I loaded Knoppix and it has LXDE. I like it, so when I loaded Arch, I decided to load LXDE on it, too. On Arch, I had troubles I thought were related to LXDE, so I removed the applications I had added and then LXDE trying to get back to where things were ok. Once I found/corrected the problem (hal didn't restart after reboot), I reinstalled LXDE and then all applications again.
But after I reinstalled, the LXDE background is now black (instead of the pretty blue), and the only options on the menu are run, which does nothing at all, and logout, which does work, but none of the applications. I was able to get the openbox menu working, but most of the options are non-functional because I don't have those programs.
I have seen the LXDE with menu options for the apps I installed on Arch as well as on Knoppix, except mc (midnight commander), so I know it can do it.
Can anyone tell me how to get the menus back? Or rebuild or regenerate them? I think I found most of the apps in .desktop files in /usr/share/applications. I can copy most to the desktop and execute them, But don't see how to get them to the menu.
Someone on the Arch forum suggested editing the panels, but it looks as though that is just for the icons along the bottom. I'm looking to edit/create/regen the menu that has the run and logout on it.
Thanks for any help...
All LDXE menu items gone except run & logout, black bkground
-
Marty Jack
- Posts: 381
- Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 5:14 am
Re: All LDXE menu items gone except run & logout, black bkground
You don't want to edit the configuration. That other forum post is not a recommended way to solve the problem.
Look in .cache/menus and you will find some files with long names. Delete those and re-login. After you do this, if the problem isn't solved, look in the file with the very long name and at the top you can see what directories got scanned for menu items. That may help you track down why it's not working.
The menu will be regenerated whenever that file with the long name is not there or whenever something in one of the directories gets changed.
It is also possible in doing your reinstall you created a version mismatch between lxpanel and menu-cache packages. It's possible you are missing the lxde-common or lxmenu-data package. That supplies /etc/xdg/menus/lxde-applications.menu, which is the root of all menu processing.
If you post the version of those packages, we could rule that in or out.
As to the wallpaper, that is dependent on running pcmanfm and having it configured properly. The standard wallpaper is in /usr/share/lxde/wallpapers/.
Look in .cache/menus and you will find some files with long names. Delete those and re-login. After you do this, if the problem isn't solved, look in the file with the very long name and at the top you can see what directories got scanned for menu items. That may help you track down why it's not working.
The menu will be regenerated whenever that file with the long name is not there or whenever something in one of the directories gets changed.
It is also possible in doing your reinstall you created a version mismatch between lxpanel and menu-cache packages. It's possible you are missing the lxde-common or lxmenu-data package. That supplies /etc/xdg/menus/lxde-applications.menu, which is the root of all menu processing.
If you post the version of those packages, we could rule that in or out.
As to the wallpaper, that is dependent on running pcmanfm and having it configured properly. The standard wallpaper is in /usr/share/lxde/wallpapers/.
Re: All LDXE menu items gone except run & logout, black bkground
That makes good sense. I will try it and report back.
Thanks much for your reply.
Results... Long named file was there. Moved it out of the way, to a new trash directory just in case. Still no menu other than Run and Logout.
After logging out and going back in, no long file was recreated.
versions:
lxpanel 0.5.5-2
menu-cache 0.3.1-1
lxde-common 0.5.0-1
lxmenu-data 0.1.1-1
When i look at the /etc/xdg/menus files, I notice that lxde-applications.menu has a date of July 12 2009, and lxlauncher-applications.menu has a date of Mar 6 2010. The applications.menu and settings.menu are both dated Oct 4 2010 it appears.
This is just on a testing system, and other than it being about my 10th try to get archlinux completely loaded CORRECTLY, I haven't got anything but a day's effort to lose if I blow it away and start over, if need be, so no need to spend too much time trying to resolve other than to avoid troubles for the masses as LXDE gains popularity.
Thanks much for your reply.
Results... Long named file was there. Moved it out of the way, to a new trash directory just in case. Still no menu other than Run and Logout.
After logging out and going back in, no long file was recreated.
versions:
lxpanel 0.5.5-2
menu-cache 0.3.1-1
lxde-common 0.5.0-1
lxmenu-data 0.1.1-1
When i look at the /etc/xdg/menus files, I notice that lxde-applications.menu has a date of July 12 2009, and lxlauncher-applications.menu has a date of Mar 6 2010. The applications.menu and settings.menu are both dated Oct 4 2010 it appears.
This is just on a testing system, and other than it being about my 10th try to get archlinux completely loaded CORRECTLY, I haven't got anything but a day's effort to lose if I blow it away and start over, if need be, so no need to spend too much time trying to resolve other than to avoid troubles for the masses as LXDE gains popularity.
-
Marty Jack
- Posts: 381
- Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 5:14 am
Re: All LDXE menu items gone except run & logout, black bkground
Another thing I usually forget about is to check the setting of XDG_MENU_PREFIX. This should be "lxde-" by the time lxpanel gets launched. This controls what menu in /etc/xdg/menus is read, and if the one you wanted isn't found, you won't get the menu.
Re: All LDXE menu items gone except run & logout, black bkground
XDG_MENU_PREFIX is not set that I can see.
there is an XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=LXDE
The other XDG settings seem to be set for root, even though I did an su to my user name before I ran xinit
I think at this point, I should just save my modified configuration files that I know to be good off to flash drive and reload archlinux from the cd or go back to knoppix or debian with a mind full of additional knowledge from arch, one thought of which is that there is a reason to have things called stable releases.
there is an XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=LXDE
The other XDG settings seem to be set for root, even though I did an su to my user name before I ran xinit
I think at this point, I should just save my modified configuration files that I know to be good off to flash drive and reload archlinux from the cd or go back to knoppix or debian with a mind full of additional knowledge from arch, one thought of which is that there is a reason to have things called stable releases.
-
Marty Jack
- Posts: 381
- Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 5:14 am
Re: All LDXE menu items gone except run & logout, black bkground
For future reference, XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP controls the evaluation of OnlyShowIn and NotShowIn in the desktop entries.
Re: All LDXE menu items gone except run & logout, black bkground
Good to know.
I found that some distros have OnlyShowIn entries that don't list LXDE that is causing many programs to be missing from the menus.
Personally, I think that's bad form to code that way, and would prefer NotShowIn be used in the event a program is incompatible with a particular environment.
I have now given up on arch, and trying frugalware. It has the OnlyShowIn problem, unfortunately. Knoppix looks better and better...
I found that some distros have OnlyShowIn entries that don't list LXDE that is causing many programs to be missing from the menus.
Personally, I think that's bad form to code that way, and would prefer NotShowIn be used in the event a program is incompatible with a particular environment.
I have now given up on arch, and trying frugalware. It has the OnlyShowIn problem, unfortunately. Knoppix looks better and better...