lxapperance fails to change GTK+ theme [WORKAROUND]

w23 · 2009-12-21 22:21:29

Hello all.

First time using Arch Linux, and it's a pretty awesome distro.
Just installed lxde and when trying to change the GTK+ theme using lxapperance, the window flickers, but the theme remains with the standard "unthemed" appearence. I have tried rezlooks and cillop-midnite and neither display.

Anybody else have this problem?

Last edited by w23 (2009-12-22 22:38:41)

M177ER · 2009-12-21 22:26:08

run lxappearance in a terminal and look for error messages. Do have the proper GTK engines installed? gtk-rezlooks-engine, etc.

w23 · 2009-12-21 22:40:35

Immediatly after starting, I get these errors:

(lxappearance:16976): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_widget_ref: assertion `GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
(lxappearance:16976): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_widget_ref: assertion `GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
(lxappearance:16976): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_widget_ref: assertion `GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
(lxappearance:16976): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_widget_ref: assertion `GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
(lxappearance:16976): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_widget_ref: assertion `GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
(lxappearance:16976): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_widget_ref: assertion `GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
(lxappearance:16976): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_widget_ref: assertion `GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
(lxappearance:16976): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_widget_ref: assertion `GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
(lxappearance:16976): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_widget_ref: assertion `GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
(lxappearance:16976): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_widget_ref: assertion `GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
(lxappearance:16978): Gtk-WARNING **: GtkSpinButton: setting an adjustment with non-zero page size is deprecated

And this error when trying to change themes:

(lxappearance:16981): Gtk-WARNING **: GtkSpinButton: setting an adjustment with non-zero page size is deprecated

gtk-rezlooks-engine was install using pacman, and cillop-midnite was downloaded from gnome-art i think.

harryNID · 2009-12-22 00:07:37

Thought it was just me.

I too had some weirdness with the new version of lxappearance. I did some checking and here is what I found out. Luckily I had a complete backup copy of my directory and found lxappearance wasn't creating ~/.gtkrc-2.0 correctly. When you change themes in lxappearance it's supposed to dynamically change this file and it wasn't for some reason. Mine turned out to be blank. When I went back to an old copy and pasted that info back into the new ~/.gtkrc-2.0 everything worked again. I reinstalled and now it seems to be changing the way it's supposed too. Still getting massive error messages like you though.

You can manually change themes without lxappearance by creating and hand editing ~/.gtkrc-2.0. You must log out and back in for the changes to take effect although if I remember right there was a command you could type to regenerate gtk and change without having to log-out first but I can't remember what it was.

Since I have lxappearance installed (and as the comment says) further customization must be done in ~/.gtkrc-2.0.mine as the original ~/.gtkrc-2.0 is overwritten each time you change a theme in lxappearance.

Here's a copy of my ~/.gtkrc-2.0 for reference.

Also here is a explanation of what ~/.gtkrc-2.0 does (in case your interested).

http://linux.byexamples.com/archives/23 … ktop-user/

# DO NOT EDIT!  This file will be overwritten by LXAppearance.
# Any customization should be done in ~/.gtkrc-2.0.mine

gtk-theme-name="MurrineGlow Gray"
gtk-icon-theme-name="hicolor"
gtk-font-name="Sans 10"
gtk-toolbar-style=2
gtk-cursor-theme-name="(null)"
gtk-cursor-theme-size=16
include "/root/.gtkrc-2.0.mine"

Don't know if this helps but I hope.

w23 · 2009-12-22 00:47:52

checking my ~/.gtkrc-2.0, it has the theme name in there, but it doesn't seem to matter.
However, I checked out that link and it seems a workaround is to just use gtk-chtheme.
Thanks!

pichulines · 2009-12-22 21:48:47

I have the same problem previewing the themes. Instead of a preview it shows a black rectangle... it seems as if Lxappearance could not render the theme demo. gtk-chtheme works properly with this.

Additionally I had problems with the mouse cursor. I must say I have "Vanilla-DMZ-AA" as Xcursor them, defined in ~/.Xdefaults. After the last Lxappearance update the theme stopped working with gtk apps. I checked my ~/.gtkrc-2.0 and I found (same as HarryNID):

gtk-cursor-theme-name="(null)"
gtk-cursor-theme-size=16

I guess this override the Xcursor theme defined previously for gtk apps. Commenting these lines gtk apps use the Xcursor theme.

Last edited by pichulines (2009-12-22 21:49:27)

harryNID · 2009-12-22 23:23:03

Hi guys,

I'm running a real slim graphical system so my fix worked for me. I'm glad you guys got things sorted. I used to monkey with this stuff a lot but it's been awhile.

To pichulines, Yes your right that is what this file does.It overrides default GTK settings. Also, here's a trick I learned a while ago. I would do this only if you are the only user of the system but here is how to make your xcursor theme the default system cursor. This is global so it will show up even at boot and for all users (that's why I warned you some people might not like your cursor theme in a multi-user enviroment).

1) As root create a folder called "default" (without the quotes) in /usr/share/icons/.
or in a terminal type:

mkdir /usr/share/icons/default

2) Inside /usr/share/icons/default create a file called "index.theme"
or in a terminal type:

touch /usr/share/icons/default/index.theme

3) Add this to "index.theme":

[icon theme]
Inherits=Name_of_Your_Xcursor_theme

3a) An example of mine: (Neutral_X is the icon theme I use)

[icon theme]
Inherits=Neutral_X

4)Reboot for good measure (you might just need to log-out I can't remember) and with luck your personal cursor will now be the system default.

Meyithi · 2009-12-22 23:39:17

Last update has ruled out lxappearance as a standalone app, is tied too deeply into LXDE now. The Workarounds are in effect what lxappearnce does in the first place

RobbeR49 · 2009-12-26 18:30:06

As far as the mouse cursor problem goes, seems it was fixed since the last release. The svn version in the aur doesn't seem to do it anymore.

I don't see how lxappearance is tied too deeply into LXDE, all the GTK settings it changes are DE-neutral.

IamJustus · 2010-01-10 01:32:30

Just installed Arch with LXDE and had the above troubles with lxappearance.
all the same errors in terminal and basic non-function lxapperance.

Installed gtk-chtheme and it worked perfect for setting theme and fonts but left me with no icon
change option.

Fired up my wife's laptop with WattOS lxde and found they don't use ~/.gtkrc-2.0, the destop
settings are stored in ~/.config/lxde/config

After some trial and error, found if I created a text file at ~/.config/lxde and named it config
then opened it up and just placed, [GTK]
in there (including the brackets), lxappearance worked for me.
Weird, but it works now allowing me to set my desktop using lxapperance alone.

Still gives error messages when using terminal to open, though.

Last edited by IamJustus (2010-01-10 04:34:30)

pichulines · 2010-01-10 20:43:57

updating to 0.4.0-2 lxappearance seems to works better rendering themes, but when I close the window the proccess continues running in background.

mrman · 2010-02-05 01:51:32

I overcame this error by adding the following

sGtk/CursorThemeName=Vanilla-DMZ-AA
iGtk/CursorThemeSize=128

to

~/.config/lxsession/LXDE/desktop.conf

I could not get changes to either .Xdefaults or .gtkrc-2.0 to fix the cursor problem.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-12-21 22:21:29

lxapperance fails to change GTK+ theme [WORKAROUND]

#2 2009-12-21 22:26:08

Re: lxapperance fails to change GTK+ theme [WORKAROUND]

#3 2009-12-21 22:40:35

Re: lxapperance fails to change GTK+ theme [WORKAROUND]

#4 2009-12-22 00:07:37

Re: lxapperance fails to change GTK+ theme [WORKAROUND]

#5 2009-12-22 00:47:52

Re: lxapperance fails to change GTK+ theme [WORKAROUND]

#6 2009-12-22 21:48:47

Re: lxapperance fails to change GTK+ theme [WORKAROUND]

#7 2009-12-22 23:23:03

Re: lxapperance fails to change GTK+ theme [WORKAROUND]

#8 2009-12-22 23:39:17

Re: lxapperance fails to change GTK+ theme [WORKAROUND]

#9 2009-12-26 18:30:06

Re: lxapperance fails to change GTK+ theme [WORKAROUND]

#10 2010-01-10 01:32:30

Re: lxapperance fails to change GTK+ theme [WORKAROUND]

#11 2010-01-10 20:43:57

Re: lxapperance fails to change GTK+ theme [WORKAROUND]

#12 2010-02-05 01:51:32

Re: lxapperance fails to change GTK+ theme [WORKAROUND]

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