Subject: XFCE4 backgrounds broken in edge

From: Ian Smith <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2025 14:31:42 +0100

Just upgraded a more substantial desktop to edge, as far as XFCE4 goes,
teh results are mixed.  On the pro side there are some critical
monitoring plugins that were not present in 3.21, on the con side
desktop backrounds are broken.

I chose a nice "splat" picture to reflect edge, but as soon as I
changed desktop it reverted to "mouse & squiggles", and cannot be set
back from the settings manager.  Errors below:

$ cat ~/.xsession-errors
libxfce4windowing-Message: 14:01:52.176: Failed to fetch
_NET_NUMBER_OF_DESKTOPS; assuming 1 libxfce4windowing-Message:
14:01:52.176: Failed to get _NET_WORKAREA; using full screen dimensions
libxfce4windowing-Message: 14:01:52.176: Failed to fetch
_NET_CURRENT_DESKTOP; assuming 0 libxfce4windowing-Message:
14:01:52.176: Failed to fetch _NET_CURRENT_DESKTOP; assuming 0
/usr/bin/iceauth:  creating new authority file
/run/user/1000/ICEauthority

(xfce4-power-manager:3416): libnotify-WARNING **: 14:01:53.695: Failed
to connect to proxy

Might be an upstream issue, but thought I would warn people here . . .

Ian.

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From: Ian Smith <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2025 14:37:30 +0100

More info:

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=245083

https://mxlinux.org/blog/xfce-4-20-wallpaper-issues-fix-coming-up/

Ian.

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From: Ian Smith <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2025 14:39:28 +0100

Sorry that Arch one ws an old one:

https://forum.xfce.org/viewtopic.php?id=17809

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From: Ian Smith <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2025 14:50:14 +0100

This might be a help, from MX linux:
https://mxlinux.org/blog/xfce-4-20-and-problems-choosing-wallpapers/

Unfortunately, I do NOT have the setting mentioned in their solution, so
still not fixed here!

Ian.

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From: Ian Smith <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2025 15:01:03 +0100

Another failed solution:

https://forum.xfce.org/viewtopic.php?id=18045

$ xfconf-query -c xfce4-desktop -p /backdrop/single-workspace-number -s
1
Property "/backdrop/single-workspace-number" does not exist on channel
"xfce4-desktop". If a new property should be created, use the --create
option.

$ xfconf-query --help
Usage:
  xfconf-query [OPTION…] - Xfconf commandline utility

Help Options:
  -h, --help            Show help options

Application Options:
  -V, --version         Version information
  -c, --channel         The channel to query/modify
  -p, --property        The property to query/modify
  -s, --set             The new value to set for the property
  -l, --list            List properties (or channels if -c is not
specified) -v, --verbose         Print property and value in
combination with -l or -m -n, --create          Create a new property
if it does not already exist -t, --type            Specify the property
value type -r, --reset           Reset property
  -R, --recursive       Recursive (use with -r)
  -a, --force-array     Force array even if only one element
  -T, --toggle          Invert an existing boolean property
  -m, --monitor         Monitor a channel for property changes

$ xfconf-query -n -c xfce4-desktop -p /backdrop/single-workspace-number
-s 1
When creating a new property, the value type must be specified.

At this point I stopped . . . too broken for me!

Ian.

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From: Ian Smith <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2025 15:12:40 +0100

. . . And now, finally, the SOLUTION! (drum roll)

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=302906

Ian

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From: Ian Smith <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2025 15:21:43 +0100

One more thing . . .

The upgrade also switches off font antialiasing, but I expect we all
know how to fix that.  Doesn't update terminals that are already open
or their title bars, so reboot to be sure!

Cheers (unless I find more!),

Ian.

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From: Ian Smith <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2025 15:31:16 +0100

This one is quite little . . .

The digital clock now prints leading zero (hours) in 12hr mode, looks
really stupid, so I have had to go to 24hr mode.

Still overall the upgrade is worth it IMO, for the "missing" plugins
(used to be in xfce4-goodies) alone.

Ian.