mate-random-background-slideshow

A random background slideshow script for the MATE desktop. Work in progress.

Background

I have thousands of wallpapers and couldn't find a script to write an xml file. This (clunky) fix was reached after tweaking this script intended for Gnome and found this solution to resolve an issue with changing dconf settings in cron.

Usage

Tested in Debian only.

1. Add script to a preferred location (i.e. ~/.scripts/wallpaper.sh)
2. Change the background folder to your wallpapers directory, if different than /usr/share/backgrounds
3. Add the following to a new cronjob in /etc/cron.d/ - remember to replace 'user' with your username

# Wallpaper slideshow
*/5 * * * * user /bin/bash /home/user/.scripts/wallpaper.sh

4. Reload cron and enjoy.

Script

#!/bin/bash

# Set your folder with the backgrounds
bgfolder="/usr/share/backgrounds/"

# export x-session environment variable
PID=$(pgrep -o x-session)
export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=$(grep -z DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS /proc/$PID/environ|cut -d= -f2-)

# Go to your folder with the backgrounds
cd "$bgfolder"

# Get the name of a random file
randomfile=`ls *.jpg *.png | sed -n $((RANDOM%$(ls *.jpg *.png |wc -l)+1))p`

# Use gsettings command to set the desktop variable
gsettings set org.mate.background picture-filename "$bgfolder$randomfile"