KDE with openbox as wm session

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1

I come from Manjaro. There the openbox package install a plasma session where it’s used instead of kwin. You can select this on the menu on the login screen. Is there any way to do this in Opensuse (TW)? It might be as simple as copying some files. I know plasma is plenty happy with no kwin as I’ve run it like this for >5 years :slight_smile:

2

The reason I want to do this is because:

  1. global shortcut management with kwin is tedious

  2. I want to use wmctrl and xdotool on a config file. kwin only lets me do this trough a gui and it’s not trivial to spawn a shell to call a terminal tool with arguments

  3. I don’t want compositing (I care about keyboard latency), so I don’t mind openbox to be a noncompositing wm

3

Yes. You can simply copy session from Manjaro or write your own. In case you are banned by Google: Tutorials/Using Other Window Managers with Plasma - KDE UserBase Wiki

4

It’s not that easy.

This is the file defining the session:[Desktop Entry]
Name=KDE/Openbox
Comment=Use the Openbox window manager inside of the K Desktop Environment
Exec=/usr/bin/openbox-kde-session
TryExec=/usr/bin/startplasma-x11
Icon=openbox
Type=Application

Our package manager didn’t install [FONT=monospace]/usr/bin/openbox-kde-session. Luckily this is just a script that calls startplasma-x11 which we do have :slight_smile:

[/FONT][FONT=monospace]#!/bin/sh

if test -n “$1”; then
echo “Syntax: openbox-kde-session”
echo
echo “See the openbox-kde-session(1) manpage for help.”
exit
fi

Set the prefix for the menu layout to use

export XDG_MENU_PREFIX=“kde-4-”

Clean up after GDM

xprop -root -remove _NET_NUMBER_OF_DESKTOPS
-remove _NET_DESKTOP_NAMES
-remove _NET_CURRENT_DESKTOP 2> /dev/null

Run KDE with Openbox as its window manager

export KDEWM="/usr/bin/openbox"
exec /usr/bin/startplasma-x11 “$@”

[/FONT]
[FONT=monospace]Suggestion to whoever is packaging openbox or kde: include this session.

Problem solved, but will need to test on a machine that is not production, as this could leave me without an X session and hose a computer for good.

UPDATE: nope, this didn’t work. It shows a KDE/openbox session, but selecting it shows a normal kde session with kwin.

I don’t know what to do. I’ve sank hours, days on this. One easy solution is to use lxde or openbox straight, but I need kde for the taskbar and second monitor management. Plus I love all the kde apps (okular, dolphin) and I have plenty of RAM.
[/FONT]

5

I think this is due to KDE >5.25 using systemd to launch the window manager. There’s a workaround, but I don’t want to fight the system this much. I’ve moved my config to kwin. Thanks to all who read this and spent any time at all thinking about it and writing an answer :slight_smile:

6

I can run xfwm4 in KDE with a simple script.

#!/bin/sh
sleep 3 && xfwm4 --replace

I add this as login script in systemsettings autostart.
There is a sleep because if I don’t do it the xfce4-panel sometimes doesn’t start.
xfce4-panel is also running in KDE by adding it at as application in systemsettings auto start.

Maybe you can do it in openbox by doing similar to this, just my thought:)