HOWTO: customizing KDE look and config files

**bm-w** · 08-26-2006, 10:31 AM

Hi everybody,

customizing KDE look from within a running environment as described in several other tutorials has not worked for me. I tried to edit the *rc files and could finally overcome the snares attached.

NOTE: This works with KNOPPIX 5.0.1 (with earlier versions I did not encounter (similar) problems)

1. Boot your KNOPPIX 5.0.1 CD. You will work from within it all the time.
2. A working linux partition with KDE roughly configured as you would like it to appear in your remastered CD would be of great help during the process
3. We assume that you copy the files of the KNOPPIX cd to be remastered to /dev/hda6. Please refer to http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Knoppix_Remastering_Howto for the necessary steps.

The following instructions are for people who can't / don't want to start a KDE session from the chrooted environment. Regard them as a substitute for Chapter 2.5: "Launching KDE to Change Menus, Icons, etc." of the above mentioned link.

4. The KDE backgrund image is located at /mnt/hda6/knx/master/KNOPPIX/background.jpg
5. The KDE start splashscreen image is located at /mnt/hda6/knx/source/KNOPPIX/usr/share/apps/ksplash/Themes/Default/splash_top.png
6. Configuration files for the KDE desktop are located at /etc/skel/.kde/share/... . That means in our case at /mnt/hda6/knx/source/KNOPPIX/etc/skel/.kde/share/
So, open a root console and change to
Code:
```
cd /mnt/hda6/knx/source/KNOPPIX/etc/skel/.kde/share/
```
The two subdirectories apps and most of all config will be of interest to us.

I'd like to demonstrate with two examples, how to configured the files:
1) Preconfigure kpdf to show three most recent files in the corresponding open dialogue
If kpdf has been preconfigured in your running environment (let's assume it's at /mnt/hda2/ then you need to copy that file overto /mnt/hda6/ (remember, we have already descended quite deep into the the file system) by typing
Code:
```
cp /mnt/hda2/home/{USERNAME}/.kde/share/config/kpdfrc config/
```
BTW, in my case kpdfrc looks like that:
Code:
```
[Desktop Entry]
FullScreen=false

[KFileDialog Settings]
Recent Files=/cdrom/Basic_Vocabulary/basic_vocabulary_units.pdf,/cdrom/Basic_Vocabulary/basic_vocabulary.pdf,/cdrom/Basic_Vocabulary/FOS 12 English Grammar Test.pdf

[MainWindow]
Height 768=769
Width 1024=1025

[RecentFiles]
File1=/cdrom/Basic_Vocabulary/basic_vocabulary_units.pdf
File2=/cdrom/Basic_Vocabulary/basic_vocabulary.pdf
File3=/cdrom/Basic_Vocabulary/FOS 12 English Grammar Test.pdf
Name1=basic_vocabulary_units.pdf
Name2=basic_vocabulary.pdf
Name3=FOS 12 English Grammar Test.pdf
```
Now, what is essential is that you change the file mode to 755. Here we go:
Code:
```
chmod 755 config/kpdfrc
```
If you don't, knoppix will not copy your configuration file. In my eyes this this looks like a bug ...
2) Adapting kicker to your needs
Let's assume you have kicker configured as you'd like to have it on the CD in your partitioni /dev/hda2.
As you can imagine, the process for copying over kickerrc is identical to the one described above with the exception of the filename. Don't forget to:
Code:
```
chmod 755 config/kickerrc
```
Nevertheless, with kicker we'll need to add a second thing. It was for me, at least:
You'll need to copy the *.desktop icons used in the kicker menu to the apps/kicker directory.
Now firstly, what icons do I need?
Check in config/kicker. You'll find the names in the Service button section:
Code:
```
[ServiceButton_1]
DesktopFile=/UNIONFS/usr/share/applications/kde/kvoctrain.desktop
FreeSpace2=0.14
StorageId=:kvoctrain.desktop

[ServiceButton_2]
DesktopFile=$HOME/.kde/share/apps/kicker/Home.desktop
FreeSpace2=0.228
StorageId=:firefox.desktop
```
The only relevant lines here are the StorageID lines! You can test this as with ServiceButton_2 you will not get you home directory listed but Mozilla Firefox started!
Secondly, where do I get these icons from?
You'll find the KDE icons including firefox in /usr/share/icons/default.kde/48x48/apps. Some icons, such as KVocTrain's, are located in /usr/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps.
OpenOffice icons are in /usr/share/icons/gnome/48x48/apps.
create a kicker directory in apps:
Code:
```
mkdir /mnt/hda6/knx/source/KNOPPIX/etc/skel/.kde/share/apps/kicker
```
Copy the icons you need for kicker to your that new kicker directory.
In order for KNOPPIX to copy your files over during the installation process the mode both for the directory and the *.desktop files need to be adjusted:
Code:
```
chmod apps/kicker 755 -R
```
That's it basically.
If you encounter that a kicker applet, e.g. the taskbar, is not started this may be caused by an entry in the UntrustedApplets= line in kickerrc. Just empty it and make sure that the applet is listed in the TrustedApplets= line. You'll find both in the [General] section of the file.

If you want to use konqueror for browsing your icons and possibly copying them over, use the programme in the su-mode (as root). You'll have to have the root password set before by typing passwd in the root console.

If you want to test the configuration of a KDE programme or the looks of kicker without burning a CD, copy the *rc file to /home/knoppix/.kde/share/config/ and start the app. In the case of kicker kill it first:
1. Press (Ctrl) + (Esc), search for kicker and kill it.
2. Copy the kickerrc file
3. restart kicker by pressing (Alt) + (F2) and typing kicker.

I hope my tips will be of help.
Please add your comments! Thanks!
May I suggest to perhaps include this posting into the list of instructions at http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Category...tering_Knoppix ?

Yours
Markus

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In theory one knows everything but nothing works.
In practise everything works but one doesn't know why.
M$ puts theory into practice: Nothing works and nobody knows why.

**ockham23** · 08-26-2006, 10:40 AM

need to prepare lunch, will be back in an hour

**shah** · 08-27-2006, 03:52 AM

Not commenting but adding....

I found out that most of the time kde custom menus doesn't always work (I mean menus you created using kmenuedit).
I don't know why and how it happen, some of the directories/files has been change to forbidden once move to /etc/skel. This is something you have to check yourself.

To make custom kde's menus work, you need to add .config and .local to /etc/X11/45xsession; somewhere in rsync -Ha --ignore-existing /etc/skel/{

The critical part is to chmod 755 all directories and subdirectories in /etc/skel/.config and /etc/skel/.local.
Also chmod 644 all the files inside those directories and subdirectories.

Good luck.