Solved Sparky 8.1 (Xfce) issue

[2zrfe18]

I'd like to use the sparky xfce image but so far on 2 separate machines after install and update, the lock screen doesn't work at all. xfce4-screensaver in not installed. I tried to install it and it tells me the package is not available. I can install a 3rd party screensaver but I'd really prefer to just use xfce4's.

I noticed in the autostart list there is a "sparky-lock" which I wondered if it was a lock screen program made by sparky. Either way, the lock screen does not work with hotkey or even pressing the button in whisker menu.

I have tried sparky MATE and Budgie and both of those installs the lock screen works normally.

I intended to post this on sparky's forum but I can't seem to get them to send me an email verification to finalize a forum account.

anyone with sparky experience or debian xfce experience can help me here?

thanks

 

[MzQ1NjExN2]

Hi. I'm using Debian 13 with XFCE 4.20.1. This used to be a problem in previous versions of either Debian or XFCE (I forget which one). I don't think there is a xfce4-screensaver. I had tried to search for it in the past and apparently it either doesn't exist or there are issues with it. So basically you don't have a locking program installed.

sudo apt-get install light-locker

or

sudo apt-get install xscreensaver

Light locker looks more modern. I prefer xscreensaver. It has a old school look to it.

Your keyboard shortcuts should look like:

And make sure the following is checked:

I think that is about it unless I missed anything else.

 

[MzQ1NjExN2]

You can also try to run sparky-lock in the terminal and see what comes up.

 

[Alexzee]

I'm having trouble remembering as I ran Sparky for a while about 6 months ago.
From your description it sounds like your system is missing a XFCE lib <or> pkg's.

These commands worked for me with Ubuntu and Mint:

sudo apt-get install xscreensaver xscreensaver-gl-extra xscreensaver-data-extra

xscreensaver-demo

Our Administrator @wizardfromoz runs Sparky and he assisted me with my Sparky issues with success!-
Give him time so he can join in and give you counsel.

 

[Alexzee]

XSreenSaver: All Screen Saver /Demo /Package

Hello, I am missing the Screen Saver List, completely. If you want to have Screen Saver in the list you have to install a required packages.

forum.sparkylinux.org

You can also try to run sparky-lock in the terminal and see what comes up.

You're right.
Running "sparky-lock" from the command line will show any errors.

Sparky is built on the testing version of Debian.

Distribution Release: SparkyLinux 8.1 (DistroWatch.com News)

News and feature lists of Linux and BSD distributions.

distrowatch.com

I looked in the Debian Forky repository ( Testing ) for the xfce4-screensaver and didn't find it.
Maybe our member @osprey can help.

FWIW, I had issues in the past with a captcha. No matter how many times I tried to type in the new captcha I could not get into the forum and get help. I hope that's fixed now.

Maybe look in Synaptic Package MGR and see if it's there.

 

[MzQ1NjExN2]

I looked in the Debian Forky repository ( Testing ) for the xfce4-screensaver and didn't find it.

They should fix this.

Edit -
On my MX Linux 25 XFCE machine it has xfce4-screensaver installed and running by default. I guess it does exist.

 

[Alexzee]

They should fix this.

Edit -
On my MX Linux 25 XFCE machine it has xfce4-screensaver installed and running by default. I guess it does exist.

Agreed.

Your install of MX Linux is based on Debian stable which if I'm not mistaken is Debian Trixie.

I'm thinking that using a Debian stable lib or pkg for Sparky (based on Debian Testing) wouldn't be the fix. My thinking is that the pkg our friend needs is from Debian Testing or configured in a way that would only suit Sparky Linux.

Let's see what @osprey says. He a good teacher and well rounded Linux Administrator with Testing.

 

[MzQ1NjExN2]

Well what do you know. I ran the following on my Debian 13 machine. So maybe xfce4-screensaver is a new program which wasn't on Debian 12.

sudo apt-get install xfce4-screensaver
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  gir1.2-libxfce4util-1.0
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  gir1.2-libxfce4util-1.0 xfce4-screensaver
0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 84 not upgraded.
Need to get 272 kB of archives.
After this operation, 1,480 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 http://deb.debian.org/debian trixie/main amd64 gir1.2-libxfce4util-1.0 amd64 4.20.1-1 [13.5 kB]
Get:2 http://deb.debian.org/debian trixie/main amd64 xfce4-screensaver amd64 4.18.4-1 [259 kB]
Fetched 272 kB in 3s (96.2 kB/s)          
Selecting previously unselected package gir1.2-libxfce4util-1.0:amd64.
(Reading database ... 164752 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../gir1.2-libxfce4util-1.0_4.20.1-1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking gir1.2-libxfce4util-1.0:amd64 (4.20.1-1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package xfce4-screensaver.
Preparing to unpack .../xfce4-screensaver_4.18.4-1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking xfce4-screensaver (4.18.4-1) ...
Setting up xfce4-screensaver (4.18.4-1) ...
Setting up gir1.2-libxfce4util-1.0:amd64 (4.20.1-1) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.18-2) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.13.1-1) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.28-1) ...

 

[2zrfe18]

thanks for helping me troubleshoot guys

to clarify, I am on stable not the semi-rolling (debian-testing)

I tried sparky-locker in terminal and nothing came up and nothing happened

OK this is it!...

when I tried sudo apt install xfce4-screensaver I got some messege like the package is no longer available but might be under a different name or something like that.

out of curiosity I tried sudo apt-get install xfce4-screensaver and lo and behold it worked. It installed and immediately the lock screen hotkey worked!

Strange that this was not installed by default.


So I guess I solved my issue. Thanks a bunch for the help and suggestions.

 

[Alexzee]

thanks for helping me troubleshoot guys

to clarify, I am on stable not the semi-rolling (debian-testing)

I tried sparky-locker in terminal and nothing came up and nothing happened

OK this is it!...

when I tried sudo apt install xfce4-screensaver I got some messege like the package is no longer available but might be under a different name or something like that.

out of curiosity I tried sudo apt-get install xfce4-screensaver and lo and behold it worked. It installed and immediately the lock screen hotkey worked!

Strange that this was not installed by default.


So I guess I solved my issue. Thanks a bunch for the help and suggestions.

Glad to hear that APT did the job for you.
Thanks for the update.

Have a great rest of the week!
Alex