# LXQt

Related articles

- LXDE
- Desktop environment
- Window manager

From the LXQt homepage

  LXQt is the Qt port and the upcoming version of LXDE, the Lightweight Desktop Environment. It is the product of the merge between the LXDE-Qt and the Razor-qt projects: A lightweight, modular, blazing-fast and user-friendly desktop environment.

## History

In early 2013, Hong Jen Yee "PCMan" began to port LXDE components to the Qt toolkit. PCMan recognised the need to move LXDE from the, now unmaintained, GTK+ 2 toolkit but was dissatisfied with GTK+ 3. On the 3rd July 2013 the first preview of LXDE-Qt was released. Then, on the 21st July, it was announced that the Razor-qt project (which developed a desktop similar in design philosophy to LXDE) and the LXDE project were merging. The result is LXQt, a desktop built on Qt which uses some Razor-qt components and some ported LXDE components. Whilst the majority of the project's development efforts are now focused on LXQt, the GTK+ 2 version of LXDE will continued to be developed and maintained for some time. Razor-qt version 0.6.0 will be the final release for those who are happy with Razor-qt as it is. There are no plans to continue to maintain Razor-qt beyond that final release.

## Installation

Install the following packages:

- lxqt-desktop-git - provides the core LXQt components.
- pcmanfm-qt-git - provides the LXQt file manager and desktop manager.
- openbox - provides the default window manager for LXQt.

You may also wish to install the following:

- lximage-qt-git - provides the LXQt image viewer.
- qterminal-git - lightweight Qt terminal emulator.
- obconf-qt-git - provides the Qt port of the openbox configuration tool ObConf.
- lxqt-lightdm-greeter-git - provides the LXQt greeter for the LightDM display manager.
- oxygen-icons - provides a compatible icon theme for the LXQt desktop.
- qtcurve - provides a compatible Qt theme for the LXQt desktop.

Tip: The AUR packages are also available in pre-compiled form in the lxqt-git repository.

## Starting LXQt

Graphical login

Just select LXQt Desktop from the session menu of your favourite display manager.

Manually

Append the following line to your `~/.xinitrc` file:

    exec startlxqt

## Configuration

Firstly, copy the default configuration files to your home directory as shown below:

    mkdir -p ~/.config/lxqt
    cp /etc/xdg/lxqt/* ~/.config/lxqt

### Replacing the default window manager

Whilst Openbox is the default window manager for LXQt, you can specify a different window manager to use with LXQt by editing the `~/.config/lxqt/session.conf` file.

Change the following line:

    window_manager=openbox

to start the window manager of your choice. For instance, if you wish to use metacity with LXQt, change the line to the following:

    window_manager=metacity

If you wish to use Compiz with LXQt, change the line to the following:

    window_manager=compiz ccp

## Suggested applications

As LXQt is a lightweight desktop, a plain install will not provide many desktop applications. It is left to the user to choose what applications they wish to install. The Razor-qt wiki has a page which lists of number of useful Qt applications that you may wish to install. Also see the List of applications page for a comprehensive list of applications available in Arch.

## Troubleshooting

### Qt themes not respected

If LXQt's applications do not stick with your Qt-theme (especially when using KDE's system settings to set your theme), then as of KDE 4.6.1 you'll probably need to tell Qt how to find KDE's styles (Oxygen, QtCurve etc.)

You just need to set the environment variable QT_PLUGIN_PATH. E.g. put

    export QT_PLUGIN_PATH=$HOME/.kde4/lib/kde4/plugins/:/usr/lib/kde4/plugins/

into your `/etc/profile` (or `~/.profile` if you do not have root access). qtconfig should then be able to find your kde styles and everything should look nice again!

Alternatively, you can symlink the Qt styles directory to the KDE styles one:

    # ln -s /usr/lib/kde4/plugins/styles/ /usr/lib/qt/plugins/styles

### Qt Configuration fails to start

'Qt Configuration', in the LXQt Configuration Center and in the Preferences menu, is used to start qtconfig. The following environmental variables are needed before qtconfig will run:

    export QTCHOOSER_RUNTOOL=qtconfig
    export QT_SELECT=4

The above will enable qtconfig for qt4.

## See also

- LXQt homepage
- LXQt development

Category:

- Desktop environments