XFCE: Change background for all users

[yukon]

Hi everyone,

I am using the current Manjaro 20.2 xfce.
How can I change the default background for all (new) users?

I checked /etc/skel and /etc/xdg.

Many thanks

Many thanks for your help?

[bill_t]

Welcome to the Forum!

The default wallpaper for new users is defined in the file /etc/skel/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-desktop.xml.

In line 7 of the file you can define the path to the wallpaper that will be used for new users (the image can’t be in your home directory).

Bare in mind that any changes in that file will get overridden after each update of the package manjaro-xfce-settings, so you’ll have to make this change every time a new version of this package gets installed.

[stargazer]

1. No pacnew for the files in /etc/skel/.config/?
   At least that wouldn’t overlay the system file and a comparison (meld, diff) could be done.

2. Should the files in /etc/xdg/xfce4 be ignored on Manjaro XFCE distro?
   I read a post here where the user clicked a button to reset the shortcut defaults. They realized something didn’t look right. Long story short, the solution was to copy the file from /etc/skel/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts.xml

[bill_t]

@stargazer

No pacnew for the files in /etc/skel/.config/ ?

The /etc/skel directory contains directories/files that are copied over to a new user’s home directory when such a user is created. These directories/files are set by the Manjaro team and applied by the package manjaro-xfce-settings for the Xfce edition.

Creating pacnew files in the /etc/skel directory makes no sense, because the user has to modify the configuration files in that directory for the backups (.pacnew files) to be created, which is not very common.

This comes in contradiction with the question in this thread, but to be honest, what the OP wants is not a very common task.

In general, if the user doesn’t change the config files in /etc/skel/, no .pacnew files are going to be created.

More information on how pacman handles config files:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman/Pacnew_and_Pacsave#Types_explained

original = X , current = Y , new = Z

All three versions are different, so leave the current version in place, install the new version with a .pacnew extension and warn the user about the new version. The user will be expected to manually merge any changes necessary from the new version into the current version.

Maybe a better option for the OP would be to define a different directory for the skeleton directory instead of /etc/skel/.
This can be done by editing the SKEL variable in /etc/default/useradd as mentioned in the man page of useradd:
https://jlk.fjfi.cvut.cz/arch/manpages/man/core/shadow/useradd.8.en

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@stargazer

Should the files in /etc/xdg/xfce4 be ignored on Manjaro XFCE distro?

The system searches for files in /etc/xdg/ if the $XDG_CONFIG_HOME (default $HOME/.config) directory is empty or does not exist. The latter has higher priority for the user in the system.
See the XDG Base Directory Specification for more information:
https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html

@stargazer

the solution was to copy the file from /etc/skel/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts.xml

Probably because the user wanted to restore the default keyboard configuration that was set by Manjaro, they didn’t want the defaults set by the package(s) in /etc/xdg/.

[yukon]

@bill_t

The default wallpaper for new users is defined in the file /etc/skel/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-desktop.xml .

In line 7 of the file you can define the path to the wallpaper that will be used for new users (the image can’t be in your home directory).

Many thanks for the fast reply. My question is answered, it is working fine for me. Am aware that my changes can be overwritten.