Desktop's background system variable?

**CProgramming** · March 15th, 2012

Hello,
Is there system variable for desktop's background path?

such like : ~ = $HOME = /home/username etc.

Thanks ..

p.s. quick reply editor doesn't focusing when clicking

**ajgreeny** · March 15th, 2012

Try $USER which should be what you want, I think, though I am not sure exactly what you are asking.

**lechien73** · March 15th, 2012

Hi,

No - as far as I'm aware, there's environment variable relating to the desktop wallpaper.

The desktop wallpaper settings are stored at the org.gnome.desktop.background key in the dconf database.

**CProgramming** · March 15th, 2012

Originally Posted by lechien73

Hi,

No - as far as I'm aware, there's environment variable relating to the desktop wallpaper.

The desktop wallpaper settings are stored at the org.gnome.desktop.background key in the dconf database.

hey,

how do I print the variable in the terminal?

**lechien73** · March 18th, 2012

Sorry for the delayed response - my laptop had an unfortunate lesson in the power of gravity!

Anyway, to set a shell variable with the path of the background, you can use:

Code:

BACKGROUND=`gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.background picture-uri`

You can export this to be an environment variable with the command:

Code:

export BACKGROUND

**tealio** · March 18th, 2012

So could this be used to keep backgrounds for Plymouth and grub updated with the desktop background?

I've been looking for a way to change the desktop background, and have Plymouth and grub automatically change too.

**lechien73** · March 20th, 2012

Yes, and to change the desktop background you could supply the set argument to gsettings, as follows:

Code:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background picture-uri 'file:///usr/share/backgrounds/MyNewImage.jpg'

Presumably you could use get to find the background image, and use the path to set the Plymouth and grub splash.

Maybe you would have to run it using cron. A simple structure might be:

Check if the BACKGROUND variable is set. If not, set it.
Periodically check if BACKGROUND == current org.gnome.desktop.background picture-uri
If not, update Plymouth and grub splash (note - you will probably need to add this script to /etc/sudoers using visudo so that it can run without requiring a sudo password.