Matthias Clasen
matthias.clasen@gmail.com 2012
Jana Svarova
jana.svarova@gmail.com 2013
Petr Kovar
pknbe@volny.cz 2019
How do I make extra backgrounds available to my users?
Fran Diéguez
frandieguez@gnome.org 2010-2018

# Add extra backgrounds

You can make extra backgrounds available to users on your system by following the steps below.

# Set extra backgrounds

Create an XML file, for example filename.xml. In this file, use keys from the org.gnome.desktop.background GSettings schema to specify extra backgrounds and their appearance.

Below is a list of the most frequently used keys:

# org.gnome.desktop.background schemas GSettings keys

Key name | Possible values | Description
picture-options | "none", "wallpaper", "centered", "scaled", "stretched", "zoom", "spanned" | Determines how the image set by wallpaper_filename is rendered.
color-shading-type | "horizontal", "vertical", and "solid" | How to shade the background color.
primary-color | default: #023c88 | Left or top color when drawing gradients, or the solid color.
secondary-color | default: #5789ca | Right or bottom color when drawing gradients, not used for solid color.

You can view a complete list of org.gnome.desktop.background keys and possible values using dconf-editor or the gsettings command-line utility. See for more information.

Below is a sample filename.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE wallpapers SYSTEM "gnome-wp-list.dtd"> <wallpapers> <wallpaper deleted="false"> <name>Company Background</name> <name xml:lang="de">Firmenhintergrund</name> <filename>/usr/local/share/backgrounds/company-wallpaper.jpg</filename> <options>zoom</options> <shade_type>solid</shade_type> <pcolor>#ffffff</pcolor> <scolor>#000000</scolor> </wallpaper> </wallpapers>

Place the filename.xml file in the /usr/share/gnome-background-properties/ directory.

Users will have the extra backgrounds available for configuration from Settings Background.

# Specify multiple backgrounds

In one configuration file, you can specify multiple `<wallpaper>` elements to add more backgrounds.

See the following example with two `<wallpaper>` elements, adding two different backgrounds:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE wallpapers SYSTEM "gnome-wp-list.dtd"> <wallpapers> <wallpaper deleted="false"> <name>Company Background</name> <name xml:lang="de">Firmenhintergrund</name> <filename>/usr/local/share/backgrounds/company-wallpaper.jpg</filename> <options>zoom</options> <shade_type>solid</shade_type> <pcolor>#ffffff</pcolor> <scolor>#000000</scolor> </wallpaper> <wallpaper deleted="false"> <name>Company Background 2</name> <name xml:lang="de">Firmenhintergrund 2</name> <filename>/usr/local/share/backgrounds/company-wallpaper-2.jpg</filename> <options>zoom</options> <shade_type>solid</shade_type> <pcolor>#ff0000</pcolor> <scolor>#00ffff</scolor> </wallpaper> </wallpapers>