[solved]keep apps from inheriting the GUI's colour scheme

JasonMehmel · 2015-10-09 04:31:29

I've been using Bunsen-Blackish as my widget style and Nightmare as my Openbox colour theme, and overall it's great. That said, a few programs, specifically Chrome and Firefox, are inheriting some of those theme elements in ways that are less than optimal.

(For example, Firefox, when giving me a text box, coloured it dark along with the theme, but the letters that I was typing were also black... less than optimal.)

This is less noticeable in Chrome. I think I've seen it in other programs but I can't think of any others at the moment.

Is there an option for some programs to retain their own colours, or at least ignore the system defined ones?

Last edited by JasonMehmel (2015-10-09 06:16:21)

hhh · 2015-10-09 05:18:00

For Firefox/Iceweasel, open /usr/share/themes/Bunsen-Blackish/README and follow the instructions. 8o

For Chrome, set the theme style to GTK+ in Settings>Appearance.

For other programs like Meld, really it's just easiest to change to a light theme.

JasonMehmel · 2015-10-09 05:37:02

Brilliant. That worked for Iceweasel (which is what I meant to say when I said Firefox) so I guess it keeps those files in the same place!

For Chrome, I'm okay switching themes if need be.

So this fix would be on a program-by-program basis, based on the user?

hhh · 2015-10-09 06:44:13

Some programs are less flexible with theming in that they expect dark text (print) on a light background (paper). That's why the default BunsenLabs GTK theme is Bunsen and not Bunsen-Dark.

JasonMehmel · 2015-10-10 18:16:56

Ah. Thanks for the info... I might poke around at the other GTK themes too...

Temetka · 2015-10-30 05:01:56

Well, glad I stumbled across this. This is exactly what I was looking for to fix an IceWeasel issue.

Thanks!

johnraff · 2015-10-30 05:36:59

JasonMehmel wrote:

That worked for Iceweasel (which is what I meant to say when I said Firefox) so I guess it keeps those files in the same place!

Iceweasel and Firefox are pretty much identical, except for some branding changes.

ohnonot · 2015-11-05 06:50:36

these days, i use bunsen-blackish for my ui, but i start iceweasel like this:

#!/bin/dash

GTK2_RC_FILES="$HOME/.mozilla/firefox/gtkrc" /usr/bin/iceweasel "$@" &
exit 0

(save to $HOME/bin, make executable)

~/.mozilla/firefox/gtkrc:

include "/home/username/.gtkrc-2.0.mine"
gtk-theme-name="Bunsen"
gtk-icon-theme-name="Emerald"
gtk-font-name="Open Sans 9"
gtk-cursor-theme-name="Polar-Blue"
gtk-cursor-theme-size=0
gtk-toolbar-style=GTK_TOOLBAR_ICONS
gtk-toolbar-icon-size=GTK_ICON_SIZE_LARGE_TOOLBAR
gtk-button-images=0
gtk-menu-images=1
gtk-enable-event-sounds=0
gtk-enable-input-feedback-sounds=0
gtk-xft-antialias=1
gtk-xft-hinting=1
gtk-xft-hintstyle="hintfull"
gtk-xft-rgba="rgb"

(a clone of ~/.gtkrc-2.0, except for the gtk theme.)

vasa1 · 2015-11-11 12:38:19

ohnonot wrote:

these days, i use bunsen-blackish for my ui, but i start iceweasel like this:
#!/bin/dash

GTK2_RC_FILES="$HOME/.mozilla/firefox/gtkrc" /usr/bin/iceweasel "$@" &
exit 0
...

Could you please explain the purpose of

... "$@" &
exit 0

I too use a different gtk theme for Libreoffice Calc than my default. My code is this:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# used by Openbox right-click menu

GTK2_RC_FILES=$HOME/.gtkrc-LibO libreoffice4.4 --calc

And in my ~/.local/share/applications/libreoffice-calc.desktop the Exec= line is this:

Exec=bash -c 'GTK2_RC_FILES=$HOME/.gtkrc-LibO libreoffice4.4 --calc %u'

Last edited by vasa1 (2015-11-12 12:37:11)

ohnonot · 2015-11-12 07:08:40

vasa1 wrote:

..."$@" &
exit 0
Could you please explain the purpose of the part I underlined?

that last bit ($@) ensures that all command line arguments passed to ~/bin/iceweasel are passed on to /usr/bin/iceweasel.
the "&" forks the iceweasel process away from the script, and the "exit 0" simply exits the script with no error.

Snap · 2015-11-12 10:44:47

Something to explore. Thanks for the insight, folks.

vasa1 · 2015-11-12 12:41:53

ohnonot wrote:

vasa1 wrote:
..."$@" &
exit 0
Could you please explain the purpose of the part I underlined?
that last bit ($@) ensures that all command line arguments passed to ~/bin/iceweasel are passed on to /usr/bin/iceweasel.
the "&" forks the iceweasel process away from the script, and the "exit 0" simply exits the script with no error.

Thanks for explaining!

I guess you're launching the script from the terminal. I use my codes in menu.xml and in the .desktop file so I'm guessing the code you use would not be required in my context.

johnraff · 2015-11-14 04:52:05

ohnonot wrote:

vasa1 wrote:
..."$@" &
exit 0
Could you please explain the purpose of the part I underlined?
that last bit ($@) ensures that all command line arguments passed to ~/bin/iceweasel are passed on to /usr/bin/iceweasel.
the "&" forks the iceweasel process away from the script, and the "exit 0" simply exits the script with no error.

Forking a process like this still leaves the script "running" till the child process closes. Try "exec", this makes the child process take over the shell so the process which launched it no longer exists:

exec GTK2_RC_FILES="$HOME/.mozilla/firefox/gtkrc" /usr/bin/iceweasel "$@"

The 'exit 0' also becomes unnecessary as that command will never be reached.

ohnonot · 2015-11-14 08:21:34

thanks johnraff!

Snap · 2015-11-14 10:57:31

Indeed!

ohnonot · 2015-11-14 11:48:45

not quite!
it has to be like this:

#!/bin/dash

GTK2_RC_FILES="$HOME/.mozilla/firefox/gtkrc"
exec /usr/bin/iceweasel "$@"

(same with bash)

johnraff · 2015-11-15 04:12:57

^that will teach me to post code without testing it! I was wondering how the variable assignment would work with exec...

Actually, with the variable on its own line, don't you have to export it before launching iceweasel?

export GTK2_RC_FILES="$HOME/.mozilla/firefox/gtkrc"
exec /usr/bin/iceweasel "$@"

Or perhaps this would work? (one line)

GTK2_RC_FILES="$HOME/.mozilla/firefox/gtkrc" exec /usr/bin/iceweasel "$@"

ohnonot · 2015-11-15 08:41:57

johnraff wrote:

Actually, with the variable on its own line, don't you have to export it before launching iceweasel?

i was thinking that myself, but lo and behold, my version does what it should (i.e. start iceweasel with a light theme regardless of the dark theme my ui uses).

pvsage · 2015-11-15 15:41:31

johnraff wrote:

Actually, with the variable on its own line, don't you have to export it before launching iceweasel?

Shouldn't have to, especially with the hashbang. What happens in the script stays in the script; the child process inherits variables from the parent script.
I think?

johnraff · 2015-11-21 08:23:15

Not quite sure what's happening here, to be honest. I've just tried 'exec urxvt' from a terminal to see what variables get passed over to the new terminal. Even with exec I had to use

export var=test
exec urxvt

or

var=test exec urxvt

to get 'echo $var' to work in the new terminal.

#1 2015-10-09 04:31:29

[solved]keep apps from inheriting the GUI's colour scheme

#2 2015-10-09 05:18:00

Re: [solved]keep apps from inheriting the GUI's colour scheme

#3 2015-10-09 05:37:02

Re: [solved]keep apps from inheriting the GUI's colour scheme

#4 2015-10-09 06:44:13

Re: [solved]keep apps from inheriting the GUI's colour scheme

#5 2015-10-10 18:16:56

Re: [solved]keep apps from inheriting the GUI's colour scheme

#6 2015-10-30 05:01:56

Re: [solved]keep apps from inheriting the GUI's colour scheme

#7 2015-10-30 05:36:59

Re: [solved]keep apps from inheriting the GUI's colour scheme

#8 2015-11-05 06:50:36

Re: [solved]keep apps from inheriting the GUI's colour scheme

#9 2015-11-11 12:38:19

Re: [solved]keep apps from inheriting the GUI's colour scheme

#10 2015-11-12 07:08:40

Re: [solved]keep apps from inheriting the GUI's colour scheme

#11 2015-11-12 10:44:47

Re: [solved]keep apps from inheriting the GUI's colour scheme

#12 2015-11-12 12:41:53

Re: [solved]keep apps from inheriting the GUI's colour scheme

#13 2015-11-14 04:52:05

Re: [solved]keep apps from inheriting the GUI's colour scheme

#14 2015-11-14 08:21:34

Re: [solved]keep apps from inheriting the GUI's colour scheme

#15 2015-11-14 10:57:31

Re: [solved]keep apps from inheriting the GUI's colour scheme

#16 2015-11-14 11:48:45

Re: [solved]keep apps from inheriting the GUI's colour scheme

#17 2015-11-15 04:12:57

Re: [solved]keep apps from inheriting the GUI's colour scheme

#18 2015-11-15 08:41:57

Re: [solved]keep apps from inheriting the GUI's colour scheme

#19 2015-11-15 15:41:31

Re: [solved]keep apps from inheriting the GUI's colour scheme

#20 2015-11-21 08:23:15

Re: [solved]keep apps from inheriting the GUI's colour scheme

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