Installing an Xfce theme, it does not show up

Question

I downloaded the Pupi theme, unpacked the zip, dropped the directory into /usr/share/themes, and rebooted. The new theme still does not show up in the list of 'Styles' in the settings. If someone has some other suggesting to adapt Mint/Xfce to a Retina display at readable sizes that would also be helpful.

Solution

This is a window manager theme (Xfce window manager), as you can tell by the presence of only the xfwm4 folder inside the theme zip.

You can access it in Settings Manager -> Window Manager -> Style

As an alternative install location, if you are the only user in your system, create a .themes (mind the dot) folder inside your home directory and unzip your theme there.

(Tested on Xfce 4.10 & 4.12)

Comments

[Gilles 'SO- stop being evil']

Dropping things into a system directory is rarely a way to install something on Unix systems. You may need to register the theme into a configuration file or install it in a directory that's expected to be customized such as your home directory. Rebooting, on the other hand, is pointless.

[bmargulies]

Well, the documentation for this item instructs me to drop it into that location. And rebooting was just a quick way to log off and on when at hidpi I couldn't read the logoff icon.

[bmargulies]

Thanks. I knew it was an XFCE4 theme because I found it by looking for a retina-friendly xfce4 theme. Unfortunately, your (first) recipe did not work with the Mint XFCe4, so I punted to Cinnamon.

[sokin]

Thanks for accepting the answer. Here's a small clarification: The XFCE window manager is the xfwm, not the entire xfce4 desktop (the desktop contains the window manager). An XFCE4 theme can contain (some or all of) gtk2+, gtk3+ and xfwm styles. The Pupi theme contains only a xfwm style, that's why you find it in the location indicated in my answer. Hope this helps.