X11 Cursors
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[edit] Introduction
There are many cursor themes available for the X11 Windowing System besides the default black pointer. This guide will instruct you on where to get them, installing them, and configuring them.
[edit] Getting Mouse Cursor Themes
Here are links to where you may download cursor:
Also, some themes available through AUR
[edit] Installing Mouse Cursor Themes
- Extract the cursor theme package:
$ tar -zxvf foobar-cursor-theme-package-foo.tar.gz
or
$ tar -jxvf foobar-cursor-theme-package-foo.tar.bz2
- Make a directory for the cursor theme:
Example: ~FooBar-~AweSoMe-Cursors-v2.98beta
Per-user installation:
$ mkdir -p ~/.icons/foobar/cursors
System-wide installation:
# mkdir -p /usr/share/icons/foobar/cursors
Be sure to simplify the name of the theme ('foobar' instead of '~FooBar-~AweSoMe-Cursors-v2.98beta')
- Copy cursor files into the appropriate directory:
# cp -R FooBar-AweSoMe-Cursors-v2.98beta/cursors/* /usr/share/icons/foobar/cursors/
If the package includes index.theme file check if there is an "Inherits" line inside. If yes, check whether the inherited theme also exists under this name in your system (rename if needed).
Note that X already comes with the 'redglass' and 'whiteglass' themes in /usr/X11R6/lib/icons or /usr/share/icons.
Some applications keep using the default X11 cursor when a themed version of left_ptr_watch and the like should be shown. Have a look at the symlinks in the changelog belonging to the 3Dcursors project at KDE-Look to fix this.
- Copy index.theme file into directory:
# cp -R FooBar-AweSoMe-Cursors-v2.98beta/index.theme /usr/share/icons/foobar/index.theme
If the package doesn't have index.theme or if it doesn't include an "Inherits" line you don't have to copy this file.
[edit] Configuring Cursor Themes
To locally change a cursor theme, add this line to your ~/.Xdefaults:
Xcursor.theme: foobar
Make sure the file ~/.Xdefaults is called by your window manager. You can force it to get loaded by running xrdb ~/.Xdefaults before loading your window manager (for example from .xinitrc if you use startx). Refer to your window manager documentation for details.
Alternatively, you can create a symlink "default" in ~/.icons, which should points to your installed cursor theme:
ln -s /usr/share/icons/foobar/ ~/.icons/default
If you rather want to change the cursor globally, or if you experience problems with above method (for example in Firefox), create the /usr/share/icons/default/index.theme file. Then edit it, and add the following:
[icon theme] Inherits=foobar
You can optionally add this line to ~/.Xdefaults if your cursor theme supports multiple sizes:
Xcursor.size: 32 # 32, 48 or 64 are probably good values
If you don't know about supported cursor sizes just start X without this setting and let it choose the cursor size automatically.
[edit] More information
For more information about cursors in X (supported directories, formats, compatibility, etc.) refer to the man page:
man Xcursor
Note: if the animations are flickering on your nvidia card, add the following line to your xorg.conf file, into the nvidia device section, to fix it:
Option "HWCursor" "off"
Enjoy!
WikiMigration--dlanor 13:33, 23 Jul 2005 (EDT)