Xfce

To quote xfce.org: "Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for Unix-like operating systems. It aims to be fast and low on system resources, while still being visually appealing and user friendly."

Avoiding unnecessary dependencies
Avoiding optional GNOME support and packages will keep the system more lean and congruous. This section is entirely optional; proceed in this manner if the goal is to keep the system small(er) rather than large(r).

Ensure that the system is using the basic "desktop" profile:

and have   by default:

Of course,  can also be set globally in  if one desires.

Setting XFCE_PLUGINS
In, add and customize the XFCE_PLUGINS variable:

The above options may change; the current list is available inside ${PORTDIR}/profiles/desc/xfce_plugins.desc.

Emerge
It is time to install the complete Xfce desktop!

Without explicitly including in the  command,  will draw in GNOME's  instead. So install it together with and later deselect it so it is not included in the world file:

Of course, it is also possible to select only needed packages:

Display managers
It is possible to use a display manager to start Xfce. Please refer to the display manager article to configure a display manager.

Most display managers use files to configure available sessions. The following is an example desktop file:

The desktop file can be placed in the right location for the display manager.

Starting Xfce without a display manager
and are two of the readily available options for starting Xfce without using a display manager.

startx
When using, create a file with the following contents:

startxfce4
To launch the Xfce4 desktop simply type at the command-line and press enter:

Xfce is a desktop environment and as such can be tuned and tailored to the needs of (almost) every user. In this section, a number of popular (or more challenging) aspects are covered.

xfce4-volumed
Install to manage the volume keys:

When using pulseaudio with xfce4, use :

Keyboard shortcuts
Run to bind the following keys:


 * button: amixer set Master 5%+
 * button: amixer set Master 5%-
 * button: amixer set Master toggle

Native Xfce theme engine
Xfce's own theme engine,, was updated in version 3.0, which implements native support for GTK+ 3 with no further configuration.

Assuming that the  USE flag is set, the GTK+ 3 version (revision 300 or higher) should be pulled in by default if  or  were installed with a   world upgrade.

If not simply:

This should pull in the right version of through the use of a specific.

After emerging the GTK+ 3 version of, applications using GTK+ 3 should now blend nicely with applications using GTK+ 2 when one of the native Xfce themes is used.

Greybird theme
Another option is to use the Greybird theme, which has support for GTK+ 2, GTK+ 3, xfwm4, emerald, and metacity:

Go to ->  ->. Or run. Select "Greybird" from the "Style" list.

Now GTK+ 2 and GTK+ 3 applications should have a consistent look.

Other themes
Other themes available in Portage that are compatible with XFCE can be emerged with the following list:

Additional applications
There are a number of additional applications which are either part of Xfce or support this desktop environment nicely.

Enable vertical window snapping
Most modern desktop environments have vertical window snapping enabled by default. This is also possible in Xfce, but not by default. To enable, navigate to: →  →.


 * Make sure the "Snap windows to screen border" checkbox has been checked.
 * Make sure the checkboxes under "Wrap workspaces when reaching the screen edge" have been unchecked. These interfere with vertical window snapping.

Once the checkboxes are set it should be now possible to drag a window to the right or left side of the screen, which should cause the window to resize to 50% of the screen width.

Keyboard shortcuts can be set in order to do this via the typical + or + behavior. Navigate to →  →.

Set the "Tile window to the left" and "Tile window to the right" actions with the + and + key combinations respectively.

Audio mixer complains about missing pavucontrol binary
Clicking the speaker (audio) icon in the panel and then selecting results in a message saying pavucontrol binary not found.

The solution is to install :

Program starting hotkeys are not working / Colors not changeable from appearance
Xfce can have hotkeys for both starting an application as well as modifying the behavior of an already running application or setting. An example of behavior hotkey is the ++ combination, which minimizes all windows to show the deskop (and vice-versa).

Assuming that hotkeys for starting an application (such as + to start the application finder) are not working, while the application can be started from the menu, then Consolekit is not running. Start it, and make sure that it gets started at boot time:

This will also start D-Bus, a prerequisite for Consolekit. Restart X to enjoy the new hotkeys and colors.