon theme is probably formatted for gtk2, and is lacking the layout to be properly utilized for gtk3.
It's a bit of elbow grease; but completely within your ability to get it up to speed.
There are Many Ways you can go about doing it, really.  Let's grab an option and try that out; if you would like.
Open your file manager with Root privileges and navigate to /usr/share/icons
You should see Gnome Icons. Copy that folder down into one of your home folders: Templates; Downloads, Documents- anywhere you trust to work on it. You need to stick it in a garage, basically.
Then change permissions/ownership of the entire folder recursively to your user account.
Now, back in as normal user in your file manager, you can follow it as a Template, replacing the icons you wish to change. Be sure to adjust your theme.index file to reflect any changes that you make.

etr

Member

Registered: 2020-03-01

Posts: 19

Re: Custom derived icon theme's icons not detected/used by window manager.

Open your file manager with Root privileges and navigate to /usr/share/icons
You should see Gnome Icons. Copy that folder down into one of your home folders: Templates; Downloads, Documents- anywhere you trust to work on it. You need to stick it in a garage, basically.
Then change permissions/ownership of the entire folder recursively to your user account.

Like in Windows I can obviously copy the folder in thunar with (normal) user credentials and the copied folder and content will recursively get my id and group as owners. I'm just trying to understand if there is a reason why I'd better copy from a root instance of thunar instead of a user instance.

Now, back in as normal user in your file manager, you can follow it as a Template, replacing the icons you wish to change. Be sure to adjust your theme.index file to reflect any changes that you make.

I thought about making a complete copy of the theme instead of inheriting it. I guess I shall just do that now.

Last edited by etr (2020-03-02 11:56:22)

Aravisian

Member

Registered: 2019-08-17

Posts: 410

Re: Custom derived icon theme's icons not detected/used by window manager.

Like in Windows I can obviously copy the folder in thunar with (normal) user credentials and the copied folder and content will recursively get my id and group as owners.

Sometimes, yes, but I have had it not do that, too. So I prefer to do it the way I stated and prevent people coming back and saying "something's not working, it won't let me read/write..."

I'm just trying to understand if there is a reason why I'd better copy from a root instance of thunar instead of a user instance.

The fact that that is where the files are located.

I thought about making a complete copy of the theme instead of inheriting it. I guess I shall just do that now.

Yeah, that will work, too.

Last edited by Aravisian (2020-03-02 12:08:23)

etr

Member

Registered: 2020-03-01

Posts: 19

Re: Custom derived icon theme's icons not detected/used by window manager.

It seems xfwm4 looks for "inode-directory.(png|svg|...)", instead of "folder.(png|svg|...)". Makes no sense to me though, especially when xfwm belongs to the same desktop as Thunar. What's with the inconsistency ?

*edit*

Now I'm getting confused, why would xfwm (which only shows/hides/resizes/repositions and decorates windows, look for icons of thunar's $PWD (even if thunar would literally CD into the directory it is currenly showing (not sure whether it does or not)) ?
Isn't it thunar itself, or gtk, or some other library involved that is to blame ?

Last edited by etr (2020-03-02 16:40:47)