[openbox] How do I set up openbox?

[Steve Litt]

Alessandro Vesely said on Sun, 4 Jun 2023 11:54:03 +0200

>On Sun 04/Jun/2023 00:05:25 +0200 Steve Litt wrote:
>> Alessandro Vesely said on Sat, 3 Jun 2023 19:25:58 +0200  
>>>
>>>I don't recall what did I do to set up openbox.  Now I want to set up
>>>another PC and I'm unable to find out any hint.  The
>>>Help:Getting_started wiki page talks about cases I never saw.  
>> 
>> I'm not sure what you mean by "set up".  
>
>
>I mean have it run when I start the box.  Yesterday I finally did
>using Debian alternatives, but it's still not clear how alternatives
>came into the play.

[snip]

>By a mix of recollection and deduction, I think I what I did on my PC
>was to uninstall all gnome stuff after installing openbox, which must
>have triggered it as the only alternative.
>
>
>>>On my PC, I see openbox started by lightdm.  However, the string 
>>>"openbox" appears nowhere in /etc/lightdm/*.  There is a directory 
>>>/etc/xdg/openbox, but I'm not clear if/how it gets involved.  
>>
>> If you're asking what program actually executes Openbox, I'm pretty 
>> sure that if you start with startx it's ~/.xinitrc and if you start
>> with something like lightdm it's started by ~/.Xsession  .
>> 
>> The following is a copy of my .xinitrc:
>> 
>> ==================================================
>> #!/bin/sh
>> xrdb -load /home/slitt/.Xdefaults
>> exec /usr/bin/openbox-session
>> ==================================================
>> 
>> You'd probably have the same material in your ~/.Xsession   .  
>
>
>No, I don't have one.  

Well there's your problem. Creating one with the three line shellscript
I listed above probably would have solved your problem. I guess you
managed to solve it with some sort of apt-fu, so assuming you know what
you did and understand what you did, all's well that ends well.

[snip]

> And on xinit man page I read that, lacking a
>.xinitrc, the program runs xterm as the only client, which is not what
>I experience.
>
>On the PC, rather than using startx, I have a graphic session-manager
>start up in the beginning.  I never chose between slim and lightdm;
>they happen.
>
>In /etc/X11/Xsession, which might seem to be the file to look when
>there is no ~/.Xsession, the string "openbox" doesn't appear.
>However, in /etc/X11/Xsession.d/50x11-common_determine-startup there
>is a sequence like so:
>
># If there is still nothing to use for a startup program, try the
>system # default session manager, window manager, and terminal
>emulator. if [ -z "$STARTUP" ]; then
>   if [ -x /usr/bin/x-session-manager ]; then
>     STARTUP=x-session-manager
>   elif [ -x /usr/bin/x-window-manager ]; then
>     STARTUP=x-window-manager
>   elif [ -x /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator ]; then
>     STARTUP=x-terminal-emulator
>   fi
>fi
>
>
>And that's where Debian alternatives enter the game:
>
>root at pcale:/etc# namei -l /usr/bin/x-session-manager
>f: /usr/bin/x-session-manager
>drwxr-xr-x root root /
>drwxr-xr-x root root usr
>drwxr-xr-x root root bin
>lrwxrwxrwx root root x-session-manager ->
>/etc/alternatives/x-session-manager drwxr-xr-x root root   /
>drwxr-xr-x root root   etc
>drwxr-xr-x root root   alternatives
>lrwxrwxrwx root root   x-session-manager -> /usr/bin/openbox-session
>drwxr-xr-x root root     /
>drwxr-xr-x root root     usr
>drwxr-xr-x root root     bin
>-rwxr-xr-x root root     openbox-session
>
>The best-kept secret in the boot sequence, eh?

The complexity in the preceding few quoted paragraphs is breathtaking.
Some folks' philosophy is that one must adhere to the package manager
no matter what. My philosophy is that when my package manager is
fighting me, I'll just strongarm and move on.

The next time I run a Devuan VM guest I'll try my method and see if it
works.

SteveT

Steve Litt 
Autumn 2022 featured book: Thriving in Tough Times
http://www.troubleshooters.com/bookstore/thrive.htm