Dark theme scheduling

nri4738 · January 28, 2021, 1:56pm

Hello, Was wondering if there is a way to schedule certain themes to switch at certain times (Like switching to dark theme at night and light theme during the day) system wide?

Mirdarthos · January 28, 2021, 2:07pm

Hi @nri4738,

While I use KDE myself, I don’t use or have heard of anyone that uses this feature.

That said, I did a bit of searching and it’s apparently not a feature in KDE. However, according to this page it is doable.

nri4738 · January 28, 2021, 2:17pm

@Mirdarthos Thanks this application looks like what I need, but when I download it and execute it the AppImage gives an error when trying to integrate Failed to register AppImage in system via libappimage
Also when I try executing the binary code version instead, it open the program but when I go to options and press KDE it crashes.

Ben · January 28, 2021, 2:17pm

When I want to switch, I generally just call down my hidden ‘extras’ (on demand Latte bar) which has PlasmaConfigSaver which does a bit more than just the theme… though I generally use it to switch between my creamy ‘card’ and my darkish theme (including icons/cursor and whatever else).

Something we love about AUR, however, is that whilst others are often stuck with limited options - we can pull in Yin-yang-git which looks to be very simple (I just searched yin-yang and it came up) and I’m sure I prefer (as the schedule wouldn’t fit my variable schedule) to pull it down from my top bar.

So take a look at ‘PlasmaConfigSaver’ set up your dark, type the name and save it - then set up your light, type in light and save that.

Works well.

nri4738 · January 28, 2021, 2:18pm

That is manual switching though right?

nri4738 · January 28, 2021, 2:20pm

Actually I downloaded yin-yang-git from the AUR also and it opens but when I click settings it crashes.

Mirdarthos · January 28, 2021, 2:23pm

Try the .AppImage as described in the link I gave. It can’t really do harm, can it?

nri4738 · January 28, 2021, 2:24pm

It fails to install with the error Failed to register AppImage in system via libappimage

Mirdarthos · January 28, 2021, 2:27pm

OK.

Then I’m afraid I’m not able to offer you any advice.

Hope you manage!

nri4738 · January 28, 2021, 2:29pm

I am going to try to set up a script with kdewriteconfig5 to change it. Thanks for the help anyway!

Mirdarthos · January 28, 2021, 2:32pm

Yes, that’s a good idea! See if you can set up a profile, as @Ben said, I think, and can trigger the switch by command prompt.

Because, if you can, you can always set up a cronjob to do it on schedule.

nri4738 · January 28, 2021, 2:35pm

Yes, but I don’t know how to update the theme after doing:
kwriteconfig5 --file ~/.config/kdeglobals --group Icons --key Theme "breeze"
kwriteconfig5 --file ~/.config/kdeglobals --group KDE --key LookAndFeelPackage "org.kde.breeze.desktop"
Because it doesn’t auto update

Mirdarthos · January 28, 2021, 2:38pm

Are you sure the config file is correct?
Because both commands point to the exact same config, /.config/kdeglobals?

nri4738 · January 28, 2021, 9:02pm

Well I thought so, because my current theme is “breeze” and that’s what was in the ~/.config/kdeglobals file.

nri4738 · January 28, 2021, 9:06pm

@Mirdarthos The problem is that I really don’t know all the settings I should change in there.

nri4738 · January 28, 2021, 9:19pm

Okay so problem solved, I used lookandfeeltool -a org.kde.breeze.desktop command and I will set up a cron job to change to theme automatically.

nri4738 · January 28, 2021, 9:43pm

Okay, so know cron won;t run the script output of systemctl status cronie is:
`● cronie.service - Periodic Command Scheduler
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/cronie.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: active (running) since Wed 2021-01-27 16:29:42 CST; 23h ago
Main PID: 975 (crond)
Tasks: 1 (limit: 8755)
Memory: 709.3M
CGroup: /system.slice/cronie.service
└─975 /usr/bin/crond -n

Jan 28 15:34:01 noah-82dq crond[49911]: pam_unix(crond:session): session opened for user noah(uid=1000) by (uid=0)
Jan 28 15:34:01 noah-82dq CROND[49912]: (noah) CMD (/home/noah/themeChangerDarkTheme.sh )
Jan 28 15:34:01 noah-82dq lookandfeeltool[49913]: qt.qpa.xcb: could not connect to display
Jan 28 15:34:01 noah-82dq lookandfeeltool[49913]: qt.qpa.plugin: Could not load the Qt platform plugin “xcb” in “” even though it was found.
Jan 28 15:34:01 noah-82dq lookandfeeltool[49913]: This application failed to start because no Qt platform plugin could be initialized. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem.

                                     Available platform plugins are: wayland-org.kde.kwin.qpa, eglfs, linuxfb, minimal, minimalegl, offscreen, vnc, wayland-egl, wayland, wayland-x>

Jan 28 15:34:01 noah-82dq CROND[49911]: (noah) CMDOUT (/home/noah/themeChangerDarkTheme.sh: line 1: 49913 Aborted (core dumped) lookandfeeltool -a org.kde.breezedark.desktop)
Jan 28 15:34:01 noah-82dq CROND[49911]: pam_unix(crond:session): session closed for user noah
Jan 28 15:36:01 noah-82dq crond[975]: (root) CAN’T OPEN (/etc/crontab): No such file or directory
Jan 28 15:37:01 noah-82dq crond[975]: (root) CAN’T OPEN (/etc/crontab): No such file or directory
Jan 28 15:37:01 noah-82dq crond[975]: (noah) RELOAD (/var/spool/cron/noah)
`

nri4738 · January 28, 2021, 10:11pm

Okay so i finally fixed it I used this code in my script file and ran the cronjob at a specific time and this time it switched the theme properly.
export QT_DEBUG_PLUGINS=1 export LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=; export DISPLAY=:0; lookandfeeltool -a org.kde.breezedark.desktop

system · February 12, 2021, 10:11pm

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