Xfce4 on TC 2.1

[bmarkus]

I got Xfce 4.6.1 up and running on TC 2.1 compiled from source:



It is in test phase, but works fine. All of the basic applications are ready (ristretto, Thunar, mousepad, Terminal, orega, ...)

For info on Xfce visit:

www.xfce.org

[curaga]

Any menu functionality yet?
Total size?

Give us some details

[bmarkus]

Size of the components:

1 661 485   Terminal.tce
7 613 138   Thunar.tce
  179 384   exo.tcel
   26 047   libxfce4menu.tcel
   22 703   libxfce4util.tcel
  122 757   libxfcegui.tcel
   79 295   mousepad.tce
1 675 348   orage.tce
   82 672   ristretto.tce
  283 163   xfce-utils.tce
   36 909   xfce4-appfinder.tce
  444 415   xfce4-panel.tce
  991 126   xfce4-session.tce
  207 930   xfce4-settings.tce
  122 160   xfconf.tce
3 145 574   xfdesktop.tce
1 182 363   xfdwm4.tce
  431 108   xfwm4-themes.tce

18 307 577   Total

Xfce4 itself is small. What is big is Thunar, Terminal and orage applications.

Plus dependencies, the usual GTK2 and cca. 0.5 MByte of new dependencies currently not in the repository.

Xfce4 is freedesktop.org spec compatible; menu definitions created during compilation, usually coming with the application can be used if not stripped. Automatic conversion of JWM menu items can be done, but not too much sense due to lack of icons (it is only for WBAR) and missing categories.

[bmarkus]

BTW these are the original unstripped sizes including locales.

[bmarkus]

I just submitted a complete working Xfce 4.6.1 set of extensions for public testing, it will appear soon in the repository, tested on 2.1 and 2.2rc1

Package contains core elements plus Thunar (file manager) and mousepad (text editor). All other applications and plugins will be submitted later separately.

Size is much smaller than indicated in the first post. While it works fine on my machine, there are some minor issues:

• Xfce4's exit/reboot doesn't work. It is a known issue, will be fixed later. Use TC's exit, see icon on the desktop.
• Some issues with wbar background and functionality. You can get rid of wbar using noicons boot option or kill with a script autostarted by Xfce4
• Current version need icons from the kde package and its dependencies wich contains many unnecessary (for Xfce4) elements. It is a temporary fix as gnome-icon-theme is missing some icons. If you know a nice looking and complete Xfce icon set, let me know.

All changes, configuration settings, desktop items including trash are stored in the home directory, so you can save and restore on the usual way.

When Xfce4 first started or norestore option used, will create default settings in the home directory.

When installed on a stock system, will start automatically. May conflict with other optional windows managers; JWM build into TC is OK.


Install Xfce4.tce or Xfce4.tcz It is expected to install all necessary extensions.

Let me know your feedback.

[bmarkus]

• Current version need icons from the kde package and its dependencies wich contains many unnecessary (for Xfce4) elements. It is a temporary fix as gnome-icon-theme is missing some icons. If you know a nice looking and complete Xfce icon set, let me know.

This issue is solved in the mean time, kde package is not needed anymore, fix will be posted.

[mikshaw]

While I'm not a fan of desktop environments myself, I think it's probably something that many people have been hoping for in TC.  Good stuff.

[Jason W]

There are some fixes/updates for xfce in the submission queue, along with some other extensions that I can get to Sunday night or Monday when I have TC access.

[bmarkus]

Now the cleaned-up version of Xfce 4.6.1 is available in the repository. The minimum set of components loaded by Xfce4 extension (size in kByte):

  332   Thunar.tce
  179   exo.tcel
   26   libxfce4menu.tcel
   23   libxfce4util.tcel
  159   libxfcegui4.tcel
  244   xfce-utils.tce
  170   xfce4-panel.tce
  473   xfce4-session.tce
   86   xfce4-settings.tce
   46   xfconf.tce
1 860   xfdesktop.tce
  298   xfwm4.tce
    8   Xfce4.tce

All together only 3.9 Mbyte.

Doc and dev files as well as locales are removed.

There are no exotic dependencies, most of them probably are already installed. The largest is Xorg-7.4

[roberts]

Impressive, quite an accomplishment. We have our first DE!

[bmarkus]

New version of Xfce4 is submitted. It is a monolithic version containing all core elements plus applications

• Thunar file manager
• mousepad text editor
• Thunar-volman plugin to manage volumes, hotplugged devices, ...

To avoid conflicts extension is named Xfce4base

Following extensions are obsolate now, please delete them if you installed previously, they are moved to Xfce4base:

Xfce4
Thunar
mousepad
exo
libxfce4menu
libxfce4util
libxfcegui4
xfce-utils
xfce4-panel
xfce4-session
xfce4-settings
xfconf
xfdesktop
xfwm4

Integrating them to one package makes life more easier for both users and maintainers. Also a selling point showing .tcel is only 4 MByte in size  

This version is using HAL, hot plugging just works fine, USB sticks, memory cards, CD/DVD recognized when connected/inserted and mounted authomatically by default.

If you have the previous version installed it is adviced to delete saved date in home dir. Easiest way is to start system with NORESTORE boot option and then make a new backup.

Enjoy!

P.S.: Other applications, like Terminal, ristretto, ... will be upgraded soon according to the change.