System-Wide cursor theme in Mate

[hiltuspeke]

Hi.

I'm running Debian Jessie with Mate in my both computers, a desktop and a laptop. When setting up my laptop, I used the Mate appearance manager to set the cursor theme. That didn't change it completely: when cursor was over the Window titlebar or the desktop, it would revert to default X cursor.

I changed the default X cursor by editing the /usr/share/icons/default/index.theme and it worked. However, in the index.theme file, I had to use the folder name instead the theme name specified in the index.theme of the cursor theme folder.

However, now, with a desktop computer, using the same version of Debian, same version of Mate (1.8.1) and the exact same cursor theme, this solution doesn't work. After editing the /usr/share/icons/default/index.theme, the option "Default Cursor" in mates theme selector indeed is the cursor I want and did set, but when hovering over a desktop, it reverts to the very default black cursor of X11.

How do I overcome this and use a cursor theme system-wide?

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Try:

Code: Select all

# update-alternatives --config x-cursor-theme

[hiltuspeke]

Try:

Code: Select all

# update-alternatives --config x-cursor-theme

I can't see the cursr theme I want and have stated in /usr/share/icons/default/index.theme on the list.
Picking another cursor theme from that menu gives the same result: the "default cursor" in mate appearance changes, but when hovering over the desktop or a window border, it reverts to the black simple X11 cursor.

[hiltuspeke]

Picking another cursor theme from that menu gives the same result: the "default cursor" in mate appearance changes, but when hovering over the desktop or a window border, it reverts to the black simple X11 cursor.

Further inspection reveals, that that is not true. Choosing a cursor using update-alternatives does the job, but it doesn't help, as the cursor I want to use is not in the menu.

[Head_on_a_Stick]

the cursor I want to use is not in the menu.

You can create a new "alternative" for your chosen cursor theme, try galternatives, I think that has an option to add new alternatives.

The `update-alternatives` command has an "install" option that will set up a new alternative, see `man update-alternatives` for more on this.

https://wiki.debian.org/DebianAlternatives