Linux – i3 and XFCE: how to get rid of the Desktop container, float windows and shutdown the machine

arch linuxwindow-managerxfce

I'm using the i3 Window Manager, and am quite happy so far, but I have a few issues.

  1. Using XFCE, my "Desktop" is seen as a separate container (window). That means that when I open a new program in the first workspace, that it will split the screen in two and show Desktop as one window, and the other program in another window. I can minimize the size of the desktop, or use the 'tabbed' option to minimize impact, but this is all not convenient. I want i3 not to treat the Desktop as a Window, at all. If that means 'losing' my Desktop, no problem. I tried 'closing' this window, but my whole session is closed and I return to the initial login screen.

  2. There are notification windows from Thunderbird that should float but they appear as new windows instead. I tried adding for_window [class="xfce4-notifyd"] floating enable to my config file, but this does not work.

  3. How can I shutdown with a keybinding? I tried bindsym $mod+x exec shutdown and bindsym $mod+x exec /home/user/shutdown.sh (which has sudo shutdown -Ph now), but none of them work.

I am using Arch Linux.

Best Answer

  1. Have you done anything to not start xfwm4? Generally, see the Haskell wiki's notes on using XFCE4 with XMonad, as they probably help you with i3, too.
  2. Here's a mailing list thread on this issue (no proper solutions, tough).
  3. see i3's userguide on keybindings, something like bindsym mod+x exec xfce4-session-logout should be ok (xfce4-session-logout is referred to in the first link).
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