Introduction to Xfce X-window environment

Posted 2020-06-22

xfce4:

xfce consists of xfce4-appfinder(application finder), xfdesktop(desktop manager), helper applications( manager preferred applications and edit .desktop files),thunar(File Manager), xfce4-panel(panel), xfce4-power-manager(power manager), xfce4-session(session manager), xfce4-settings(settings manager), xfwm4(window manager), xfconf(configuration storage system, D-bus-based configuration storage system).

details:

login manager: xfce4-session installs a file that should add an option for login managers to run xfce session:, xfce doesn‘t have login manager. startxfce4 to start an xfce session or choose xfce session from the login manager.

panel: panel application manages all panels on the screen.

xfce session manager： manages the startup of applications.It allow you to save your session when you quit Xfce，so that the next time you log in , the same aplications will be started for you automatically.

desktop manager: provides the desktop background image and two menus when you click on the desktop background.Optionally, it can show icons on the desktop, either for minimized applications or for files in the ~/Desktop folder.

Window manager: responsible for placing the windows on the screen and provices the window borders and decorations.It allows you to move windows around by draggin the titlebar and provices title bar buttons, for example to close, minimize or maximize a window.

Settings manager: The settings manager runs in the background and make sure that all xfce applications update their settings when user changes something in the settings manager dialog and it take care of reading the configuration from disk at startup.

application finder: if you know the name of a program and it is not on the panel or in the desktop menu you can use the run dialog. To open the dialog type Alt-F2 or choose the Run Program option from the desktop menu.

when you start the xfce session for the first time, serveral applications are started by the Xfce session manager:
panel
Desktop manager
Window Manager:
Setting Manager:

x-window startup process:

display manager start session manager.
session manager start window manager, desktop manager, panel and some applications.
that‘s it.

 

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refer: http://docs.xfce.org/xfce/getting-started