Xfce Forum

hpp3

Member

Registered: 2004-03-17

Posts: 27

Firefox doesn't set background

Xubuntu 9.10 w/Xfce 4.6.1
Firefox 3.5.7

Here's my problem:
I find a nice wallpaper image, right-click on the image and choose "set as desktop background" (yes, I know, I'm used to doing this in Windows...) and voila'... it doesn't change the background.
I found a bug report for this in Gnome from way back in Ubuntu Hardy and Gutsy (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour … bug/206191), but nothing for Xfce or Xubuntu.
Is there a fix or workaround for this?

It's okay, you can call me lazy and just set the background from the Desktop menu, but this is one of those small-but-ever-annoying issues that have bugged me ever since I started using Linux back in early 2002.

DMcCunney

Member

Registered: 2010-01-28

Posts: 21

Re: Firefox doesn't set background

It's okay, you can call me lazy and just set the background from the Desktop menu, but this is one of those small-but-ever-annoying issues that have bugged me ever since I started using Linux back in early 2002.

You're lazy.  Set the wallpaper from the Desktop menu. 

This is really a Firefox issue. 

Seriously, how does Firefox know where the image must be placed to be used by Xfce, and what it must do the tell Xfce to use it as the current wallpaper?

It's easy on Windows, as wallpaper is a BMP file in the Windows directory and the Windows version can tell Windows to use it. 

Under Linux, you may be using Gnome, KDE, Xfce, JWM, IceWM, Enlightenment or who knows what else as your windowing environment.  I think they all have different standards about where they expect to see wallpaper images and how you tell them to use them, and I don't think it's reasonable to expect Firefox to try to figure out which you are using and know what it has to do to properly configure wallpaper.

Linux allows you much more power in how to handle windowing, but with great power comes great responsibility, like doing some things yourself instead of expecting the application to know how to do it.
______
Dennis

etnlWings

Member

Registered: 2007-10-30

Posts: 218

Re: Firefox doesn't set background

I'm positive that I posted a reply to this thread earlier in the month.  :?

hpp3

Member

Registered: 2004-03-17

Posts: 27

Re: Firefox doesn't set background

Necrothread, arise!!

...
Under Linux, you may be using Gnome, KDE, Xfce, JWM, IceWM, Enlightenment or who knows what else as your windowing environment.  I think they all have different standards about where they expect to see wallpaper images and how you tell them to use them, and I don't think it's reasonable to expect Firefox to try to figure out which you are using and know what it has to do to properly configure wallpaper.
...

Exactly.  I don't know how I found it, but I found out that by default, Firefox will set the wallpaper for the root window, which is a special reserved window for X ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_window ), and Xfce (actually xfdesktop) paints wallpaper to the Desktop window, which is a special window that can contain desktop icons, and gets painted above the root window.
If you kill xfdesktop, you'll see it...

secipolla

Member

Registered: 2012-01-15

Posts: 393

Re: Firefox doesn't set background

I see that it apparently just put the image as ~/Firefox_wallpaper.png
But it depends on the display manager too. Currently I'm using LXDM and it seems it sets a root window colour by itself (even when not explicitly setting it in lxdm.conf).