Default mouse cursor does not revert when uninstalling Kubuntu

[Andrew Conkling]

I happened to install kubuntu-desktop to test it out, but I still used GDM as my login manager. I noticed that the default "Human" pointers theme was gone, replaced by the X default black cursor (or something very close to it). I ended up uninstalling kubuntu-desktop, but my cursor is still set as the black one.

I'm not sure where the default setting would be stored for this, but I think it should be restored after uninstalling kubuntu-desktop (or kept when kubuntu-desktop is installed).

For what it's worth, I noticed that there is a kubuntu-default-settings and an xubuntu-default-settings, but not one for ubuntu.

[Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott)]

Batting somewhere near KDE

[drobvice (robertsdonald)]

I can confirm this happens. I actually reinstalled ubuntu just to regain cursor consistency. This happens as well running amarok under ubuntu as the busy xcursor shows (wristwatch) instead of the human theme.

Same scenario as above, installed ubuntu then kubuntu-desktop. Cursor at login is xcuror (gdm) and then changes to the human theme after logging in and can't find the file or setting to edit for gdm (or amarok for that matter).

[Rich Johnson (nixternal)]

Is this still an issue? I run GNOME, KDE, and Xfce on this machine sharing the ~/ directory, I haven't noticed this issue yet.

[drobvice (robertsdonald)]

I have since upgraded to Edgy and have not installed kubuntu-desktop as I prefer vanilla Ubuntu. I do notice that the cursor changes to Xcursor if I use amarok in gnome. I am trying to use straight gnome apps now, though.

[drobvice (robertsdonald)]

This still occurs. I installed feisty on my laptop (which is a different computer from the previous installation mentioned) and later installed the kubuntu package and had the same behavior as before. This also occurs with kde apps in gnome such as amarok. I have reinstalled ubuntu and then installed just kde minus the gdm/kdm option and the cursor is fine for the gdm login window. It still defaults to the busy xcursor and the pointer xcursor in amarok however. Is there a way to control cursor behavior of kde apps in gnome?

[Daniel Hahler (blueyed)]

Confirmed on Hardy.
dpkg -P kubuntu-default-settings (8.04-11) does:
$ LANG=C sudo dpkg -P kubuntu-default-settings 2>&1 | tee /tmp/dpkg-p.log
(Reading database ... 385424 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing kubuntu-default-settings ...
Unsetting kubuntu as default mouse cursor theme ...
Purging configuration files for kubuntu-default-settings ...
dpkg - warning: while removing kubuntu-default-settings, directory `/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/icons/default' not empty so not removed.
dpkg - warning: while removing kubuntu-default-settings, directory `/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/icons' not empty so not removed.
dpkg - warning: while removing kubuntu-default-settings, directory `/usr/X11R6/lib/X11' not empty so not removed.
dpkg - warning: while removing kubuntu-default-settings, directory `/usr/X11R6/lib' not empty so not removed.

That's when I've started messing around with this directory and move it away. Doing so made update-alternatives fail on the next purging (bug 194101).
So it seems like update-alternatives somehow caused the DMZ cursor theme to be selected.

It seems that /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/x-cursor-theme got messed up, only having:
auto
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/icons/default/index.theme

/usr/share/icons/DMZ-White/cursor.theme
50
/usr/share/icons/DMZ-Black/cursor.theme
30

After executing manually the postinst of industrial-cursor-theme, which was installed already, it seems to have been added now:
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/share/icons/default/index.theme x-cursor-theme /usr/share/icons/Industrial/cursor.theme 40

$ cat /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/x-cursor-theme
auto
/usr/share/icons/default/index.theme

/usr/share/icons/DMZ-White/cursor.theme
50
/usr/share/icons/DMZ-Black/cursor.theme
30
/usr/share/icons/Industrial/cursor.theme
40

Seems like some update-alternatives issue to me.
Is there an easy way to reproduce this? Seems like some odd leftover from during upgrades. Is there an easy way to reproduce this? What does /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/x-cursor-theme look like for you?

Workaround appears to be: reinstall industrial-cursor-theme or otherwise fix the x-cursor-theme alternative link.

[Harald Sitter (apachelogger)]

Degrade to Confirmed and Low importance.

Is this still an issue in 8.10? It would appear to me kubuntu-default-settings doesn't mess with the cursor theme.

[Jonathan Thomas (echidnaman)]

We are closing this bug report because it lacks the information we need to investigate the problem, as described in the previous comments. Please reopen it if you can give us the missing information, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New". Thanks again!

[NoahY (noahy)]

Confirm that this still exists (or exists again) in Karmic... just installed KDE, then uninstalled. Everything gone except the mouse pointer. I'm opening this again, okay?

[Augusto (augusto.rendon)]

I can confirm this in 9.10 beta.

[poetofzwan (michaeld2005)]

Also have this issue on Ubuntu 9.10 beta when I install kubuntu-desktop (and associated packages)

[Tomas Cohen (tomas.adrian)]

I confirm this on Karmic.

[Dougie Nisbet (dougie-highmoor)]

I'm getting this on Karmic. Installed KDE and Kubuntu Desktop to have a play, didn't like it so went back to
Gnome. Have tried uninstalling all traces of kubuntu but unwanted mouse pointer persists. Currently experimenting with System - Preferences - Appearance - Themes to try and get 'normal' mouse pointer back. Loathe the two rotating circles for 'busy' indication!

[Evan Nelson (ean5533)]

Same problem here on Karmic; tried out installing kubuntu-desktop just to give it a spin, but now my cursor is stuck as kubuntu's cursor. I tried changing it in Appearance->Themes->Customize->Pointer. It appears to change back to the normal cursor when the mouse is within an app like firefox, but it goes back to the kubuntu cursor when the mouse is on the desktop or over any GNOME widget.

[Evan Nelson (ean5533)]

Quick followup: Re-installing and then re-un-installing the package kubuntu-artwork-usplash seemed to force the mouse cursor back to normal. Not sure why it was necessary to uninstall that package twice.

[Carlos Scheidegger (cscheid)]

Had the same happen to me (installed kubuntu-desktop, didn't like it, reverted back to gnome, ugly mouse cursors still there). Evan Nelson's suggestion didn't work for me either. I tracked it down to the oxygen pointer theme not being properly changed back to DMZ-White, which seems to be the standard gnome pointer theme. To change it back, I just manually edited
/usr/share/icons/default/index.theme so that the line

Inherits = oxy-white

now reads

Inherits = DMZ-White

It seems to be the exact same bug described by Daniel Hahler in comment #6.

[John Dong (jdong)]

Confirmed here too; uninstall Kubuntu does not revert the mouse cursor theme.

[Daeld (daeld-daeldia)]

Confirm in Karmic. For me it started when I opened a KDE app in GNOME. (I think it was Kate from memory). Uninstalling/reinstalling/reunreinstalling did not work for me.
Carlos Scheidegger's work-around (#16) works for me. Thanks.

(BTW - also was having problems with the screen resolution changing at seemingly random times after installing kubuntu - so far it has been stable after setting the screen resolution with the KDE System Settings tool in GNOME).

[ramsey haddad (ramsey-haddad)]

/usr/share/icons/default/index.theme is just a symbolic link.

instead of modifying the oxygen file directly, run the following command:

sudo update-alternatives --config x-cursor-theme

i'm not sure which one is the default for gnome ubuntu, maybe someone with a clean gnome ubuntu install can help out here.

i'm also an unsuspecting victim of the horrid kubuntu-desktop

[pswartout (paul-swartout)]

I can confirm that i also have this problem under karmic. kubuntu-desktop install under ubuntu seems to cause more problems than good.

The suggestion in log #19 seems to have fixed it for now. I'm not 100% happy with the situation.

I'm considering a full fresh reinstall of ubuntu but if there's a simple answer, I'd be willing to try it.

[Srivatsan (srivatsan-parthasarathy)]

I also have this problem in karmic 9.10. I have been using GDM as the default manager and installed kubuntu-desktop to see KDE 4.3. Logged back in using GDM and my mouse theme was the same that was in kubuntu.

Running sudo update-alternatives --config x-cursor-theme seems to have fixed the problem.

However, I have an additional issue. I see the KDE specific "system settings" on my GNOME System --> Preferences panel. This was not there before. I don't understand why I am seeing this panel in GNOME.

Also, the font preferences I had set using qtconfig-qt4 (ie for Opera browser) seem to be overtaken by the default KDE fonts. The qtconfig-qt4 panel seems to be unchanged but all the fonts in Opera are all changed. Anyone know how to fix this issue?

[Harald Sitter (apachelogger)]

I really do not get the problem?

Installing kubuntu-desktop, will install it's cursor theme (oxygen-cursor-theme) and apparently set this as default theme, once said theme package is uninstalled the default is changed again. Otherwise it is changable via update-alternatives as pointed out.

So, what is the buzz about?

[Aris (aris-0xbadc0de)]

Hi,
I resolved the issue on my computer (karmic 64bits) by removing the oxygen-cursor-theme package. But it doesn't explain why my gnome settings were using the oxygen cursors

[Harald Sitter (apachelogger)]

Well, because apparently gnome used the system default, which is oxygen after installing kubuntu-desktop. If gnome has a configuration for that, then you can probably override this on a per user basis or globally via update-alternatives.

Since removing the oxygen cursor package does indeed change back to DMZ I am marking this bug as invalid.