Self changing desktop theme
 

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS on a Dell XPS Studio 8000 - I find that on occasion the desktop theme seems to change itself. I have selected Clearlooks. The desktop generally looks correct as shown in the first attachment. Then for some unknown reason the desktop changes - most obvious are the buttons which are now square cornered rather than round cornered. See the second attachment. Appearance Preferences usually still shows the Theme as Clearlooks although I have had it change to "Custom" a time or two.

Logout/login does not fix the problem. A reboot will fix the problem and return to the correct Clearlooks Theme. Any ideas?

TIA,

Ken

Does this happen if you change to a different theme?

I would change your theme and use that long enough to find out.

Thanks widget, I will try that. Of course by Murphy's Law the problem will not occur until just after I get tired of the new theme and change back :(

Ken

You know about how often this occurs.

If it does not occur in that time frame with another theme I would check for bugs filed on Clearlooks. See if it has been reported or has been an issue in the past. If not I would purge clearlooks and reinstall it. If it has been filed on I would join the bug with a "effects me too".

If there is a current bug report there may be a work around in the comments somewhere.

This was happening to me awhile back as well. I had to restart the x a couple times and it just stopped.

Widget,

Sorry to say but I don't really know how often it happens. Seems like it has happened twice in the past few days. That is what prompted me to post the question. I can't remember when it last happened prior to this most recent experience.

I see a number of bugs against Clearlooks - never thought of charging bugs against a Theme but I guess it is in fact a Theme is a collection of code. Nothing in the current bug lists smells like the issue I am experiencing. And what I am experiencing is not something I can reproduce. I guess I need to write down the programs I am running when it occurs.

I am currently running the New Wave Theme which is the least offensive of the Themes other then Clearlooks. I will see what happens over a couple of days.

Thanks NakedNacho, I guess this is what is meant by Linux being a stable operating system :rolleyes:

Ken

There are a lot of other themes available.

You could run a search for ubuntu themes and probably pick up the link to the archives for past releases.

Also gnome themes.

There is also;
http://gnome-look.org/

Which is a collection of themes and other things (icons, wallpaper, etc) contributed by a lot of folks.

You may want to stick with clearlooks and wait for it to happen again. When it does open your terminal and;
It might be bugs instead of bug. I am on my main OS (Debian) at the moment and am not sure of the exact word in Ubuntu speak.

This should send a bug report, complete with needed files, to launchpad. If you do not have an account there you can set one up, easily, when the site opens on your browser. It will open from apport, the app you are pulling up with that command.

I only have 389 files in my /user/share/themes file. I need to cull them a bit. There really are a lot out there.

There are a lot of other themes available.

You could run a search for ubuntu themes and probably pick up the link to the archives for past releases.

Also gnome themes.

There is also;
http://gnome-look.org/

Which is a collection of themes and other things (icons, wallpaper, etc) contributed by a lot of folks.

You may want to stick with clearlooks and wait for it to happen again. When it does open your terminal and;
This should send a bug report, complete with needed files, to launchpad. If you do not have an account there you can set one up, easily, when the site opens on your browser. It will open from apport, the app you are pulling up with that command.

I only have 389 files in my /user/share/themes file. I need to There really are a lot out there.

MORE Themes - just what I need :doh: When I used Windows I always switched the desktop back to Windows Classic (from NT 4 I think). The simplest, most unobtrusive, least gaudy etc. I want the OS to work in the background to manage my files and run the applications which I use to do work. I don't want the OS to be an end unto itself. But I guess that's just me. Yes I liked CP/M :D

I will fire a bug against Clearlooks next time it happens. I have an account at launchpad. Thanks again for your replies.

Ken

I was having the same problem with 10.04. I'd be in the middle of doing something when I'd see something change out of the corner of my eye - it was the theme. I was using Darkroom as my theme then. The way to re-set it was to go to System>Preferences>Appearance and hover over my preferred theme and it got the message and changed back.
Now I'm on 10.10 using the Ubuntu default and there's been no problem - yet.

BTW - also a Dell PC

It is a shame to have to change to a regular release to correct problems in a LTS. Particularly if you want an OS that "just works" and intend to stick to it.

I am still using 8.04 as my main secure, business OS. Would love to use 10.04. Instead I am on Debian testing (10.04 is based on it) and will, when I have this set the way I like it, be switching to it as my main OS.

I agree with you!
Every time there's a version change, I get a new problem to sort out and vow never to update again. That should not happen - the update should have been tested thoroughly before release. Currently I've got a problem with Firewire sockets not being recognised when they worked perfectly before...

Well I just did a login (after suspend logged me out instead of just suspending - my major gripe with Ubuntu of any flavor on this PC) and I was back to the square cornered not so Clearlooks. I tried ubuntu-bug clearlooks and it told me there was no such package as Clearlooks. Does that mean that I have to report the bug against the whole of gnome? I doubt that would get much developer attention but I will give it a try.

Ken

filed as bug 670085

I would look it up in synaptic and find out what package it is. If a synaptic search for clearlooks does not turn up an entry I would file the bug on ubuntu-desktop as clearlooks is a default installed theme.

I just checked a 10.04 /usr/share/themes and Clearlooks is on of the sub directories so it should be a package. It is not in /var/cache/apt/archive but I am not surprised as it has not been reinstalled but is still the default installed package.

If you have reinstalled it, it should be there as the .deb package and should have the correct name.

Synaptic show 2 packages related to Clearlooks:

gnome-themes-selected
gtk2-engines

Let me see if I can redirect my bug to the first package.

Ken