This project attempts to simplify the configuration of Xfce, by using YAML files instead of XML files.

In order to maintain your configuration, you would need an XML file like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<channel name="xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts" version="1.0">
  <property name="xfwm4" type="empty">
    <property name="custom" type="empty">
      <property name="&lt;Primary&gt;&lt;Alt&gt;Down" type="string" value="down_workspace_key"/>
      <property name="&lt;Primary&gt;&lt;Alt&gt;Right" type="string" value="right_workspace_key"/>
      <property name="&lt;Primary&gt;&lt;Alt&gt;Left" type="string" value="left_workspace_key"/>
      <property name="&lt;Primary&gt;&lt;Alt&gt;Up" type="string" value="up_workspace_key"/>
    </property>
  </property>
</channel>

Of course, the moment you change any other configuration this file immediately is filled with noise, and then it becomes hard to keep track what are the defaults, and what are your changes.

Instead, we use a much less verbose YAML file:

shorcuts:
  wm:
    left_workspace: "<Super>Left"
    right_workspace: "<Super>Right"
    up_workspace: "<Super>Up"
    down_workspace: "<Super>Down"

This format is not only less verbose and more readable, but it also maps conceptually to what a human wants to do: map right_workspace to a key, not a key to right_workspace_key.

Additionally, all configurations can be stored in the same file:

---
shortcuts:
  commands:
    "<Super>Return": xfce4-terminal
  wm:
    left_workspace: "<Super>Left"
    right_workspace: "<Super>Right"
    up_workspace: "<Super>Up"
    down_workspace: "<Super>Down"
settings:
  xfwm4:
    "/general/easy_click": Super
  xfce4-session:
    "/general/PromptOnLogout": false
  xfce4-desktop:
    "/desktop-icons/style": 0
panels:
- position: p=10;x=0;y=0
  plugins:
  - - whiskermenu
  - - tasklist
  - - pager

Even the configuration of the panels is understandable, as opposed to the XML one.

To load a configuration:

xfconf-load config.yml

The configuration is loaded using D-Bus, so it's immediately activated.

To store your current current configuration:

xfconf-dump > config.yml

Known defaults will be skipped in order to better visualize the actual configuration.

If you want to see a diff, you can specify the original config to minimize the differences.

xfconf-dump original-config.yml > new-config.yml
diff -u original-config.yml new-config.yml

Prerequisites

To use you will need ruby and the ruby-dbus gem, which you can install with:

gem install ruby-dbus

Install

Simply run make install (and make sure ~/.local/bin is in your $PATH).

If you are using Arch Linux, you can install xfce-config-helper from AUR.

yay -Sy xfce-config-helper