Taking ownership of wallpapers folder to add personal wallpapers

[Guest]

I recently been using Kubuntu almost full time as my default OS. Through the years it has become more user friendly and will definitely stand alone already as a permanent OS for PC users. Almost anything you do on a MAC or Windows PC can be done on Kubuntu now and even more. And Unlike Ubuntu you pretty much spot the differences. One of them I want to point out is Customizing Wallpapers for each Virtual Desktop and specifically "Adding your own personal wallpapers" to the "wallpapers" directory which by default is owned by the "root" account. So therefore as a user you wont be able to copy any file into that directory nor can you change the folder attributes or folder owner coz you don't have the permissions or privileges as root. There are a lot of ways of doing it. Here's how I did it. I like to have full access to some folders owned by "root" just because of the inconvenience it creates when using a "personal" computer. First of all you open "konsole" by hitting "Alt+F2" and type in "konsole" and select konsole. Then just type "kdesudo dolphin" (without the quotes) into the terminal and press enter. You'll be asked to type in your password. Once you press enter a "root-dolphin" file manager window will open. Navigate to the usr/share directory and locate the "wallpaper" folder and right click it and select "properties". Switch to the "Permissions" tab and click "Advanced Permissions" and you will see a window with the accounts and the Access permissions. By default only the "Owner" will have read (r), write (w), and modify or delete (x) checked. The Owning group and Others will not have Write permissions. All you have to do here is make sure all "r, w, x" are checked for the "others" account or even the Owning Group" account. Then click OK. Now you will be back at the "Properties for wallpaper - Dolphin" window, here just tick or check the "Apply changes to all subfolders and their contents checkbox and click OK. By this time You already have taken Ownership of the wallpaper folder which will allow you to copy your own wallpapers to this folder so that they all show up in the "Desktop Settings - Plasma Desktop Shell" when you right click the desktop and select "Desktop Settings" (make sure you unlock widgets first). Now you can select the wallpaper you want for each Virtual Desktop and hit Apply. You can lock the widgets now so that you don't accidentally move your widgets around.

There you go, that's how I did it. If you have any comments and things that may be of concern pertaining this matter, please do reply. Thanks guys.

[kubicle]

Re: Taking ownership of wallpapers folder to add personal wallpapers

Modifying the ownerships/permissions of system directories is generally a bad idea unless you are absolutely sure you know what you are doing...and even then it's usually a bad idea.
(changing /usr/share/wallpapers is not as bad as other things one could do...but still).


If you wish your own wallpapers to show up in the wallpaper settings (and don't wish to copy them to /usr/share/wallpapers as root), a better option would be creating a ~/.kde/share/wallpapers directory (that's /home/your_username/.kde/share/wallpapers) and putting the wallpapers there.

[Snowhog]

Re: Taking ownership of wallpapers folder to add personal wallpapers

The other reason for not messing with the ownership/permissions of 'system' directories/files, is that when updates come down the pike, and they include updates to those modified directories/files, they get overwritten/replaced, and any 'customization' you did to them is lost.

This is why you can change the desktop wallpaper to one you've downloaded by just opting to 'open' and browsing to where you have the wallpaper image you want to use.

I agree with kubicle - modifying system directories/files is not something most users would/should be doing.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Re: Taking ownership of wallpapers folder to add personal wallpapers

I agree with everyone else regarding modifying system attributes.

Also, there's no need to create an additional directory for wallpapers in $HOME, just navigate to anywhere you've stored images and select the one you want for each desktop.

If you're using something that rotates wallpapers, such as the "Picture Frame" widget, that's about the only time that having all the images in one place is really necessary.

[kubicle]

Re: Taking ownership of wallpapers folder to add personal wallpapers

Also, there's no need to create an additional directory for wallpapers in $HOME, just navigate to anywhere you've stored images and select the one you want for each desktop.

That's completely true, of course, but I assumed the OP wanted all his wallpapers visible in Desktop settings (rather than browse>add)...otherwise there would be little point in "owning" /usr/share/wallpapers

[DoYouKubuntu]

Re: Taking ownership of wallpapers folder to add personal wallpapers

Yes, I see your point, kubicle. I was thinking perhaps the OP--or someone else reading this thread--might not know that images don't need to be stored in the system's wallpaper directory in order to use them as wallpaper.

[oshunluvr]

Re: Taking ownership of wallpapers folder to add personal wallpapers

Although I've done this in the past (modding permission of /wallpapers) a better technique IMO is to create a symlink in /wallpapers to a directory you own. I use ~/Pictures/Wallpapers. I However, if you're the only person using your 'puter I don't think having "world" access to this particular folder is a reason to panic. Still, not a good practice in general.

[woodsmoke]

Re: Taking ownership of wallpapers folder to add personal wallpapers

The behaviour that I have noticed, when i use "different widgets" on the desktops, is that I can can find any image, say in downloads, and put it on a certain cube face. When I load an image I only see the images that I have used for THAT face in what I guess is a "special directory" for that face.

That indicates to me that there are some kind of "pointers" that hook to a particular wallpaper no matter which face but not to another face.

However, since I was kind of thinking like acecepedia I thought that as a way to keep track of things, before I actually "set" a wallpaper, I've lately made a folder labled "wallpapers" in documents so that I don't accidentally move something, and hopefully, the system doesn't get mixed up either!

woodsmoke