Bug#860503: libxcursor1: suggest /etc/alternatives/x-cursor-theme of the standard cursors

[Kevin Ryde]

Package: libxcursor1
Version: 1:1.1.14-1+b4
Severity: wishlist

It'd be good to have an /etc/alternatives/x-cursor-theme choice which is
the standard cursor font, so that's available when other packages give
other themes.

I struck this when adwaita-icon-theme a while ago incorporated its
cursor font into that package, with irritating cursor animations and
stuff. adwaita-icon-theme is dragged in by gtk and things. Setting
/etc/alternatives/x-cursor-theme to /dev/null returns to the standard
cursors, but perhaps that's not really the right way.

I'm not sure whether an alternative would belong in libxcursor1 or some
other base package. It's ultimately libxcursor1 which reads chosen
cursors if I'm not mistaken, but maybe something else is responsible for
the paths.



-- System Information:
Debian Release: 9.0
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 4.4.0-1-686-pae (SMP w/1 CPU core)
Locale: LANG=en_AU.iso88591, LC_CTYPE=en_AU.iso88591 (charmap=ISO-8859-1)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: sysvinit (via /sbin/init)

Versions of packages libxcursor1 depends on:
ii libc6 2.24-9
ii libx11-6 2:1.6.4-3
ii libxfixes3 1:5.0.3-1
ii libxrender1 1:0.9.10-1

libxcursor1 recommends no packages.

libxcursor1 suggests no packages.

-- no debconf information

[Drew Parsons]

Post by Kevin Ryde
Package: libxcursor1
Version: 1:1.1.14-1+b4
Severity: wishlist
It'd be good to have an /etc/alternatives/x-cursor-theme choice which is
the standard cursor font, so that's available when other packages give
other themes.
I struck this when adwaita-icon-theme a while ago incorporated its
cursor font into that package, with irritating cursor animations and
stuff. adwaita-icon-theme is dragged in by gtk and things. Setting
/etc/alternatives/x-cursor-theme to /dev/null returns to the standard
cursors, but perhaps that's not really the right way.
I'm not sure whether an alternative would belong in libxcursor1 or some
other base package. It's ultimately libxcursor1 which reads chosen
cursors if I'm not mistaken, but maybe something else is responsible for
the paths.

Hi Kevin. if I understand right, you know how alternatives work and
that they're controlled by the update-alternatives utility.

We see what the normal alternatives for x-cursor-theme are with
update-alternatives --display x-cursor-theme
and can configure your preferred alternative for x-cursor-theme with
upd
ate-alternatives --config x-cursor-theme

There are a handful of cursor-theme packages available, e.g. see
apt-cache search cursor | grep theme
Some others show up as icon-themes (e.g. your adwaita-icon-theme),
apt-cache search icon-theme

There is a "base" cursor theme package, xcursor-themes, that you could
install. But you're asking for the core theme to be offered by a core
X package, and xcursor-themes is optional. We could set this up in the
postinst script of a X11 base package (libxcursor1 could be a
reasonable choice, otherwise xorg, xserver-xorg or xserver-xorg-core),
setting up a low priority alternative for x-cursor-theme pointing to
/dev/null.

But I think the proper solution is to install xcursor-themes, which
does offer /etc/X11/cursors/core.theme as an alternative. It contains
simply
[Icon Theme]
Inherits=core
which is what you want to get the core cursor icons.

So rather than having the appropriate base package set up a /dev/null
alternative, I think it would be better for it to
Depend/Recommend/Suggest: x-cursor-theme

But even then it would not solve your problem: xcursor-themes is
priority 30 while adwaita-icon-theme is priority 90. adwaita gets
priority under the default auto configuration of the alternative.

So what you want is to install the xcursor-themes package, and then set
the alternative manually to core.theme using
update-alternatives --config x-cursor-theme


Since making libxcursor1 Depend on xcursor-themes doesn't actually
solve your problem (you need to configure the alternative manually
anyway), I don't think any packaging changes are needed. It's a
personal preference to prefer the core theme over adwaita. So I think
we can close this bug.

Drew

[Kevin Ryde]

Post by Drew Parsons
But you're asking for the core theme to be offered by a core
X package,

Yes. The core cursors live in some base part of the core and I think
could express their availability, as a theme, somewhere there.

Post by Drew Parsons
xcursor-themes is optional.

Ah, I don't think I knew it included core as a theme. I'd say
/etc/X11/cursors/core.theme could be in a more base package.

Post by Drew Parsons
We could set this up in the
postinst script of a X11 base package (libxcursor1 could be a
reasonable choice, otherwise xorg, xserver-xorg or xserver-xorg-core),

Oh, now I'm not sure I know who actually reads the alternative. The
server on reset? All client programs (through libxcursor1)?

Post by Drew Parsons
But even then it would not solve your problem: xcursor-themes is
priority 30 while adwaita-icon-theme is priority 90.

That's ok. It's probably proper for an add-on to be above the core,
since installing it usually means you want it (though that's not the
case with adwaita - it being brought in for the pics in gtk programs but
then puts global cursors).

[Debian Bug Tracking System]

Your message dated Fri, 09 Nov 2018 20:37:10 +0000
with message-id <E1gLDWg-0002ZN-***@fasolo.debian.org>
and subject line Bug#860503: fixed in libxcursor 1:1.1.15-2
has caused the Debian Bug report #860503,
regarding libxcursor1: suggest /etc/alternatives/x-cursor-theme of the standard cursors
to be marked as done.

This means that you claim that the problem has been dealt with.
If this is not the case it is now your responsibility to reopen the
Bug report if necessary, and/or fix the problem forthwith.

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