Install new gtk themes from non-puppy repos?

[grandmaslaptop]

What I want to do is install a gtk theme like Arc or Adwaita to get some eye candy.

My puppy: Precise 5.7.1, frugally installed.
I cannot test this for another week because my laptop is unavailable, but I’m hoping to know what to do when I get back to it.

From what I have searched, older versions of adwaita (old now, new when the post was made back at the murga forum) was successfully installed.
I got no luck searching for someone using the arc theme, but with modern gtk themes everything should be about the same (right?).

Starting with Arc, the prebuilt packages only existed for Arch Linux, Debian, Gentoo, NixOS and openSUSE. I’m new to linux so I don’t recognize some of them, but I guess none works for puppy.

You can do the manual install, but this requires multiple programs:
Autoconf - https://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/p ... .64-w5.pet
Automake - https://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/p ... .2-w5c.pet
Pkgconf - https://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/p ... g-1.07.pet
Gtk Murrine Engine - https://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/p ... 386-v1.pet
Gnome Themes Extra - https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-themes-extra

I don’t know if any of these are automatically on the system, but I found versions of them on the ibiblio repo. If the dotpets do not work, I might try the official releases.

Installing cinnamon could make stuff easier, but I don’t know if that’s possible. Some previews of the old forum suggested installing it, but I could not reach the whole thread in any way to see it it worked.

Here’s the github for the fork I’m using: https://github.com/jnsh/arc-theme

From what I’ve gathered, gnome-themes-extra includes the files necessary to use Adwaita and other themes outside of gnome. Plus it includes adwaita itself.

I also would like to download the arc-icon-theme - https://github.com/horst3180/arc-icon-theme or adwaitas - https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/adwaita-icon-theme

I could be very wrong about this, and it won’t work at all, but I’ve spent a lot of time researching and I really hope it does work.

EDIT: does this fit this sub? Please move if this is the wrong

[grandmaslaptop]

Has anyone done anything similar to this? Would the method I described work?

[xenial]

Experience has shown me that installing different desktops on the same machine causes nothing but a mess especially if you for example wished to remove cinnamon and the files are all over the place.

[taersh]

Hehe, he doesn't want to remove Cinnamon.

Installing cinnamon could make stuff easier, but I don’t know if that’s possible.

[taersh]

The icon themes for Puppy are stored at: /usr/local/lib/X11/themes.

If e.g. downloading the adwaita icon them you need to store the adwaita icons into: /usr/local/lib/X11/themes/Adwaita and renaming the wanted icons to the names shown in the attached image of the Ardis icon set.

Edit: damn, attaching an image doesn't seem to work.

[mikewalsh]

@ grandmaslaptop:-

Nah. Shouldn't have any issues at all.

GTK-themes are NOT arch- or even distro-specific. You'll find, regardless of where you actually get them from, that when you extract them to their component parts, they all have one thing in common; a theme-named directory that installs to /usr/share/themes. They're pretty much a collection of PNG images tied together with a bunch of scripts.

So long as the desktop/window-manager combo you want to use them in has a specification that works with the freedesktop.org standards, you're good to go. For Precise, any Ubuntu-based GTK-theme .deb package will install OOTB.

Install your themes stuff to /usr/share/themes. Re-start "X", then Menu->Desktop->Chtheme GTK theme chooser.....or open it in JWM DeskManager if you use it. Either way will let you select the theme you want.

(I don't bother with icon themes. I either search for a PNG image of what I want on the 'net, or - if I cannae find what I want - I simply make my own. I have a "PNG icons" directory with, currently, nearly 600 assorted .png icons....a legacy pf many hundreds of Google & DuckDuckGo searches.

It also appears you like the modern fad for 'flat' themes. I hate these, personally.....I prefer stuff from the XP/Vista-era, when things had more of a "3D" appearance, with little shadows, etc., & something in the way of 'definition' to them. Much more interesting to look at, I feel..! )


Mike.

[mikewalsh]

The icon themes for Puppy are stored at: /usr/local/lib/X11/themes.

Really? Sure about that..?

F'r instance, I'm currently in jrb's lightweight spin on BK's Quirky April 7.0.1. I have theme directories in

/usr/local/lib/X11/themes, &
/usr/share/themes

.....but only the items in /usr/share/themes ever show up in the theme chooser. And it's the same in every other Puppy.

(Mind you, mine are all freely-available 'generic' themes. I don't know about Puppy-built themes.....even the default themes in a "new" Puppy, fresh from the ISO, all seem to be located in /usr/share/themes, too.)

(*shrug*)


Mike.

[grandmaslaptop]

Thanks! I didn’t know it was that simple, I thought .deb premade packages wouldn’t work. Now my mind can rest

[mikewalsh]

@ Rainer:-

Actually, seems we're both right.

As you said, /usr/local/lib/X11/themes is where the icon themes live. /Usr/share/themes is where the window themes live.....

Summat new I've learnt tonight.

-----------------------------

@ grandmaslaptop:-

The above explantion defines where the individual components live; after all, as you know, you don't have to have a window theme's matching icon pack. You CAN "mix'n'match", to get the effect you want.

When it boils down to it, the rationale behind the difference between .deb/.rpm/.txz/.tgz/whatever is all determined by the package management system in use. The actual "working" files in all of these are the same, only differing in the glibc/deps/kernel they're compiled against.....and they will perform the same functions. Which explains why you can "rip" bit's & bobs from all over the place, and use 'em to build a working Puppy package.


Mike.

[Geoffrey]

You can make a directory "/root/.themes" and place them there, the same goes for icons, "/root/.icons" and "/root/.fonts".

I use to place items there as it makes for a easy cleanup and testing.

[grandmaslaptop]

You can make a directory "/root/.themes" and place them there, the same goes for icons, "/root/.icons" and "/root/.fonts".

I read about it somewhere, but they recommended linking in .themes instead of putting the files there because otherwise there was a risk of the folder corrupting or crashing? I don’t really remember... is it recommended?

Also: Do I still need to install murrine or is it preinstalled? These themes requires it

[bigpup]

/usr/local/lib/X11/pixmaps is usually where the active desktop icon set is kept.
The desktop icon themes, to choose from, are in /usr/local/lib/x11/themes.
When you select a desktop icons theme.
The icons in /usr/local/lib/X11/pixmaps change to that themes icons.

[bigpup]

/Usr/share/themes is where the window themes live.....

The GTK themes

They could be an actual set of icons.
Or a config file (gtkrc)
Or both.

What is a GTKRC file?

Settings file used by GTK+, a toolkit used for building graphical user interfaces; stored in a plain text format and contains settings that set the appearance of interface components;

Most gtk themes, are just using a gtkrc file, to command the look, it provides.

[mikewalsh]

'Murrine', huh?

Like you, I'm sure I've read something about that, somewhere. Isn't it kind of a framework, which many themes build themselves around..?


Mike.

[bigpup]

I think so.

Here is what is in a gtkrc file:
This one makes the window have a Star Trek LCARS look.

gtk-color-scheme = "bg_color: #000000000000\nfg_color: #ffffff\nbase_color: #ffffffffffff\ntext_color: #000000\nselected_bg_color: #ffffff\nselected_fg_color: #000000000000\ntooltip_bg_color: #000000000000\ntooltip_fg_color: #ffffff"

style "industrial-default"
{
xthickness = 1
ythickness = 1


GtkWidget::interior_focus = 1
GtkButton::default_border = { 3, 3, 3, 3 }
GtkButton::default_outside_border = { 3, 3, 3, 3 }
GtkRange::trough_border = 0

GtkWidget::focus_padding = 1

GtkPaned::handle_size = 7

GtkRange::slider_width = 15
GtkRange::stepper_size = 15
GtkScrollbar::min_slider_length = 30
GtkCheckButton::indicator_size = 13
GtkRadioButton::indicator_size = 13
GtkMenuBar::internal-padding = 0

WnckTasklist::fade-opacity = 1
WnckTasklist::fade-overlay-rect = 0
WnckTasklist::fade-loop-time = 2

GtkButton::child_displacement_x = 0
GtkButton::child_displacement_y = 1

GtkMenuItem::selected_shadow_type = GTK_SHADOW_IN

GtkRange::activate-slider = 1


# color definitions
bg[NORMAL] = "#000000"#@bg_color
bg[PRELIGHT] = "#111111"#shade (1.1, @bg_color)
bg[ACTIVE] = "#111111"#shade (0.85, @bg_color)
bg[SELECTED] = "#111111"#mix (0.65, @selected_bg_color, @bg_color)
bg[INSENSITIVE] = "#000000"#shade (0.85, @bg_color)

fg[NORMAL] = "#9999ff"#@fg_color
fg[PRELIGHT] = "#cc99cc"#@fg_color
fg[ACTIVE] = "#cc99cc"#@fg_color
fg[SELECTED] = "#cc99cc"#@selected_fg_color
fg[INSENSITIVE] = "#b1b1b1"#mix (0.4, @fg_color, shade (0.85, @bg_color)) #shaded to bg[INSENSITIVE]

base[NORMAL] = "#ffffff"#@base_color
base[PRELIGHT] = "#ffffff"#@base_color #XXX
base[ACTIVE] = "#111111"#mix (0.45, @selected_bg_color, @base_color) #b6c9cf
base[SELECTED] = "#111111"#@selected_bg_color
base[INSENSITIVE] = "#111111"#mix (0.95, @base_color, @text_color)

text[NORMAL] = "#555555"#@text_color
text[PRELIGHT] = "#ff9900"#@text_color #XXX
text[ACTIVE] = "#ff9900"#@text_color #@selected_fg_color
text[SELECTED] = "#ff9900"#@selected_fg_color
text[INSENSITIVE] = "#111111"#mix (0.5, @text_color, @base_color)

# bg[NORMAL] = "#f6f6f6"
# bg[PRELIGHT] = "#ffffff"
# fg[PRELIGHT] = "#202020"
# bg[ACTIVE] = "#d9d9d9"
# bg[INSENSITIVE] = "#d9d9d9"
# bg[SELECTED] = "#99a6bf"
#
# base[SELECTED] = "#6484a4"
# text[SELECTED] = "#ffffff"
# #this is selected item without focus:
# base[ACTIVE] = "#b6c9cf"
# text[INSENSITIVE] = "#757575"
#
# #defaults
# #base[NORMAL] = "#b6c9cf"
# #text[NORMAL] = "#000000"
#
engine "industrial"
{
# Set a hint to disable backward compatibility fallbacks.
hint = "use-hints"
}
}

# Style to apply an exterior forcus to GtkEntry
style "industrial-exterior-focus"
{
GtkWidget::interior-focus = 0
GtkWidget::focus-line-width = 0
}

# Add trough side details to GtkScale
style "industrial-scale"
{
GtkRange::trough-side-details = 1
}

# generic squared buttons style, used for the tasklist (treeview is in the extra treeview style)
style "industrial-squared"
{
engine "industrial"
{
rounded_buttons = FALSE
}
}

style "industrial-wide"
{
xthickness = 2
ythickness = 2
}

# style to remove the border around the progress bar
style "industrial-progress"
{
xthickness = 0
ythickness = 0
}

# make scrollbar arrows lighter
style "industrial-arrows"
{
fg[NORMAL] = mix (0.8, @fg_color, @bg_color)
}

# menuitems
style "industrial-menuitem"
{
xthickness = 3
ythickness = 3

bg[PRELIGHT] = @selected_bg_color
bg[SELECTED] = @selected_bg_color
fg[PRELIGHT] = @selected_fg_color
fg[SELECTED] = @selected_fg_color
}

style "industrial-menubar"
{
xthickness = 3
ythickness = 3
}

style "industrial-tree-header"
{
engine "industrial"
{
hint = "treeview-header"
}
xthickness = 2
ythickness = 2
}

style "industrial-tooltips"
{
xthickness = 4
ythickness = 4
bg[NORMAL] = @tooltip_bg_color
fg[NORMAL] = @tooltip_fg_color
}

style "industrial-druid"
{
bg[SELECTED] = @selected_bg_color
}

style "metacity-frame"
{

# Normal base color
bg[NORMAL] = @bg_color

# Unfocused title background color
bg[INSENSITIVE] = @bg_color

# Unfocused title text color
fg[INSENSITIVE] = mix (0.2, @fg_color, @bg_color) # "#808080"

# Focused icon color
fg[NORMAL] = mix (0.8, @fg_color, @bg_color) # same as scrollbar arrow color

# Focused title background color
bg[SELECTED] = @selected_bg_color

# Focused title text color
fg[SELECTED] = @selected_fg_color
}

style "industrial-spinbutton"
{
engine "industrial"
{
hint = "spinbutton"
}
}

style "industrial-comboboxentry"
{
engine "industrial"
{
hint = "comboboxentry"
}
}

# default style
class "GtkWidget" style "industrial-default"

# wide
class "GtkNotebook" style "industrial-wide"
class "GtkButton" style "industrial-wide"
class "GtkRange" style "industrial-wide"
class "GtkMenu" style "industrial-wide"
class "GtkFrame" style "industrial-wide"
class "GtkStatusbar" style "industrial-wide"
class "GtkEntry" style "industrial-wide"

class "GtkEntry" style "industrial-exterior-focus"
class "GtkSpinButton" style "industrial-spinbutton"
class "GtkProgress" style "industrial-progress"
class "GtkScale" style "industrial-scale"

class "GtkVScrollbar" style "industrial-arrows"
class "GtkHScrollbar" style "industrial-arrows"

widget_class "*<GtkComboBoxEntry>.*" style "industrial-comboboxentry"
widget_class "*<GtkCombo>.*" style "industrial-comboboxentry"

# treeview
widget_class "*.<GtkTreeView>.GtkButton" style "industrial-tree-header"
widget_class "*.<GtkList>.GtkButton" style "industrial-tree-header"
widget_class "*.<GtkCList>.GtkButton" style "industrial-tree-header"
widget_class "*.<ETree>.*" style "industrial-tree-header"
widget_class "*.<ETable>.*" style "industrial-tree-header"

# menuitems and interior
widget_class "*<GtkMenuItem>*" style "industrial-menuitem"

# druide
widget_class "*GnomeDruidPage*" style "industrial-druid"

widget "gtk-tooltip*" style "industrial-tooltips"

widget "*.tasklist-button" style "industrial-squared"

class "MetaFrames" style "metacity-frame"


# Work around for http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=382646
# Note that the work around assumes that the combobox is _not_ in
# appears-as-list mode.
# This style does not affect GtkComboBoxEntry, it does have an effect
# on comboboxes in appears-as-list mode though.
style "industrial-text-is-fg-color-workaround"
{
text[NORMAL] = @fg_color
text[PRELIGHT] = @fg_color
text[SELECTED] = @selected_fg_color
text[ACTIVE] = @fg_color
text[INSENSITIVE] = darker (@bg_color)
}
widget_class "*.<GtkComboBox>.<GtkCellView>" style "industrial-text-is-fg-color-workaround"

style "industrial-menuitem-text-is-fg-color-workaround"
{
text[NORMAL] = @fg_color
text[PRELIGHT] = @selected_fg_color
text[SELECTED] = @selected_fg_color
text[ACTIVE] = @fg_color
text[INSENSITIVE] = darker (@bg_color)
}
widget "*.gtk-combobox-popup-menu.*" style "industrial-menuitem-text-is-fg-color-workaround"

# Work around the usage of GtkLabel inside GtkListItems to display text.
# This breaks because the label is shown on a background that is based on the
# base color set.
style "industrial-fg-is-text-color-workaround"
{
fg[NORMAL] = @text_color
fg[PRELIGHT] = @text_color
fg[ACTIVE] = @selected_fg_color
fg[SELECTED] = @selected_fg_color
fg[INSENSITIVE] = darker (@bg_color)
}
widget_class "*<GtkListItem>*" style "industrial-fg-is-text-color-workaround"
# The same problem also exists for GtkCList and GtkCTree
# Only match GtkCList and not the parent widgets, because that would also change the headers.
widget_class "*<GtkCList>" style "industrial-fg-is-text-color-workaround"

[Geoffrey]

You can make a directory "/root/.themes" and place them there, the same goes for icons, "/root/.icons" and "/root/.fonts".

I read about it somewhere, but they recommended linking in .themes instead of putting the files there because otherwise there was a risk of the folder corrupting or crashing? I don’t really remember... is it recommended?

Also: Do I still need to install murrine or is it preinstalled? These themes requires it

Placing a theme in "/root/.themes" is for the current user root, it may cause a problem if a application is run under a different user such as spot.

At present I don't have Precise 5.7.1 installed to see what's required to run a theme engine, I have had a Oxygen theme running in a puppy with XFCE, but that's a whole other ball game, I'll see what I can find, might be able to sort something out, I did look at Bionic, but there wasn't a way to change the theme as a whole, the window setting don't seem to be associated with theme look, it's appears to be fragmented utilizing only a portion of theme.

[bigpup]

The window look is being provided by two things.
JWM themes (window manager) -->Decoration of menu, tray, and window border.
GTK themes -->appearance of items inside the window.

So, you have to make changes to windows using:
Whatever program(s), is in the Puppy version, to change gtk theme and JWM theme.

[grandmaslaptop]

JWM themes (window manager) -->Decoration of menu, tray, and window border.

Hmm, I’ve tried messing around with the jwm themes so I know where to do that. But for this gtk theme I don’t wish to customize the window more than the gtk theme does. In the standard gtk themes in my puppy the jwm theme changes color inside of the border in the top bar of the window. I just want to keep the colors the gtk theme included. But if I understand you correctly for most gtk themes the jwm themes will just change the thin border outside of the window.
The jwm theme is only colors right, it’s the gtk themes that determines the window shape.?

[taersh]

I recommend to you to boot Puppy with pfix=ram. This will boot Puppy without to load any save file or save folder. Just like booting Puppy the first time. Then open the JWM Theme Manager and the GTK Theme Manager. Just play a little with both of them to see by yourself what's been changed from JWM and GTK.

This will save you a lot of time asking questions and to us too answering those questions.

Have you ever heard of: learning by doing?

Booting with pfix=ram (inside the kernel line of boot menu entry in menu.lst) is pretty much useful to do "learning by doing". In Germany we also say: "probieren geht über studieren" which literally says "testing is better then studying".

DIY is also known?
GOOD!

[grandmaslaptop]

Have you ever heard of: learning by doing?

Usually I do, but

I cannot test this for another week because my laptop is unavailable, but I’m hoping to know what to do when I get back to it.

Alright, sorry for disturbing y’all. I won’t ask so many questions.

[rockedge]

[mention]grandmaslaptop[/mention] go on and ask as many questions as you need. Once you learn and figure out more about Puppy Linux you most likely will give back to the community with the knowledge you have discovered.
So it's fine, right [mention]taersh[/mention]??

[mikewalsh]

@grandmaslaptop go on and ask as many questions as you need. Once you learn and figure out more about Puppy Linux you most likely will give back to the community with the knowledge you have discovered.
So it's fine, right @taersh??

I concur. Although many of us are of the "enquiring mind" mind-set, and like to try out as much as possible before admitting defeat, caving-in, and asking for help, some of us tend to forget that we, too, were once in the "noob's" shoes ourselves.

We're not all wired-up the same.....but there's no reason why that should be a barrier to trying things out. Puppy is a "do-ocracy", and we most of us contribute back to the community in one way or another, each according to our strengths.....

------------------------------------------------

[mention]grandmaslaptop[/mention] :- You ask as much as you feel you need to. If you never ask questions, you never learn anything; very few of us are fortunate enough to be in the enviable position of being able to state that for any given subject, "I am completely self-taught. Nobody ever helped me with anything."

I can remember YOU asking many questions over the years, Rainer..... Cut grandmaslaptop some "slack", eh?


Mike.

[taersh]

@grandmaslaptop go on and ask as many questions as you need. Once you learn and figure out more about Puppy Linux you most likely will give back to the community with the knowledge you have discovered.
So it's fine, right @taersh??

Yes, of course. I didn't mean to get me wrong and/or forcing him to stop asking questions etc.
It's just booting with pfix=ram will secure him from messing up the system while playing with Puppy and testing stuff. And -at least for me- that's the way I did it all the time in the beginning, when I was using a save file.

Nowadays booting with pfix=ram is my general use of Puppy as I can setup my system at boot up by the use of the N.E.M.E.S.I.S. functions and its configuration files. Even if I would remove all .so files from /usr/lib, my system reboots just fine - like a fresh install, pretty well setup for my needs.

[PipzDex]

What I want to do is install a gtk theme like Arc or Adwaita to get some eye candy.

My puppy: Precise 5.7.1, frugally installed.
I cannot test this for another week because my laptop is unavailable, but I’m hoping to know what to do when I get back to it.

From what I have searched, older versions of adwaita (old now, new when the post was made back at the murga forum) was successfully installed.
I got no luck searching for someone using the arc theme, but with modern gtk themes everything should be about the same (right?).

Starting with Arc, the prebuilt packages only existed for Arch Linux, Debian, Gentoo, NixOS and openSUSE. I’m new to linux so I don’t recognize some of them, but I guess none works for puppy.

You can do the manual install, but this requires multiple programs:
Autoconf - https://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/p ... .64-w5.pet
Automake - https://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/p ... .2-w5c.pet
Pkgconf - https://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/p ... g-1.07.pet
Gtk Murrine Engine - https://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/p ... 386-v1.pet
Gnome Themes Extra - https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-themes-extra

I don’t know if any of these are automatically on the system, but I found versions of them on the ibiblio repo. If the dotpets do not work, I might try the official releases.

Installing cinnamon could make stuff easier, but I don’t know if that’s possible. Some previews of the old forum suggested installing it, but I could not reach the whole thread in any way to see it it worked.

Here’s the github for the fork I’m using: https://github.com/jnsh/arc-theme

From what I’ve gathered, gnome-themes-extra includes the files necessary to use Adwaita and other themes outside of gnome. Plus it includes adwaita itself.

I also would like to download the arc-icon-theme - https://github.com/horst3180/arc-icon-theme or adwaitas - https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/adwaita-icon-theme

I could be very wrong about this, and it won’t work at all, but I’ve spent a lot of time researching and I really hope it does work.

EDIT: does this fit this sub? Please move if this is the wrong

Hi Grandmaslaptop
check my pet, it's the same GTK theme chooser (bin), but the gtk_chtheme_wrapper was modified to work properly with GTK themes like you mentioned, and plus inside the pet are some dark themes like adwaita, arc, and other with the purpose and a set of icons (flat-remix) made for the JWM desktop...
in my experience, i never installed some other program to see working the GTK3 themes (except gtk3 and deps via PPM), the themes was downloaded from https://www.gnome-look.org

and finally, JWM and Rox Filer work with GTK2, only few apps work with GTK3 like Vlc, Uget, Bleachbit, pcmanfm,etc.

if you like check my repo of Puppy Precise maybe find some apps of you interest

Here the link
.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HDGmKf ... sp=sharing

Cheers!

[bigpup]

Maybe explaining it this way, you will understand better.

JWM is the window manager used by official Puppy Linux versions.
You start a program and it is displayed in a JWM window.
JWM themes control the color of parts of that window. (usually the top of the window and the wording and icons in it)

JWM, being a a fairly simple window manager, gives very basic ability to change the look of the actual window.
menu->Desktop should have a program for making simple window shape, size, actions, etc.... changes.
Recent Puppy versions have JWMDesk Manager->Window tab to change window functions.

The program running in the window.
The parts of the program display have colors, shapes of input slots and buttons, general look, controlled by the GTK theme being used.
GTK themes are not all the same.
Some control all the looks of the programs display in the JWM window.
Some may only control a few things.
Color is basic to all.
Note:
Some programs have displays, in the JWM window, that will only accept color changes, provided by the GTK theme.

I to suggest only add GTK themes that are GTK2 themes.

[grandmaslaptop]

I understand.

[csipesz]

@PipzDex: your correct google drive link for gtk theme chooser:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... MPDwXZRWgV