Debian

ROX-Filer is in Debian/stable. To install:

# apt-get install rox-filer

You can get all the other ROX software using AddApp or ROX-All.

Dennis Tomas writes that he has

"put together a package "rox-desktop" containing nothing but some (IMHO) good defaults, 0install-wrappers for some core software and a login-script. [...] I've also made a menu-method for debian, which places app-wrappers for on-rox-apps in /usr/share/rox/Apps/Debian.

It's all available from ftp://ftp.berlios.de/pub/rox4debian.

You can also add it to your /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb ftp://ftp.berlios.de/pub/rox4debian binary/

Then update APT's cache with:

# apt-get update

There is also a (separate and less active) ROX-in-Debian Project at http://alioth.debian.org/projects/pkg-rox/.

Guide

After installing, you might like to read the Getting Started Guide.

Existing (non-ROX) applications are available from /usr/share/applications.

Themes

You can install gtk themes w/ apt too.

apt-cache search gtk-engines
apt-cache search gtk2-engines

Then just select a theme from the GTk theme switcher or by runing ROX-session>SessionSetting>Display

Fedora Core

"The Fedora Project is a Red-Hat-sponsored and community-supported open source project. It is also a proving ground for new technology that may eventually make its way into Red Hat products."

Instructions

Starting with a clean Fedora Core 5 install:

1. Log in as a user (set up during the install).
2. From the Applications menu, choose "Add/Remove Software". Enter the root password when prompted.
3. Go to the "Search" tab.
4. Type "zeroinstall" into the search box (without the quotes) and click on Search.
5. After a bit, "zeroinstall-injector" appears in the list. Tick the box next to it and click on Apply.

Alternatively, you can install the package from a shell prompt, with:

# yum install zeroinstall-injector

You can now fetch and run the ROX applications:

1. Go to the ROX-All page and download the .tgz archive.
2. Open it with "Archive manager" as prompted by firefox. Click on Extract and select your home directory as the target folder. Leave the other options alone. Close the archive manager window when done.
3. Double-click on your home directory (on the desktop background) and then on the extracted ROX-All directory. Double-click on "rox" to run ROX-Filer.
4. You can use ROX-Filer to run the other applications. Run ROX-Session if you want the full desktop environment.

To add a rox command that runs ROX-Filer from the shell (don't run this as root):

$ 0alias rox http://rox.sourceforge.net/2005/interfaces/ROX-Filer

See the Getting Started Guide for instructions on what you can do now.

See the AddApp page for information about getting more programs.

Supported versions

Fedora Core 5 is known to work.

Fedora Core 3 works, but use the "Other" directory in ROX-All to install Zero Install, not the RPM.

Fedora Core 1 does not work, because ROX-All requires Python >= 2.3.

Fedore Core 2 and 4 should work (they have Python 2.3). Please add a comment below if you have tried it to say whether it works.

Gentoo

The official Gentoo repository now has ROX-Filer 2.6, ROX-Lib-2.0.3, and ROX-Clib-2.1.9, and a large number of your favourite applications.

Using emerge

To install ROX under Gentoo, a simple

$ emerge rox

should do as a start. This will get you ROX-Filer. Other applications and applets sold separately, some assembly required.

Gentoo has two groupings of ROX ebuilds 'rox-base' and 'rox-extra'. Most of these ebuilds are still marked as experimental (~x86 ~ppc ~amd64), but are slowly becoming stabilized. Also, there is no meta-ebuild to install an entire ROX-Desktop yet, but this is planned for the not-too-distant future.

For the status of all ROX-Desktop software for Gentoo, see the new "Rox Desktop for Gentoo" project page.

If you have any problems with the Gentoo rox ebuilds, please report problems to the Gentoo Bugzilla.

After installing, you might like to read the The ROX Guidebook.

Using 0Install

There hasn't been a lot of testing done yet on combining 0Install and Gentoo yet, so if you are looking for a know-to-be-good system, either use Gentoo ebuilds or 0Install, not both.

This will be smoothed out in the near future, hopefully increasing the interoperability between these 2 systems.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How do I get rox working as my desktop environment?
A. Use ROX-Session, or, alternately, place this

rox -p Default -b Default

in ~/.xinitrc or ~/.xsession (depending on whether you're using xdm or
startx to get X started). Although, depending on which window manager
you are using, your wm might need some tweaking to get it to behave
nicely with ROX-Filer.

Q. How can I contact the Gentoo rox package maintainer(s)?
A. Depends on why you want to contact us:

• To report a bug, please use Gentoo Bugzilla
• If you just want to say "hi", you can email rox@gentoo.org

Q. Why isn't application X in portage?
A. You can request new packages in the Gentoo Bugzilla. When doing so, make sure to mention:

• That it is a request for a 'rox' application
• The name of the software you want added, and a link to where it can be found
• To aid in the process, submit an ebuild that you have already tested in your local overlay.

Mandrake

Note: These instructions are written for installing ROX on Mandrake 9.2. These should still hold true for other versions, but your milege may vary.
For Mandrake 9.0, try http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/rox/rox-1.3.6-1.i586.rpm?download instead.
If you're using Mandrake, it is recommended that you use the Mandrake RPMs packaged by Götz Waschk.

The preferred method of installation is to use Mandrake's urpmi installer. You'll need to add the contribs repository using the following command (as root):
urpmi.addmedia contrib ftp://ftp.vat.tu-dresden.de/pub/Mandrakelinux/official/9.2/contrib/i586 with ../../i586/Mandrake/base/hdlist2.cz
If you want to use another mirror, the program urpmi.setup (also available as web version at http://urpmi.org/easyurpmi/index.php) is your friend.

Then you can install the packages (also as root):

urpmi rox-lib

1. Download the other core programs from this site (Wrappers, Edit, Archive, System, any panel applets you want, etc). For System, get the Linux ix86 binaries. Don't worry -- these are all very small.
2. Extract them. GNOME has the File-Roller tool for extracting archives and KDE has Ark; or, use the command line (xzf = eXtract gZipped File):

$ tar xzf wrappers.tgz
$ tar xzf archive-1.9.2.tgz
etc

If anything on this page is wrong, or amiss, please, correct it!

How do I install without using urpmi?

If you don't want to use urpmi, you can download the filer and ROX-Lib RPMs from http://www.rpmfind.net. Be sure to grab the right one for your architecture:

Filer
i586

PPC
Alpha
Src

ROX-Lib
i586
PPC
Alpha

Src

ROX-Lib is pure Python... why are there different packages for each architecture?

You'll also need to grab the shared_mime_info RPM for your architecture.

shared_mime_info
i586
PPC
Alpha
Src

Open your file manager (Konqueror, Nautilus, etc), and simply click on the downloaded RPMs to install in this order:

# shared_mime_info
# rox
# rox-lib

Mandrake cooker packages

How do I install ROX-Session if I don't want to use the RPMs?

It's probably better to use the rox-session RPM (above). Otherwise, download ROX-Session from the Software Index page.
To make ROX the default desktop on login, run ROX-Session from the filer. This makes the "default" session listed in GDM start the ROX desktop. Choosing to set another WM as default will prevent you from logging into ROX. This can be remedied by setting ROX as a unique login Session in GDM.

To set ROX as a unique Session in GDM do the following as root:

$ cp ~/.xsession /etc/Xll/gdm/Session/ROX
$ chmod 755 ROX

Mandriva

Note: Mandriva Linux was formerly known as Mandrake.

Note: These instructions are written for installing ROX on Mandriva 2006 (but based on the instructions for 9.2). These should still hold true for later versions, but your milege may vary.
The preferred method of installation is to use Mandrake's urpmi installer. You'll need to add the contribs repository using the following command (as root):

$ urpmi.addmedia contrib \
> ftp://ftp.proxad.net/pub/Distributions_Linux/Mandrakelinux/official/2006.0/i586/media/contrib\
> with media_info/hdlist.cz

http://urpmi.org/easyurpmi/index.php

$ urpmi rox-lib

You will be prompted to install additional packages:

To satisfy dependencies, the following 2 packages are going to be installed (3 MB):
rox-2.3-1mdk.i586
rox-lib-2.0.2-1mdk.noarch
Is this OK? (Y/n)

$ urpmi -a librox-c1 librox-c1-devel rox-archive rox-clib rox-freefs rox-gcb \
> rox-magickthumbnail rox-menu rox-mime-editor rox-mixer rox-musicbox \
> rox-oroborox rox-pager rox-session rox-system rox-systray rox-utils \
> rox-wallpaper rox-wrappers-multimedia rox-wrappers-networking \
> rox-wrappers-office rox-wrappers-texttools rox-wrappers-utils

To set ROX as a unique Session in GDM do the following as root:

$ cp ~/.xsession /etc/Xll/gdm/Session/ROX
$ chmod 755 ROX

Red Hat

Web installer

You should be able to install ROX using the ROX-All package (could someone confirm that this works?).

Red Hat 9 users note

According to distrowatch, Red Hat 9 only has GTK 2.2. When you try to run ROX-Filer the first time
it will ask you which version to download. Double-click on the version field and make ROX-Filer 2.2.0 your preferred version, as this was the last version to
support GTK 2.2.

RHEL 4 and later

RHEL 4 and later support GTK 2.4, which allows you to run more recent versions of the filer.

Download

• ROX-All
• Freedesktop MIME database

Old RPMs

Warning: These packages are really out-of-date. I guess everyone's using Fedora Core instead.

Download either the source or the binary RPM (i386 for normal PCs):

• rox-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm Mirrors
• rox-2.0.1-1.src.rpm Mirrors

AND download the shared MIME package RPM from this page.

Note: These RPMs are rather out-of-date. 2.2.x is the current stable series. Packagers wanted! If you want a recent version you'll need to install from source.

(Attention Fedora Core 1 users: The RPMs that seem to work include the file, rox-2.0.1-1.i386.rpm, and the Red Hat 9 RPM for the shared MIME package.)

Then use the RPM installer (should be available by clicking on the downloaded RPMs) to install them both beginning with the MIME info RPM. You can then run the filer by typing 'rox' at a shell prompt. The RPM also creates a launcher for you in the GNOME/KDE Menu under Accessories/Other Accessories. You can start the filer from this launcher and also add it to the GNOME panel or KDE Kicker for easy access.
If you can't find the graphical installer, get a terminal window and do the following ($ is the prompt):

$ su
[ enter root password ]
$ rpm -ihv rox*.rpm shared-mime-info*.rpm
$ exit
$ rox

That should install ROX-Filer and shared MIME info, and open a window onto your home directory.
Doing this only gets you the filer, not the whole desktop. You might like to just stick with that for a while (at least you'll still have the old interface too, if you find something difficult with ROX).
If you want the whole desktop:

1. Download the other core programs from this site (ROX-Session, Wrappers, ROX-Lib2, Edit, Archive, System, any panel applets you want, etc). Don't worry -- these are all very small. For System and ROX-Session, get the Linux ix86 binaries. The others are python programs and should work for all platforms.
2. Extract them. GNOME has the File-Roller tool for extracting archives; or, use the command line (xzf = eXtract gZipped File):

$ tar xzf wrappers.tgz
$ tar xzf archive-1.9.2.tgz
etc

$ cp ~/.xsession /etc/Xll/gdm/Session/ROX

This will create a Session in the GDM login manager for ROX, allowing you to easily switch between ROX and GNOME, KDE, XFCE4, etc.
After installing, you might like to read the Getting Started Guide.

Slackware

ROX package for Slackware Linux 10.1
The latest ROX package (2.2.0 at the time of writing) for Slackware Linux 10.1 is provided on my personal web site. You must also install gnome/shared-mime-info and gnome/hicolor-icon-theme official Slackware packages. If you are running another version of Slackware Linux, you can use the rox-slackbuild archive to build your own Slackware package for ROX. -- LiNuCe.

ROX Filer packages for Slackware 9.0, 9.1, 10.0
LinuxPackages.net provides packages for Slackware 9.0 as well as Slackware 9.1, and has just added packages for Slackware 10.0.

Older (1.x) ROX Filer packages for Slackware 8.1
Franois Cami has created Slackware 8.1 binary packages for i686 systems. These are for Slackware 8.1 only. Supporting packages (GTK and the shared MIME database) can be found
here.

• Stable version: mirrors
• Developer version: mirrors

SuSE

You can either install using ROX-All, or using the RPMs.

Download the RPMs from http://packman.links2linux.de/. You need (from the Other category):

• shared-mime-info
• rox-filer

You do not need rox-base, that has been made redundant.
Installation is similar to Red Hat.

Ubuntu

You should be able to install ROX using the ROX-All package.

One known problem is that installing ROX-Session system-wide asks for the root password, but Ubuntu doesn't have a root password by default as it encourages people to use sudo instead.

Here is a summary of the status reports from the comments. If you can clarify further which versions work, please add a comment to this page!

Ubuntu 4.10 (The Warty Warthog): October 2004

Should work, but use Debian (not "Ubuntu") package of 0launch because Warty uses Python 2.3 like Debian.

Ubuntu 5.04 (The Hoary Hedgehog): April 2005

Reported to work (possible D-BUS problems with configuration applets)

Ubuntu 5.10 (The Breezy Badger): October 2005

Reported to work (possible D-BUS problems with configuration applets)

Ubuntu 6.06 (The Dapper Drake): June 2006

Reported to work (possible D-BUS problems with configuration applets)

Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft): October 2006

Works.

Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn): April 2007

Works.

Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon): October 2007

Works.

Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron): April 2008

Works.

Ubuntu/jaunty

The process has changed and these instructions need to be updated. Looks like you need to run gconf-editor and edit /gnome/desktop/session. There is a list of required components which are gconf keys at the next level. These list .desktop files to be run. [ TODO ]

Step-by-step instructions for Ubuntu/feisty

As an alternative to using ROX-Session, these instructions show how to reconfigure gnome-session to start ROX. This provides better integration with the existing Ubuntu environment.

1. Start the package manager, by opening the Applications menu at the top of the screen and choosing Add/Remove ....
2. Find and install the zeroinstall-injector package (you may need to select Show: All available applications).
3. Open a terminal emulator using Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal.
4. Use this to get ROX-Filer, by entering this command in the terminal emulator (hint: clicking the middle mouse button pastes the selected text):
   

   $ 0alias rox http://rox.sourceforge.net/2005/interfaces/ROX-Filer

   (it may prompt you to create a bin ("binary") directory for the script; follow the instructions)

5. You can now try running ROX-Filer like this:
   

   $ rox

   Right-click in the window and choose Options from the menu. In the Compatibility section, turn on the Panel is a 'dock' option. This is needed for Metacity, the default Ubuntu window manager.

6. We'll set up some defaults (e.g. that clicking on a .zip file should unpack it using Archive) by adding the ROX-Defaults package. Add this line to your ~/.gnomerc file (creating a new one if you don't have one):

   eval `0launch http://rox.sourceforge.net/2005/interfaces/ROX-Defaults`

   This won't take effect until you next login. Note that those ` characters are graves ("back-ticks"), not apostrophes.

7. Next, you might like to change some GNOME settings by entering the commands below. Here, we disable the GNOME splash screen and the Windows-like raise-on-click behaviour. We also enable changing keyboard short-cuts. You can also set focus-follows-mouse mode if you want (the fourth command does this). Disabling raise-on-click makes it easier to use drag-and-drop between programs, which is a core part of ROX.
   

   $ gconftool-2 -s /apps/gnome-session/options/show_splash_screen -t bool false
   $ gconftool-2 -s /desktop/gnome/interface/can_change_accels -t bool true
   $ gconftool-2 -s /apps/metacity/general/raise_on_click -t bool false
   $ gconftool-2 -s /apps/metacity/general/focus_mode -t str sloppy
   

8. We're going to put a ROX panel along the bottom of the screen, so remove the existing gnome panel by right-clicking on it and choosing Delete this panel from the menu.
9. Now we'll use ROX-Filer to manage the desktop rather than Nautilus. Using the gnome-panel menu at the top of the screen, run System/Preferences/Sessions. The Current Session tab lists the session-aware programs that are currently running. The idea here is to run the programs you want by the normal means, and then save the current state.
10. Set the style for "nautilus" to "Deleted Items" so that it doesn't get automatically restarted when we kill it, and then kill it using this command:
    

    $ killall nautilus

11. Run ROX in "session" mode to replace it, like this:

    $ rox -S

    You should get a new backdrop and a new panel along the bottom of the screen.

12. Quit any programs you don't want to be run on each login, and then go to the Session Options tab in gnome-session and click on "Save the current session".
13. Log out and log back in again.

You might like to read the Getting Started Guide next. More applications can be found in the ROX-All package.

See also:

• Notes on installing ROX-Filer on Ubuntu Breezy - Christopher Arndt's guide to installing the desktop and configuring it to look like GNOME.