Exposé in Debian Linux XFCE

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Updated 2016 Nov 4.

Compiz is fantastic, but i don’t want it. I only want an Exposé like feature. Thanks to Skippy-XD I can have it.

Firstly, you will need some dependencies:

sudo aptitude install libimlib2-dev libfontconfig1-dev libfreetype6-dev libx11-dev \
libxext-dev libxft-dev libxrender-dev zlib1g-dev libxinerama-dev libxcomposite-dev \
libxdamage-dev libxfixes-dev libxmu-dev

Now, install the currently maintained code from github:

cd ~/Downloads
git clone https://github.com/antonio-malcolm/skippy-xd.git
cd skippy-xd
make
sudo make install

Based on previous versions, I found it to crash occasionally, so I created a wrapper script to maintain it in a running state. Save the following script to ~/scripts/expose.sh or whatever your preference may be and mark it executable with chmod +x ~/scripts/expose.sh.

#!/bin/sh
while true
do
  echo [re]start
  killall skippy-xd
  rm /tmp/skippy-xd-fifo
  /usr/bin/skippy-xd --start-daemon
  echo "Died"
  echo
done

You can run it in the background with ~/scripts/expose.sh& or set it to autostart with login: In XFCE go to Applications->Settings->Session and Startup->Application Autostart tab: Add a new item named “Skippy-XD” with the command pointing to your new script.

Test it by running sleep 0.5 && /usr/bin/skippy-xd --activate-window-picker. If it works, proceed.

Now you need to set a keyboard shortcut: Go to Applications->Settings->Keyboard->Application Shortcuts: Add a new command containing /usr/bin/skippy-xd --activate-window-picker and set the key to your preferred keystroke (I chose F9).

If it ever seems to hang, you may wish to see if it is running with ps aux | grep [s]kippy and kill any processes before launching it again.

Good Luck!
…

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