Xfce4 and Openbox

Question

Okay all,
I tried searching, didn't have any luck, so here goes:
I'm following along with the Wiki here to configure Xfce to run with Openbox.  The Wiki says:
Log into a normal Xfce4 session. From your terminal, type:
$ killall xfwm4 ; openbox & exit
This kills xfwm4, runs Openbox, and closes the terminal. Log out, being sure to check the "Save session for future logins" box. On your next login, Xfce4 should use Openbox as its window manager.
When I do this, Xfce flickers for a moment as the terminal closes and sends me back to the desktop, but nothing has changed.  I then proceed to log out, checking the box as instructed, and log back in.  However, Xfce does not use Openbox as the window manager when I do this.
When I run:
$ ps aux | grep -E '(openbox|xfwm4)'
It returns:
username 2210 1.5 0.2 137084 9204 tty1 S 02:12 0:00 xfwm4 --display :0.0 --sm-client-id ...
I've tried this several times without luck.  I have ObConf installed already, and also installed Xfce4 (and was able to get it to load properly using startxfce4, naturally) as well as Openbox (the installation order went Xfce4, Openbox, ObConf in case it matters.)
Any idea what the issue might be?
If I run just
$ killall xfwm4 ; openbox
(ie, without the exit), I receive the message
A window manager is already running on screen 0
Last edited by Brukhar (2012-03-01 04:30:13)

Answer 1

I have tried both of your above methods, here's the results:
openbox --replace
When I do this, it doesn't return control to me in the terminal, so I have to CTRL-C out of it, at which point Openbox isn't running anymore.
So, I modified it to:
openbox --replace &
Now, when I do this, it starts Openbox (the window styling changes obviously), and returns:
[1] 1687
Then, running
ps aux | grep -E '(openbox|xfwm4)'
returns
eric 1687 0.0 0.1 96800 7940 pts/0 S 20:09 0:00 openbox --replace
which indicates Openbox is now running properly.
So, then I proceed to logout using the menu option, and I check the box for "Save session for future use.".  Upon logout, I see the following warnings:
// typical X.org startup information
(xfce4-panel:1660): Wnck-WARNING **: Unhandled action type _OB_WM_ACTION_UNDECORATE
(xfce4-session:1653): Wnck-WARNING **: Unhandled action type _OB_WM_ACTION_UNDECORATE
Upon running
startxfce4
again, my desktop returns, however my cursor has turned to a black X, and the desktop icon for Home is now partially covered by the top toolbar.  Additionally, when I start a terminal, the top of the terminal is actually overlapping with the menu and part of it is off the screen to the top.
Running
ps aux | grep -E '(openbox|xfwm4)'
reveals that neither xfwm4 nor openbox is running.
So, then if I run
openbox &
I can then at least click the top menu bar and move the terminal back fully onto the screen.  If I click "X" for the terminal, it hides the terminal but it does not disappear from the application bar.  If I then logout, I see the following warnings:
// typical X.org startup information
xfdesktop[1661]: starting up
xfce4-settings-helper: Another instance is already running. Leaving...
(xfce4-settings-helper:1663): xfce4-settings-helper-WARNING **: Failed to get the _NET_NUMBER_OF_DESKTOPS property.
xfce4-panel: No window manager registered on screen 0. To start the panel without this check, run with --disable-wm-check.
(xfce4-panel:1660): Wnck-WARNING **: Unhandled action type _OB_WM_ACTION_UNDECORATE
(xfce4-session:1653): Wnck-WARNING **: Unhandled action type _OB_WM_ACTION_UNDECORATE
When I run
startxfce4
again, it returns to the previous issue where my desktop shows but the cursor is a black X and the icons and toolbar overlap, and neither xfwm4 nor openbox is running.
If, instead of running
openbox &
when I have no window manager, I instead run
xfwm4
it returns to normal (terminal closes properly, nothing is overlapping), and when I logout, I see the following warnings:
// typical X.org startup information
xfdesktop[1661]: starting up
xfce4-settings-helper: Another instance is already running. Leaving...
(xfce4-settings-helper:1663): xfce4-settings-helper-WARNING **: Failed to get the _NET_NUMBER_OF_DESKTOPS property.
xfce4-panel: No window manager registered on screen 0. To start the panel without this check, run with --disable-wm-check.
When I next run
startxfce4
everything loads properly (read, it loads normally as it did before I replaced xfwm4 with Openbox, so there are no errors with overlapping icons and menu bars and the terminal actually closes), and there are no warning messages displayed on logout.
So, what gives?
Last edited by Brukhar (2012-03-01 02:39:32)