Xfce ML FAQ - v0.2

[Auke Kok]

Hi everyone,

Here's v0.2 of the FAQ. There are some few modifications so I'd like 
*EVERYONE* to read it and see if something is missing (that includes 
*YOU* too!)

Sections that need specific attention:

* package locations for distro's
* all other missing FAQ entries

If you want to help creating this document, reply to *THIS* message and
write your additions AT THE BOTTOM, or even better REMOVE ALL PREVIOUS
CONTENT. that way it's easy for us to spot what you are trying to add or
modify.

sofar


start of content:
=================================================================

Hi!

Welcome to the Xfce users mailing list FAQ. This e-mail will provide you
with some valuable clues and hints on getting your questions about Xfce
answered, either by hints on where to find the documentation or support
or direct answers to the most common questions.

You will also find some more general tips and pointers about this
mailinglist and the Xfce project, such as related projects and groups.
Feel free to suggest additional content to this FAQ, by sending it to
the maintainer of this FAQ (listed at the bottom).

Index:

o General mailinglist information
o Which lists are there? (and what are they for?)
o Which Xfce user/project groups exist?
o So what if I need help?
o I've read the websites and I still need help!
o Quoting style?
o What about you guys?
o Most commonly asked questions
o Xfce ML FAQ - maintainer



o General mailinglist information

The Xfce users mailinglist is hosted at our joint project servers
(foo-projects.org) and uses "mailman" to interface users, subscriptions
and stuff like that. You will need to be subscribed to post to the
mailinglists. Here are some useful links to interface with the mailinglists:

View all lists:         http://foo-projects.org/mailman/listinfo
Subscribe/Unsubscribe:  http://foo-projects.org/mailman/listinfo/xfce
Online Archive:         http://foo-projects.org/pipermail/xfce


o Which lists are there? (and what are they for?)

There are "developer" and "user" lists. The general (this) user mailing
list for Xfce is "xfce at xfce.org". This is the typical list to discuss
problems that might not be bugs, questions for help, exchanging tips and
tricks and general news that might interest any Xfce user.

If you wish to discuss development issues and bugs, please refer to the
development mailing list "xfce4-dev at xfce.org". There is an obsolete list
called "xfce-dev" as well but since all of the development is done on
xfce version 4 this list is not used.

Specific lists also exist for translations (xfce-i18n at xfce.org),
announcements from the Xfce team (xfce-announce at xfce.org), commits and
autogenerated messages (xfce4-commits at xfce.org, xfce-bugs at xfce.org).

Other related projects also sometimes have mailinglists, some of them
are not hosted on foo-projects.org:

xfc:          xfc-dev at xfce.org
thunar:       thunar-dev at xfce.org
xfce goodies: xfce-goodies-dev at lists.berlios.de
(archive at http://lists.berlios.de/pipermail/xfce-goodies-dev/ )


o Which Xfce user/project groups exist?

+ The Xfce team - This is the main Xfce development group that develops
the Xfce Desktop Environment. This group provides the core items of the
Xfce desktop such as session manager, window manager, panel, Xfce
libraries and such. This team also takes care of some Xfce applications
such as Xfmedia, Orage, Xffm, thunar etc. -> http://xfce.org/

+ The Xfce Goodies group - This group is closely related but not
controlled or steered by the Xfce team. Any 3rd-party Xfce application
is considered an automatic member of the goodies team. The team shares a
webspace on Berlios. -> http://xfce-goodies.berlios.de/
Everyone is welcome to contribute his Xfce application here!

+ Separate Xfce projects - Many Xfce developers and enthusiasts have
contributed or developed Xfce applications themselves. Some are too
large (xfc -> http://xfc.xfce.org/, pyxfce -> http://pyxfce.xfce.org/)
to be a goody and have their own website. You can find all of them on
the Xfce Directory (once it's finished!). -> http://directory.xfce.org/


o So what if I need help?

Getting help might be easier then you think. There's no phone number you
can call for Xfce support but we do have a large group of people that
are willing to help you in other ways. Here's a short list of them:

Official documentation: http://xfce.org/index.php?page=documentation
User Forum:             http://forum.xfce.org/
IRC channel:            irc://irc.freenode.net/#xfce
Wiki:                   http://www.xfcewiki.org/
Bugreports:             http://bugzilla.xfce.org/
List archives:          http://foo-projects.org/pipermail/xfce


o I've read the websites and I still need help!

Asking on a mailing list for help is hard: Everyone will read your
question and will criticise you if you submit a question in the wrong
way. There's a really good document you should read _before_ you post to
_any_ mailing list first:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Take 15 minutes to read this document, it will help you later and you
will understand much better how to get your question answered. Here's a
few hints:

+ Do some research first
+ Ask the right people
+ When asking in IRC, ask for pointers to help, not the explanation
+ When asking in mailinglists, format your mail properly
+ Use english
+ Be specific and detailed (but not too much)
+ Re-post the solution

If you follow these rules everyone will be happy to help you! But don't 
be afraid to ask though, this mailinglists is exactly for asking questions!


o Quoting style?

It's very hard to understand a thread of messages if they become replies
to reply and everyone mixes quoting styles. That's why there is
something called "quoting style", that describes how you should quote
the previous posters contents when you reply to a mailinglist message.

We prefer that you use "Bottom quoting". That means that you should put
your reply _below_ the original posters message. That way the contents
are in chronological order and you can read the entire message thread
without figuring out where the reply belongs to.

Here's a good FAQ on how to quote:

http://web.presby.edu/~nnqadmin/nnq/nquote.html

Basically:

+ quote at the bottom
+ prune text from the quote that is irrelevant
+ remove footers and headers (condense)
+ put the reply directly next to (in between) the original text


o What about you guys?

Well we're just a bunch of geeks (we need girls) who like Xfce... Most
of us work on Xfce outside of our normal daily occupation such as real
work or real study (except some lucky basterds who do both). If you're
interested in getting to know the Xfce team a bit closer (and are okay
with a little abuse, being teased or ignored etc) you're welcome to join
us on our IRC channel (#xfce on the freenode IRC network) or read our 
blogs. This might not always be about Xfce but that's life. -> 
http://blog.xfce.org/


o Most commonly asked questions

There are a few questions that get asked much more often then any other.
We hope we can provide you with the information here to find out for
yourself how to find more information about them.

+ How can I start up applications (to a specific desktop | when I lauch
Xfce)?

Use the session-manager. If you still have problems with some 
applications not behaving or remembering their desktop number then you 
might consider using "devilspie". You can add links to applications in 
~/Desktop/Autostart, but the session-manager also remembers which 
applications you had running when you last logged out (and saved your 
session!), and will start them again (so don't close your applications 
before logging out!)

+ How can I shutdown my computer in Xfce?

Read 
http://www.loculus.nl/xfce/documentation/docs-4.2/xfce4-session.html#xfsm-shutdown

+ My desktop has disappeared!?

This happens often with nautilus, which by default takes over the 
desktop. Please start nautilus with the --no-desktop flag, or use 
gconfig-editor and unset the flag that tells nautilus to handle the 
desktop. Start xfdesktop again and you should be OK again.

+ How do I edit the system application menu?

The menu is partially autogenerated by xfdesktop. If you want to just 
delete or add one or two applications, add the proper .desktop file 
(usually in /usr/share/applications). With the xfce4-menueditor, you can 
completely customize the menu.

+ What other (hidden) settings exist?

A lot. Take a look into the manual for hidden settings for each 
component. 
http://www.loculus.nl/xfce/documentation/docs-4.2/xfwm4.html#hidden_options
http://www.loculus.nl/xfce/documentation/docs-4.2/xfce4-panel.html#panel-kiosk

+ Where can I get Xfce packages for XXX?

This section is horribly incomplete! Please submit links to packages for 
your favorite distrubution/OS!


o Xfce ML FAQ - maintainer

The current FAQ maintainer is: sofar at lunar-linux.org



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