Xfce Forum

speedfixer

Member

From: L A, ca, usa

Registered: 2022-05-26

Posts: 2

moving icons - again - always

I have looked as far back as 2012. Bugs about this posted then.
Still reports now.

Mine going nuts, again.

Linux xxxxx 5.4.0-110-generic #124-Ubuntu SMP Thu Apr 14 19:46:19 UTC 2022 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Description:    Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS

This is xfdesktop version 4.14.2, running on Xfce 4.14.
Built with GTK+ 3.24.13, linked with GTK+ 3.24.20.

I'm using 5.4.0-110 because nic driver Intel igc left out of last Ubuntu update - again.
Extra system icons and hidden desktop files are off
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I've been chasing this for several days - again. Typically, everything stays good for several updates, then all goes crazy.
This time, my son upgraded my video card and monitor driver. Thanks.

I have a two monitor setup.
Left, main is wide and low. Right is rotated left. This leaves a 'dead zone' geometry the at top, left above main empty.

When an auto-rearrange happens, one of two results:

1 - all auto-arranged to left/top/vertical. This means I have icons placed in the 'dead zone' at top left.

or

2 - icons at the bottom of my screen get pushed above some minimum point above the status bar. This space is about the height of the
     'dead zone.'

Of course, in 1 above, I can't touch icons off the actual screen, unless I auto arrange to bottom/left/horizontal. Then I can get to them all, do what I want.
In case 2 - I may not place any incon in that now bottom dead zone. They will only move back where they were or some 'valid' position in new scheme.

If I do any edit on the file "icons.screen.latest.rc" I can now move the icons where ever I want. (File gets locked and not released? Yeah, its just a link, I know.)

Per last related topic post in these forums: delete all icon files in ~/.config/xfce4/desktop/.

Did that. Manually rearranged. Two new icon files created.

Log out/log in: good
reboot: icons moved - shoved up above status panel away from bottom again. Can't move them back without touching the 'latest' file.

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Will this ever be fixed?
How can I save a correct icons file and have the screen repainted with it? Or how can I trigger a refresh using the icons file I want?
I tried several XFCE commands and none worked. Perhaps I am using them wrong.

Is this a result of Linux rediscovering the video card and display layout on each boot? I've had to turn that off in the past.

How discouraging to try to recommend Linux when this and the distro vs distro, and desktop vs desktop, just can't get it together?
So, let's break everything with Wayland before we get close to a consensus and start the fragmentation all over again. <rant over>

david

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If you don't try - you lose - automatically

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: moving icons - again - always

xfdesktop's icon placement routines are grid-based (not free position). The grid is determined by the calculated free desktop space (desktop resolution minus width or height of panels. If any of these change (for example the panel takes longer to load than xfdesktop, the resolution changes or the resolutions changes during startup) then the placement grid will change and the icons will be re-ordered. There is an added complication with mulit-monitor setups and determining the placement grid.

There are a number of active bug reports about this = feel free to review them. as there is some interesting information there.

To address the issue of the "dead zone" you can try arranging the icons from another corner (top right) for example via the "Icons Orientation" option.

One workaround method to retain icon positioning is to make the files immutable (not allowed to change). To do this, set up the icons in the position you want, then set the immutable flag on the ~/.config/xfce4/desktop folder:

sudo chattr -R +i ~/.config/xfce4/desktop

If the icons change position, then just run:

pkill xfdesktop

...and they should reset. I say should because an existing rc file needs to exist in that directory for the size of newly calculated placement grid.

On potential short fall of this approach is that you can't add properly add new or move icons with the immutable flag set. To do so, you need to unset the immutable flag:

sudo chattr -R -i ~/.config/xfce4/desktop

...re-configure the desktop icons and then set the flag again.

This is not an ideal approach but it is a workaround for someone that makes use of desktop icons. The only ideal approach is to re-factor the code,

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