XSplash Background Settings

XSplash Themes

Source (link to git-repo or to original if based on someone elses unmodified work): Add the source-code for this project on opencode.net

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Score 50.0%
Description:

Background settings dialog for XSplash and the login screen (GDM), providing easy changing of the background image and an optional daemon, that keeps xsplash and gdm background consistent with the desktop wallpaper. Video demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPlbE_sUyVg
Depends on: xsplash imagemagick python-gconf python-gtk2 python-gksu2 python-gobject


INSTALL:

[li]PPA repository (recommended): ppa:meerkat/stable -> Instructions: https://launchpad.net/~meerkat/+archive/stable[/li][li]DEB package: Download below, just double click[/li]
After successful installation you need to reboot once for the daemon to run. Open the configuration dialog through System -> Settings -> XSplash Wallpaper Settings or by running xsplash-wallpaper-settings --settings from terminal. Choose your custom background or activate "Use Desktop Background" to keep your XSplash background consistent with your desktop wallpaper.

Old versions (1.3 and earlier): http://www.google.com/#q="wallpaper_daemon.py"



CUSTOMIZE GDM:
You want to use your gtk and icon theme for the login screen? Run xsplash-background-settings --gdm (Note that this only works for system wide installed themes)
To restore the default ubuntu gdm themes run xsplash-background-settings --restore-gdm



UPGRADE:
[li]from version 1.6 and later: Just install new version.[/li][li]from version 1.3 and earlier: Please follow the uninstall instructions below and install the new version afterwards.[/li]


UNINSTALL / RESTORE DEFAULT XSPLASH:

Version 1.6 and later:
1. Go to System -> Settings -> XSplash Background Settings and choose "Use default background" to restore default XSplash.
2. Remove xsplash-background-settings through package manager.

Version 1.3 and earlier:
1. Remove wallpaper_daemon.py from the startup programs (gnome-session-properties).
2. Extract your backup file. If you used the install routine this file is called backup.TIMESTAMP (where TIMESTAMP is dynamically generated number) and located at /usr/share/images/xsplash. To get the extraction path right use the following command (you may use the TAB key to complete backup. with the right timestamp number):
tar -C / -xf /usr/share/images/xsplash/backup.TIMESTAMP
3. Version 1.0 only:
sudo -u gdm gconftool-2 -t string -s /desktop/gnome/background/picture_filename /usr/share/images/xsplash/bg_2560x1600.jpg
4. restart (dont change your desktop wallpaper before restarting!)



KNOWN ISSUES:
[li]I noticed that on some ubuntu derivatives (such as Linux Mint) the login screen uses a different background image than XSplash. To fix that simply run
sudo -u gdm gconftool-2 -t string -s /desktop/gnome/background/picture_filename /usr/share/images/xsplash/bg_2560x1600.jpg[/li][li]If you get the error message
Failed to backup default background
Change settings at your OWN RISK!
and/or the xsplash background is not successfully change by the settings dialog you may be affected by a known issue with gksu (see the discussion started by zetty on Feb 1 2010). A temporary workaround is to either manually permit permanent user write access to the xsplash image folder:
sudo chmod -R a+rw /usr/share/images/xsplash
or start the settings dialog with sudo:
sudo xsplash-background-settings --settings
[/li]



REPORT BUGS / ASK QUESTIONS:
Of course you may report a bug or ask any question by posting a comment here, but if you have a launchpad account (or dont bother creating one) please use the project page on launchpad (http://launchpad.net/xsplash-background-settings), as it is much clearer arranged and nothing gets lost between pages of comments.
Report a bug: http://bugs.launchpad.net/xsplash-background-settings/+filebug
Ask a question: https://answers.launchpad.net/xsplash-background-settings/+addquestion



TRANSLATIONS:
The following language files have already been submitted:
[li]german (part of 1.6)[/li][li]french by OxayotlTheGreat (part of 1.6.1)[/li][li]spanish by algalord (part of 1.6.1)[/li][li]russian by zetty (not released yet)[/li]Many thanks to the translators!



TESTING:
New versions are first released in a special testing ppa. If you want to help testing new releases, use the following repository:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/meerkat/testing/ubuntu karmic main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/meerkat/testing/ubuntu karmic main
Last changelog:

10 years ago

1.6:
- config gui
- localisation (english, german)
- DEB package

84 comments
 Comments

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dwsalo

10 years ago

Could you please add lucid repository? I know that this is beta but it would be nice to have XSplash Background Settings for ubuntu lucid.

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faelbluhm

10 years ago

Where is? Not found on launchpad.

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meerkat

10 years ago

https://launchpad.net/xsplash-background-settings/trunk/1.3

link fixed, thanks for the hint

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zetty

10 years ago

Hello! Thanks for useful program!
I used the last version from PPA repository (1.6.1-1) with my Ubuntu 9.10 (kernel 2.6.31-17-generic-pae #54) and experienced some problems.

After install and reboot, when i run
zetty@nirvana:~$ xsplash-background-settings --settings
i get password prompt, and then error -

Failed to backup default background
Change settings at your OWN RISK!

Changing options in program did not affect anything, nothing outputted to terminal.
But, when executed with sudo:
zetty@nirvana:~$ sudo xsplash-background-settings --settings
/usr/share/backgrounds/GrassinA.jpg

Background is changing successfully.

After that i tried without sudo again:
zetty@nirvana:~$ xsplash-background-settings --settings
/usr/share/backgrounds/Bay.jpg

Password prompt, no errors, but... bg.jpg is still the same.

I think that something gone wrong with gksu2, but i don't know how to test it.

By the way, XSplash background is changed when i toggle radiobuttons, but not when i clicking the 'OK', it's making the 'Close' button a bit useless.
It would be nice if you can add 'Test' button, so user could see new xsplash without typing sudo xsplash in terminal :)

PS
If you are interested in translations, here's Russian .po: http://www.mediafire.com/?ymt2oynz02n

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meerkat

10 years ago

1. At the moment i have no idea what might cause the described problems. To test if this is a general issue with python-gksu2 you may run the following command:
python -c "import gksu2;ctx = gksu2.Context();ctx.set_command('echo \$USER');gksu2.su_full(ctx)"
This should print "root" on the terminal output.
2. Actually the radiobuttons need confirmation with "OK", but the custom background selection dialog actively changes the XSplash background which really is a bit inconsistent. I will fix that.
3. Test button is on the list.
4. Thanks a lot for your translation, i will include that in the next release.

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zetty

10 years ago

I just tried some another methods, and run works fine for me:

zetty@nirvana:~$ whoami
zetty
zetty@nirvana:~$ python -c "import gksu2;gksu2.run('whoami')"
root

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meerkat

10 years ago

interesting... seems like sudo is working but su is not. problem is, there seem to be no python bindings for gksu_sudo_full or gksu_run_full (which chooses between su and sudo depending on system configuration). the disadvantage of gksu_run is, that it doesnt allow manipulating the message given in the password dialog. anyway, if this is a common problem i should change it or at least use gksu_run as fallback method if gksu_su_full failes. so, if anybody reading here encounter similar problems, please confirm here!
in the meantime there is always the workaround to manually permit permanent user write access to the xsplash image folder
Quote:sudo chmod -R a+rw /usr/share/images/xsplash or start the settings dialog from terminal with sudo
Quote:sudo xsplash-background-settings --settings

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monthscrapped

10 years ago

I'm experiencing the same problems. My existing xsplash image fails to back up at the start, I have to repeatedly enter my password regardless of whether I choose to save it or not, and the program doesn't recognize when I select a new xsplash image to use; it just keeps the default one. (On an unrelated note, it doesn't seem to recognize the space-01 to space-05 images in Karmic's backgrounds folder, presumably because they are hyphenated, which is a shame because they look really neat.)

I'm afraid I'm not very good with the terminal at all, so if you could make the appropriate changes to the GUI, it would be much appreciated!

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bubi

10 years ago

I experienced the same as Zetty. I "solved" it before with "sudo chmod -R a+rw /usr/share/images/xsplash", which strangely I had to do again after the last upgrade.

Also, for some reason, the last option in the list, the "Use desktop background" one, doen't work for me. When I check that it just keeps the last background manually selected, or the default, if I was using the default one.

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bubi

10 years ago

One more thing. It seems like using the daemon just makes my xsplash backround completely white... Can't figure out why. I wasn't planning using, anyway, but it is still strange how it doesn't here.

BTW, were you thinking of adding a GUI way to change the GMD GTK theme? It would be also nice to add a way of choosing any system-wide installed GTK theme, and not just switching between the default one and the one used once logged in.

Another suggestion. It would be nice to have a fuctionality to change also the whole theme, not just the background, but also the logo and the throbber. At the moment, this script is useful for making it easier to change the background, but if i want to change the throbber, I still have to do it manually. What do you think?

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bubi

10 years ago

1. Yes.

2. Not sure. I don't remember anymore...

3. In that case, it doesn't happen anything. Probably because I removed the daemon from my startup apps when I noticed this behaviour... And it seems like it doesn't go back there automatically by selecting "Use Desktop Background". If I turn on again the daemon manually, the background turns just plain and clear white.

4. and 5. Thank you for the info.

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meerkat

10 years ago

Thanks for your contribution.
1. Can you confirm, that it is the same problem with python-gksu2 as discussed with zetty above, namely that Quote:python -c "import gksu2;gksu2.run('whoami')" prints "root" on the terminal output, while Quote:python -c "import gksu2;ctx=gksu2.Context();ctx.set_command('whoami');gksu2.su_full(ctx)" does not?
2. Do you mean xsplash-background-settings upgrade or xsplash upgrade (or rather a general update which might have covered both)?
3. If you select "Use Desktop Background", click "OK" and change you desktop wallpaper afterwards, does the xsplash background change or not or become completely white?
4. A nice gui to configure GDM already exists: Quote:gksudo -u gdm dbus-launch gnome-appearance-propertiesNote this bug though: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-control-center/+bug/459747
5. https://answers.launchpad.net/xsplash-background-settings/+question/99844

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zetty

10 years ago

zetty@nirvana:~$ python -c "import gksu2;ctx = gksu2.Context();ctx.set_command('echo \$USER');gksu2.su_full(ctx)"
zetty@nirvana:~$ sudo python -c "import gksu2;ctx = gksu2.Context();ctx.set_command('echo \$USER');gksu2.su_full(ctx)"
[sudo] password for zetty:
root

Don't know why, but seems like gksu2 is not working.
What else can i do to help you?
Maybe, something with versions?
python-gksu2 - 2.25.3-3ubuntu1
python-gtk2 - 2.16.0-0ubuntu1
python - 2.6.4-0ubuntu1

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MastroPino

10 years ago

Hello mate, ur work are exciting many ppl around the world! I think u have to add, for facilitate ppl that use repository, some specifications. They do not need to open the source.list but is only necessary add sudo add-apt-repository ppa:meerkat/stable (or if they like to test: ppa:meerkat/testing) into a terminal. But like u know ubuntu, is the first distro ppl use when come from windows, for this it's better to tell that they can add repository by System → Administration → Software Source → Other Software Tab → Add → ppa:meerkat/stable

A star on ur way.

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user333

10 years ago

Going to have to try this out! I don't like doing stuff manually.

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algalord

10 years ago

Spanish gettext .po file:

http://www.mediafire.com/?dlhyohzm2wd

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smirnoffjr

10 years ago

Hmm, why this utility ask me root password? It must ask user password for elevating rights as other programs do. For example ubuntu don't have root password by default at all!

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meerkat

10 years ago

Thanks for the hint. As you may have noticed, actually the user password is expected. Just the phrase "Enter the administrative password" is a bit unclear. Its the default phrase of the python-gksu2 module. Maybe i should change that to "Enter your password to perform administrative task", which is the phrase used by other administrative tools like synaptics and seem to be a bit clearer.

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OxayotlTheGreat

10 years ago

Should I change this also in the French translations ?

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meerkat

10 years ago

I can change this for all languages, as its a phrase used in libgksu and therefore can be fetched from there. French version is: "Saisissez votre mot de passe pour effectuer les tâches d'administration." ;)

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OxayotlTheGreat

10 years ago

Okay, that's perfect.

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algalord

10 years ago

I think it's posible to add xml backgrounds support, it's difficult but possible. The xml backgrounds have this structure at top

<starttime>
<year>2009</year>
<month>08</month>
<day>04</day>
<hour>00</hour>
<minute>00</minute>
<second>00</second>
</starttime>


I don't know exactly how it's works, but I think that Start time indicate the time when the first background file is put as background.

A background have this structure:

<static>
<duration>300.0</duration>
<file>/home/USER/FOLDER/1.JPG</file>
</static>
<transition>
<duration>5.0</duration>
<from>/home/USER/FOLDER/1.JPG</from>
<to>/home/USER/FOLDER/2.JPG</to>
</transition>

So, this have a duration... I thin you can calculate which of the wallpapers must be show with an recursive function.

A way to do this is to create a function for xml files, then, if the background selected is an xml file, the function is called and change the background at same time that the xml file... you calculate the actual background only and change it every X seconds, indicated in the xml file.

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meerkat

10 years ago

That would indeed solve the xml issue for rebooting and log out / log in activities - not in the case of a normal boot up though, as you cant possibly know which time the user will start his computer again. This primary task could only be solved by deciding the background image during the boot sequence which would mean fiddling around with init scripts and as a side effect would actually slow down the boot process. Im not sure if thats worth it.

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algalord

10 years ago

you mean something like this... when you logout, the script save the lastest image of the xml background and put it as background, then, when you login, the script wait "X" seconds and put the xml file as backgroud... it would be an solution.

You can use gconftool, a bash example for streched background:

gconftool-2 --type=string --set \
/desktop/gnome/background/picture_options stretched
gconftool-2 --type=string --set \
/desktop/gnome/background/picture_filename /FOLDER/TO/IMAGE/IMAGE.JPG

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meerkat

10 years ago

actually i didnt mean that, but its a solution, though it would slow down logging out a bit. well, youre welcome to implement it, im still not tempted. i dont know whats so cool about xml backgrounds anyway. if i want periodical changing wallpaper i use an app like drapes which allows to easily add or remove wallpapers from the list and provides a random sequence. the only cool feature of that xml stuff is the crossfading which can make the wallpaper kind of dynamic and i.e. reflect the time of day, but unfortunately that special case is not satisfactorily solved with your suggestion anyway.

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10 years ago

1.6:
- config gui
- localisation (english, german)
- DEB package

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1.6 (ubuntu karmic)
updated Jan 25 2010
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