[Solved]Openbox menu generation tool not working

rabcor · 2014-09-16 10:31:35

I've tried to use menumaker (mmaker -v OpenBox3) to generate the menu files for openbox.

It seems to generate terminal output:

$ mmaker -v OpenBox3
* scanning
  desktop... 63 apps found
  legacy... 9 apps found
  debian... 1 apps found
* merging... 7 coincidings detected
* generating
  no terminal emulator specified; will use the default
no suitable terminal emulator found

but no .config/openbox/menu.xml file is generated in the process. Why is it not working? Where does the output go? (Openbox naturally doesn't read the output either)

Last edited by rabcor (2014-09-16 17:20:58)

Trilby · 2014-09-16 11:03:09

I can confirm this doesn't seem to work in a reasonable way. I tried it out and searched for any files containing what must be in the result, but could find none. There is no man page, and the --help output is limited. But one option in the help output was to send the results to stdout rather than to a (unspecified) file, but when used, nothing was sent to stdout.

It's not clear why, but the tool does not seem to be doing anything. Given the absence of any documentation to help us see if we are doing something wrong, this may warrant a bug report as the program does not seem to do what it claims to do.

EDIT: From menumaker's website

Default MenuMaker operation is to dump menu to WM-specific file inside user's home.

This is certainly not happening.

Last edited by Trilby (2014-09-16 11:06:36)

emeres · 2014-09-16 11:17:51

As a temporary or maybe permanent substitute you could use obmenu-generator.

Edit: Permanently - was it you autocorrect or just me?

Last edited by emeres (2014-09-16 11:40:41)

rabcor · 2014-09-16 11:37:38

Yes, I just turned to that one, I actually quite love it, it's a convenient tool Set up my menu in a flash for me.

Last edited by rabcor (2014-09-16 11:38:05)

CarlD · 2014-09-16 12:16:27

This is happening because you do not have a recognised root terminal installed. As specified in the Openbox wiki article (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Openbox#menumaker), you need to have a root terminal installed. Install xterm and it should work:

# pacman xterm

I remember being confused the first time by this as well, which is why I made sure to include this information when re-writing the Openbox article.

emeres · 2014-09-16 16:07:51

That seems be the case, xterm should be made a dependency. I tested this by moving xterm out of the way and get the same error message.

Trilby · 2014-09-16 16:12:49

I don't know what "root terminal" means in this context. It is no harder to log in as root in any other terminal that it is in xterm.

CarlD · 2014-09-16 16:20:37

Trilby wrote:

I don't know what "root terminal" means in this context. It is no harder to log in as root in any other terminal that it is in xterm.

"Root terminal" means whatever menu maker wants it to be! I don't get it either, but that's how it works - LOL

emeres · 2014-09-16 16:21:09

Neither do I, that part of the wiki should probably be changed.

rabcor · 2014-09-16 17:21:52

So not having xterm was the problem, this program sure has special needs Marked as solved. And I agree it wouldn't be so bad if it were a dependency.

Last edited by rabcor (2014-09-16 17:22:31)

emeres · 2014-09-16 19:17:29

@rabcor Then write a bug report: https://www.archlinux.org/packages/comm … menumaker/

showipatlogon · 2020-12-08 19:52:20

Ok. So basically the link you gave me made me understand much better the concept of my problem.

The openbox-menu software generates a menu.xml file that reads my applications.menu and goes from there. I saw through your link that in order to call programs via terminals you put something like xterm -e in front the program, which in my case is xterm -e htop.

i checked the source-code of openbox-menu and it's setup by default to that (xterm -e). I changed it to lxterminal -e instead, recompiled, and now i'm good to go.

Your help was really appreciated. Thx !!

2ManyDogs · 2020-12-08 20:14:48

showipatlogon, I think you posted in the wrong thread. This thread is six years old and marked solved.

Your openbox menu thread is here: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=261525

Closing.

Arch Linux

#1 2014-09-16 10:31:35

[Solved]Openbox menu generation tool not working

#2 2014-09-16 11:03:09

Re: [Solved]Openbox menu generation tool not working

#3 2014-09-16 11:17:51

Re: [Solved]Openbox menu generation tool not working

#4 2014-09-16 11:37:38

Re: [Solved]Openbox menu generation tool not working

#5 2014-09-16 12:16:27

Re: [Solved]Openbox menu generation tool not working

#6 2014-09-16 16:07:51

Re: [Solved]Openbox menu generation tool not working

#7 2014-09-16 16:12:49

Re: [Solved]Openbox menu generation tool not working

#8 2014-09-16 16:20:37

Re: [Solved]Openbox menu generation tool not working

#9 2014-09-16 16:21:09

Re: [Solved]Openbox menu generation tool not working

#10 2014-09-16 17:21:52

Re: [Solved]Openbox menu generation tool not working

#11 2014-09-16 19:17:29

Re: [Solved]Openbox menu generation tool not working

#12 2020-12-08 19:52:20

Re: [Solved]Openbox menu generation tool not working

#13 2020-12-08 20:14:48

Re: [Solved]Openbox menu generation tool not working

Board footer