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I like to use the GNOME desktop, but I prefer to replace its window manager with openbox, with 4 workspaces. However, when I run openbox --replace
, the number of workspaces available drops to 1. If I go into obconf, workspaces is still configured to be 4 (~/.config/openbox/rc.xml
shows the same). I can get the workspaces to reappear by changing the value in obconf to anything else, and then back to 4.
I have just been dealing with this problem since Ubuntu 9.04 (now up to 10.10) since I don't reboot very often. But it's really annoying to have to reset my workspaces whenever I do have to reboot. Changing the value in rc.xml and running openbox --reconfigure
does not seem to have any effect. So what is obconf doing that I'm not (sends a dbus message perhaps [EDIT: watching with dbus-monitor
I see no messages when changing the workspaces value in obconf])?
I was hoping there would be a cleaner way to change the window manager than just running openbox --replace
at login. So my questions are:
- Is there a better way to specify an alternate window manager (i.e. a way that doesn't cause the workspaces to break)?
- If not, how can I automatically set the number of workspaces back to 4?
Update:
I finally got around to trying what I commented on MrShunz's answer (adding WINDOW_MANAGER=/usr/bin/openbox
to ~/.gnomerc
). But the effect is the same as openbox --replace
.
Another Update (in response to geekosaur):
When running xprop -root -spy
I see this (among other values):
_NET_NUMBER_OF_DESKTOPS(CARDINAL) = 1
_NET_DESKTOP_NAMES(UTF8_STRING) = 0x57, 0x6f, 0x72, 0x6b, 0x73, 0x70, 0x61, 0x63, 0x65, 0x20, 0x31, 0x0
But I suppose that makes sense, because when I start openbox from a terminal, it says this:
Openbox-WARNING **: Openbox is configured for 4 desktops, but the current session has 1. Overriding the Openbox configuration.
But that is a lie, because metacity, which is the active window manager when openbox takes over, is configured for four desktops.
That is how I set it up (
openbox --replace
and then saved the session). But whenever I log in, I only have one workspace. I'll have to try post #5 on that page, though, which is addingexport WINDOW_MANAGER=/usr/bin/openbox
to~/.gnomerc
. – Brian – 2010-12-13T14:48:48.337