Ubuntu

User installed themes do not get used by root access demanding applications

Asked by Botond Szász

Is there a way for themes installed by a regular user be used by all applications, even those which require root privileges.
An example:

I install a new GTK theme and use it. Now all the controls are using the theme in regular applications (Nautilus, Pidgin, etc.), but if I start the Update Manager for example, and after it asks me for the password to install updates, the windows opening from this point on (now with root privileges) do not use the theme I installed, instead they default to the basic GTK theme (basically no theme mode). This seriously breaks consistency on my desktop.

The problem is that the newly installed theme is only installed in ~/.themes and not in /usr/share/themes too. I think the solution would be that the apps started by me, the regular user, use the theme defined by me from ~/.themes, even if they get elevated privileges through asking for password. Or another possibility is to ask for a password when installing themes and copy it in the /usr/share/themes folder instead. The user should choose between installing the theme system wide, or only for himself.

This is an old problem, but it is still not solved, or nobody thinks about it?

It is very unpleasant to see your nicely themed windows, than if you start Synaptic, an ugly unthemed window appears, seriously breaking consistency.

Any solutions to this?

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Gord Allott (gordallott) said : 		#1

can you not just do this?
sudo cp -r ~/.themes/ /usr/share/themes/

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Botond Szász (boteeka) said : 		#2

Yes I can, but why would I have to? Wouldn't it feel more natural if this would be automatic?

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Gord Allott (gordallott) said : 		#3

if you install a theme into ~/.themes (either manually or via the theme install system) its assumed you want it to be a local theme thats only available to you (and anyone else that shares the same home directory). if you want a global install of a theme its assumed you will either install the theme as root when using the theme install system or manually put it into /usr/share/themes

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