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theme-troubleshooting

Testing & Quality
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Diagnose and fix visual/theming issues in Blue95 (XFCE, Chicago95 GTK theme, icon themes, xfconf defaults) and wire fixes into the build pipeline

QUICK START

How to use this skill

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/winblues/blue95/blob/HEAD/.opencode/skills/theme-troubleshooting/SKILL.md

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What I Do

Guide the full workflow for diagnosing visual or styling bugs in Blue95, applying fixes, wiring them into the build pipeline and drafting upstream PRs.

Theme Architecture

  • Chicago95 is pinned by SHA (CHICAGO95_SHA) in files/scripts/20-chicago95.sh.
  • Patches to Chicago95 live as .diff files in files/scripts/ and are applied in 20-chicago95.sh with patch -p1. Reference: 20-chicago95-xfwm4.diff (xfwm4 theme), 20-chicago95-notifyd.diff (xfce4-notifyd CSS icon fix).
  • xfconf defaults:
    • New users: files/system/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/<channel>.xml
    • Existing users: files/system/usr/share/xfconf-profile/default.json (applied by run_after_01-xfconf-profile.sh via chezmoi on every login)
  • Static files in files/system/ map verbatim onto / in the image.
  • chezmoi dotfiles live in files/system/usr/share/winblues/chezmoi/ and are applied per-user on first login (gate: ~/.local/state/winblues/chezmoi-blue95).
  • Prefer /usr over /etc for system-wide changes; use chezmoi only for true $HOME-only settings.

Diagnosis Workflow

  1. Identify the GTK widget and CSS node.

  2. Identify the icon lookup path (if icon-related).

    • Check /usr/share/themes/Chicago95/ and /usr/share/icons/Chicago95/`.

  3. Identify the xfconf key (if a runtime value issue).

    • xfconf-query -c <channel> -lv lists all keys.
    • Cross-reference with the daemon source in ~/Projects/winblues/xfce-mirror/<daemon>/ to find the compiled-in default that xfconf will fall back to if the key is absent. If the relevant project is not there, clone it (e.g., from https://github.com/xfce-mirror/xfce4-panel.git)

  4. Live-test the fix.

    • GTK/CSS: copy the relevant file from /usr/share/themes/Chicago95/ to ~/.themes/Chicago95/ (same relative path), edit there, then restart the relevant daemon (e.g. pkill xfce4-notifyd).
    • xfconf: xfconf-query -c <channel> -p <key> -s <value> --create -t <type>.

Fix Pipeline

GTK / CSS fix

  1. Edit the file in ~/Projects/winblues/Chicago95/ (the pinned upstream clone).
  2. Generate the diff: 
    cd ~/Projects/winblues/Chicago95
git diff > ~/Projects/winblues/blue95/files/scripts/20-chicago95-<name>.diff
  3. Add an apply_patch call in files/scripts/20-chicago95.sh (follow the existing pattern for 20-chicago95-xfwm4.diff / 20-chicago95-notifyd.diff).
  4. Verify the patch applies cleanly with patch --dry-run -p1.

xfconf defaults fix

  1. Edit files/system/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/<channel>.xml (new users).
  2. Edit files/system/usr/share/xfconf-profile/default.json (existing users). Format: "<channel>/<key>": "<value>".
  3. Both files must stay in sync — same key, same value.

Icon theme fix

  • Place new/corrected icons under files/system/usr/share/icons/Chicago95/ at the correct category/size path.
  • If this is a Chicago95 upstream issue, include it in the .diff file instead.

Upstream PR

After confirming the fix works locally:

  1. Commit the change in ~/Projects/winblues/Chicago95 on a branch.
  2. Draft language for a PR against grassmunk/Chicago95 with:
    • Title: concise, imperative, e.g. xfce-notify: force regular icon rendering to prevent symbolic monochrome
    • Body: what was broken, root cause, fix approach, and (if possible) before/after screenshots.

Key Files Quick Reference

FilePurpose
files/scripts/20-chicago95.shBuilds/patches Chicago95; set CHICAGO95_SHA here
files/scripts/20-chicago95-*.diffPatch files applied against the Chicago95 clone
files/system/etc/skel/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfconf XML defaults for new users
files/system/usr/share/xfconf-profile/default.jsonxfconf-profile defaults for existing users
files/system/usr/share/winblues/chezmoi/Per-user dotfiles (chezmoi, first-login only)
~/.themes/Chicago95/Live user override for testing before committing
vendor/Chicago95/Pinned Chicago95 clone edit here, then diff. May not exist.
vendor/xfce-mirror/XFCE source. May need to clone correct components.

Common Pitfalls

  • Don't use modern app icon names (e.g. org.mozilla.firefox) — Chicago95 maps legacy names (firefox → Netscape globe). Using modern names breaks theming.
  • -symbolic icons are always monochrome in GTK3 unless you force -gtk-icon-style: regular in CSS or provide a non-symbolic fallback.
  • xfconf keys not in default.json fall back to daemon compiled-in defaults, which may differ from what you expect — always check the source.
  • Patches must be idempotent — build scripts run in a fresh container with no state.