Fluxbox-0.9.15.1 dotpup, and xdg menu generator

[Nathan F]

This is fluxbox-0.9.15.1 (the very latest) compiled within Puppy109CE and packaged specifically for it. It includes an xdg menu generation utility specifically for Flux and is able to very closely approximate your jwm menu, along with any unleashed packages you might install. I've also added transparency support via wmsetbg from the WindowMaker package I'm putting together, and a few dockapps for system monitoring.

• wmnd - a nice little network monitor
  wmsm - monitors cpu, memory, swap, and disk activity
  volume.app - a simple volume knob for on your desktop

If you're running 109CE this will install and be ready to go without doing anything further. For older pups or for Puppy2 you will need Rarsa's xdg package, available from the 109 repo at puppyfiles.us, and MU's Puppybackground program (install this first, before Fluxbox).

I'm also posting the source for the menu generation utility, along with a binary. This is an adaptation of Rarsa's code, taken from the icewm version. I've got it set up to generate the top part of the menu and read just the very bottom from a file in your .fluxbox directory. The menu refreshes every time you start fluxbox, and can be refreshed manuallly with the 'refresh menu' entry in the fluxbox submenu.

In order for the backgroundsetter to work properly it was also necessary for me to include a hacked version of the puppybackgrounsetterwrappper file from MU's Puppybackground program. The only change is that it calls fbsetbg or fbsetroot when you change wallpapers.

Nathan

[rarsa]

For older pups or for Puppy2 you will need Rarsa's xdg package, available from the 109 repo at puppyfiles.us,

Please beware that the xdg-menus unleashed package includes all the menu entries marked as Hidden. When puppy is remastered it calls the fixmenus script that will make them visible. I actually piggybacked on what Barry does for the .jwmrc menu where originally all the entries are commented out.

Later today I will post a small script generator that will create a script to un-hide the installed applications in previous puppy versions after the XDG menus have been installed.

[MU]

With Nathans Dotpup, In Puppy 108 / 2 you get a almost empty menu.
Reason:
there are no xdg - .desktop and .directory files.

I suggest to use fluxbox 0.9.14 optimized for "old Puppys" instead:
http://www.murga.org/~puppy/viewtopic.php?t=4245

However, if you like to experiment with the xdg-menus, you can try the Dotpup I attach.
It includes:
- the binary from Nathans fluxbox-xdgmenu.tar.gz
- .desktop + .directory files from Puppy 109CE
- libgnome-menu.so.2.0.1

Like this the "Refresh Menu"-entry in Nathans Fluxbox works quite well.

Limitations:
The menu does not list programs specific for Puppy 108 or 2, like beaver or the universal installer.
It does not display any Dotpups (unless they have own .desktop -files independant from the Dotpups-menu).

Download + screenshot:
http://dotpups.de/dotpups/WindowManager ... ox-0.9.15/

Mark

[Nathan F]

Well, quite valid points from both of you. However this was really intended for the users who are using 109, in which it works flawlessly for me. My hope is that Puppy2 will support the xdg menu spec very soon just like 109 does.

Nathan

[MU]

Good work, Nathan and Rarsa.
The additional Dotpup might help porting to Puppy2, as now it should work "out of the box".
I was irritated at first moment, when I tried it in Puppy108 and 2, then after some trial I found the files required to get it working
Mark

[rarsa]

I have two comments:

a) There is no current advantage for using XDG in previous versions of puppy. Actually the XDG menus are a way to prepare for the future. Once puppy packagers start including .desktop files then there will be an advantager.

b) There's always been a solution for previous versions.

Back in the day... I created the jwm2xdg utility

This utility creates the .desktop and .directory files from a JWM configuration file.

To use XDG in previous versions of puppy do the following:

1. Make a copy of the original JWM configuration file:

Code: Select all

cp /root/.jwmrc /root/jwmrc.orig

2. Install the WM you plan to use. If you want to use JWM you should install the most current package for puppy
4. Install the puppy-xdgmenus unleashed package.
5. Download the jwm2xdg utility to an empty folder.
6. Expand with tar -xvzf jwm2xdg-0.3.2.tar.gz
7. Open a console and type the following commands:

Code: Select all

mkdir -p /usr/share/desktop-directories/
mkdir -p /usr/share/applications/
./jwm2xdg /root/jwmrc.orig /tmp/jwm.menu /usr/share/desktop-directories/ /usr/share/applications/

(You may avoid typos by copying the commands instead of retyping them)
8. Restart the window manager.

If you want to add applications to the menu, just create a new desktop file under /usr/share/applications. Use any of the existing files as an example.

The only issue is that jwm2xdg 'guesses' the categories based on the .jwmrc menu structure.