How to have same config for the panel with and without XFCE session?

appius · 2026-05-06 08:14:06

I'm using XFCE 4.18 with two sessions - fully fledged XFCE4 itself and minimal OpenBox session with XFCE panel only. I want both sessions to have a panel set with the same configuration. I see that the panel is picking up different configurations in one session and another.

I know about
~/.config/xfce4/panel/
~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-panel.xml

In the XFCE session, the configurations are picked up by the panel.

But in OpenBox, the panel is picking up some other configuration. The panel is launched simply by "xfce4-panel". I suppose XFCE has a kind of configuration provisioner, which is absent in the OB session, leading to the panel picking up another configuration from somewhere else.

How does it work? Where is it described how the panel works with the configurations location selection under different conditions?

Last edited by appius (2026-05-06 08:33:00)

ToZ · 2026-05-06 22:55:54

Hello and welcome.

I'm using XFCE 4.18 with two sessions - fully fledged XFCE4 itself and minimal OpenBox session with XFCE panel only.

Can we confirm that this is with the same user account?
How do you select which session to use?

But in OpenBox, the panel is picking up some other configuration. The panel is launched simply by "xfce4-panel". I suppose XFCE has a kind of configuration provisioner, which is absent in the OB session, leading to the panel picking up another configuration from somewhere else.

xfconfd must be running to retrieve those settings. Can you check if it is? If not, start it first before xfce4-panel.
Also, your ~/.xsession-errors file might show what's happening when the openbox session is running.

appius · 2026-05-09 18:30:13

Thanks for pointing the direction!

ToZ wrote:

Can we confirm that this is with the same user account?
How do you select which session to use?

Both sessions are for the same account.

XFCE session is launched by Lightdm in Mint XFCE edition distro. In session selection menu "Xfce session (default)" is selected. Lightdm triggers it's own Lightdm session start script with it's own nuances. But as far as it works for rest of the world, the nuances may be not a reason. However, I had to fix manually "has_option: command not found" (URL, it was found while reading of ~/.xsession-errors).

OpenBox session is launched by xrdp/xrdp-session scripts cascade, from ~/.xinitrc, as simple "exec ssh-agent dbus-launch openbox-session". "xfconfd" is not running. "xfce4-panel" is launched simply from terminal (due to my solution simply is not finished as a whole) after a login.

xfconfd must be running to retrieve those settings. Can you check if it is? If not, start it first before xfce4-panel.

Tried to launch "xfsettingsd --replace --no-daemon" as of URL. And after it tried to launch "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/xfce4/xfconf/xfconfd" too.

I see strange phenomenon. When I'm launching Xfce panel in the OpenBox session (after "xfsettingsd" started, and also when "xfsettingsd"+"xfconfd" are launched), the panel is loosing Clock, Windows buttons widget and few more widgets. However, system tray and few launchers (not all) are kept. Same observation is without "xfsettingsd". Subsequent play with "xfce4-panel-profiles" revealed, that Xfce panel will start to work correctly and the XML file on the storage will be with the expected content after a 10+ minutes after an experiments.

Then, when trying to use "xfce4-panel-profiles" in Xfce session, for a while it is not recovering two launchers at the panel. After a while starts to work as expected well.

Sounds like my misunderstanding or a kind of a race condition.

At least, as of my understanding: yes, I did not use certain Xfce parts, which are crucial for the panel (and, probably, for the panel's components). Which is a point for further set up by me.

Last edited by appius (2026-05-09 18:37:19)

ToZ · 2026-05-09 18:49:56

If openbox session is being launched via xrdp, is it the case that both the xfce and openbox sessions are running simultaneously for the given user?

Can you post your ~/.xsession-errors when running openbox and after the xfce4-panel issues have resolved?

A race condition is possible.

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#1 2026-05-06 08:14:06

How to have same config for the panel with and without XFCE session?

#2 2026-05-06 22:55:54

Re: How to have same config for the panel with and without XFCE session?

#3 2026-05-09 18:30:13

Re: How to have same config for the panel with and without XFCE session?

#4 2026-05-09 18:49:56

Re: How to have same config for the panel with and without XFCE session?

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