Lumina and env variables

[Grzegorz Junka]

On 21/01/2019 15:41, Ken Moore wrote:
> On Saturday, January 19, 2019 9:33:41 AM EST, Grzegorz Junka wrote:
>> Hello,
>> Does anyone know how to set an environment variable so that it's 
>> visible when running Lumina applications? Currently I have 
>> QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME set in .profile and .cshrc but these are not 
>> visible when I run qt5ct from the Lumina launch menu. They only take 
>> effect when I run qt5ct from the command line (Konsole).
>>
>> This is quite strange because I start Lumina with startx and my 
>> .xinitrc looks like this
>>
>> exec /usr/local/bin/start-lumina-desktop
>>
>> I would have hoped that these environment variables should be 
>> inherited by the Lumina process and subsequently by all applications 
>> launched from the menu. Unless something overwrites them later?
>>
>> Thanks
>> GrzegorzJ
>>
>
> The QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME environment variable is special to Lumina and 
> will automatically get overwritten when the desktop starts up.
>
> Lumina will automatically change that variable to "lthemeengine" 
> (Lumina theme engine), which is a custom fork of the qt5ct theme 
> engine with additional support/features specifically for 
> desktop/application theming (such as more color palette support, 
> ability to scan system-installed palette and theme files for 
> availability, things of that nature).
>
> TLDR: Don't use qt5ct with Lumina. Just make your changes in the 
> Lumina theme engine utility instead (nearly identical to qt5ct and 
> behaves the same way).
>
Thank you Ken, that's a great tip. Does it mean that all Lumina apps are 
qt5-based?

I am a bit lost with all those customization applications. I have QT 4 
Configuration, which is using Desktop Settings, and I have Customise 
Look and Feel, which seems to be changing GTK settings. Then I have 
Desktop Configuration, which seems to be running a yet different version 
of the Lumina Theme Engine, i.e. Theme Engine run from the menu 
currently shows a window with a dark theme and proper icons on buttons, 
but when running from Desktop Configuration shows a light theme with no 
icons on buttons, even though all settings seems to be the same. The 
same lack of icons on buttons is visible in other QT-based applications, 
i.e. Kate but not KWrite. Also the Desktop Configuration seems to have a 
different set of icons then selected in the Theme Engine (material 
design instead of Oxygen).

It's really weird. Imagine Lumina Theme Engine run from the menu (LTH1) 
and from Desktop Configuration (LTH2). Changing Style and Color scheme 
in LHT1 is visible in its preview window, and when applied also changes 
LTH1 window (and KWrite). But LHT2 (and Kate) remain unaffected. 
Changing Style and Color scheme in LHT2 is visible in its preview 
window, but when applied again changes only LHT1 window (and KWrite) - 
LHT2 window (and Kate) remain with the same (probably generic) theme and 
no icons on buttons.

I have been using Lumina from an early version and possibly some 
configuration files have been screwed up throughout the iterations. I 
also tried to overwrite QT_QPA_PLATFORM_THEME in various places, 
including .config/lumina-desktop/envsettings.conf, and deleting some 
configuration files in .config and .kde/4 folders. Would you know which 
configuration folders should I delete to restore default settings? I 
understand I should not try to set 
QT_QPA_PLATFORM_THEME/QP_QPA_PLATFORM_THEME anywhere?

GrzegorzJ