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N00body

Member

Registered: 2021-11-23

Posts: 31

[SOLVED ] xfwm4 - unable to change theme by ediiting xfwm4.xml

I would like to change the xfwm4 theme by directly edit the "$HOME/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfwm4.xml" file by editing the line:

<property name="theme" type="string" value="Default"/>

to the one containing the name of my theme:

<property name="theme" type="string" value="Everblush-xfwm"/>

The problem is that, when I do this change, nothing happens (even if I reboot), and the Window Manager settings remains on Default instead to change to my theme:

 

What I note is: if I change the theme directly on Window Manager settings, the change will be reflected on the "xfwm4.xml" file. Why cannot it work on the contrary? Or better: why changes are not reflected on Window Manager settings when I edit directly that file? Is there a further different file to edit?

Last edited by N00body (2023-10-16 22:23:15)

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: [SOLVED ] xfwm4 - unable to change theme by ediiting xfwm4.xml

Don't edit that file directly - it is managed by xfconf. xfconfd keeps these settings in memory and writes them out regularly or on exit.

Instead, run:

xfconf-query -c xfwm4 -p /general/theme -s THEMENAME

...where THEMENAME is the name of the theme you want to use. xfconf will then tell xfwm4 to change the theme and write this to the xml file.

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N00body

Member

Registered: 2021-11-23

Posts: 31

Re: [SOLVED ] xfwm4 - unable to change theme by ediiting xfwm4.xml

I know I can use `xconf-query` command, but there is not a way to act directly on files?

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: [SOLVED ] xfwm4 - unable to change theme by ediiting xfwm4.xml

I know I can use `xconf-query` command, but there is not a way to act directly on files?

Not really, xfconf will write its memory to those files when it quits (or on regular intervals). If you do decide to directly edit those files, you need to make sure that xfconfd isn't running.

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N00body

Member

Registered: 2021-11-23

Posts: 31

Re: [SOLVED ] xfwm4 - unable to change theme by ediiting xfwm4.xml

Ok. Thank you for the explanation.