Do Desktop Icons Rearrange in 4.14 and 4.16?

benali72 · 2021-02-10 19:22:42

I'm running Linux Mint 19.1 and Xfce 4.12.

Xfce arbitrarily rearranges my desktop icons whenever it feels like it.

Is this fixed in Xfce 4.14?

(If so I will update to Mint 20.1 which includes Xfce 4.14).

If not Xfce 4.14, does 4.16 fix this?

Thank you.

ToZ · 2021-02-10 23:59:05

There are a number of existing bug reports and enhancement requests around icon placement that seems to indicate the problem still exists.

I personally haven't experienced this issue since 4.12 or earlier, but admittedly, I have a simple setup (intel based laptop with just the LCD screen).

Do you have a complicated mulit-monitor setup?
Are you able to test the newer versions via a live CD?

benali72 · 2021-02-11 06:53:23

Thanks for your reply.

I was able to test Xfce 4.14 by doing an install of Linux Mint 20.1. The problem still occurs with 4.14.

I looked into manually building a 4.16, but the instructions appear a little too challenging (https://docs.xfce.org/xfce/building).

The reason I care about this is that I support some end users. This bug is a big deal to them because it's very visible. In the past, I've done the technique where you lock down a desktop by changing permissions on the Xfce desktop config file, but now some folks want to change their desktop so that's no longer feasible.

I guess I'll either have to convince my users this bug is livable, or switch to Mate. (I've always preferred Xfce because it uses so few resources and has dead simple menus that any end user can easily understand.)

Thanks again.

ToZ · 2021-02-11 12:08:58

Are all of the systems the same?
Do they have the same video card and/or same layout?
Are they mulit-monitor setups?

Can you try the following on your test system? Create a new file /usr/local/bin/xfdesktop with the following content:

#!/bin/sh
sleep 5
exec /usr/bin/xfdesktop $@

...and make the file executable:

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/xfdesktop

Then restart the computer and see if this helps with icons re-arranging.

benali72 · 2021-02-12 04:40:21

Hi ToZ,

The computers are all different older model desktop PCs, with various video cards. All have a single monitor. All run Mint 19.1 with Xfce 4.12. Their desktop icons vary a bit.

I will try your idea and get back to you after several days testing.

Thanks for the advice!

benali72 · 2021-02-15 21:01:51

@ToZ,

I updated 4 machines with your fix. Unfortunately, it didn't work. Icons have rearranged on two of the machines.

Thanks for trying, I appreciate it and your help.

benali72 · 2021-02-18 17:41:49

ToZ -- One interesting thing I notice after applying your fix.

Before the fix, when Xfce rearranged desktop icons, it always rearranged ALL of them at once. IOW, all icons that were not top-left arranged were moved.

After the fix, we've seen that a random number of icons are moved -- sometimes one, sometimes many, sometimes all. So the fix did change things, just not completely. We NEVER saw this behavior prior to your fix.

I don't know that it matters but I thought you might want to know. Thanks again for trying.

ToZ · 2021-02-18 19:05:45

Try changing the "sleep 5" command to a higher value, say "sleep 10" to see if it makes a difference.

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#1 2021-02-10 19:22:42

Do Desktop Icons Rearrange in 4.14 and 4.16?

#2 2021-02-10 23:59:05

Re: Do Desktop Icons Rearrange in 4.14 and 4.16?

#3 2021-02-11 06:53:23

Re: Do Desktop Icons Rearrange in 4.14 and 4.16?

#4 2021-02-11 12:08:58

Re: Do Desktop Icons Rearrange in 4.14 and 4.16?

#5 2021-02-12 04:40:21

Re: Do Desktop Icons Rearrange in 4.14 and 4.16?

#6 2021-02-15 21:01:51

Re: Do Desktop Icons Rearrange in 4.14 and 4.16?

#7 2021-02-18 17:41:49

Re: Do Desktop Icons Rearrange in 4.14 and 4.16?

#8 2021-02-18 19:05:45

Re: Do Desktop Icons Rearrange in 4.14 and 4.16?

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