Ubuntu – How to hide Pidgin Buddy list on startup

pidginstartup

I'm running Ubuntu 12.10. Pidgin starts automatically on startup, but I want the buddy list window to starts minimized.

I tried this: http://www.cebuntu.com/apps/how-to-start-pidgin-and-minimized-on-startup-in-ubuntu/

And this shell script: http://planet.jboss.org/post/how_to_start_pidgin_minimized_or_always_start_pidgin_with_its_buddy_list_invisible

but none of them work. I mean they work, the buddy list is minimized on startup, but after that, I can't open it, looks like it is forced to be minimized.

Is there any working solution?

I found the solution:

First, install devilspie

sudo apt-get install devilspie

Make a new file called pidgin.ds in /home/username/.devilspie:

(if  
(is (window_name) "Buddy List")  
(begin (minimize) )  
)

Add devilspie to launchpad. Done!

Best Answer

Devilspie messes things up for me using unity. So I start Pidgin using this simple script:

#!/bin/bash
pidgin &
sleep 6
wmctrl -c "Buddy List"

Sleeping is neccessary so the window does not respawn. It is ugly but the best possible for me. Note that it closes the window but does not quit Pidgin. Minimize and close the window have almost the same meaning for Pidgin.

Related Question