Theme Package Specification (Draft)
Introduction
This specification is designed to provide a desktop neutral way to package multiple themes inside a single 'metatheme', it does not explain where themes should go.
It should bring artists and users together, allow artists to create a collection of themes building a certain look and users can install that same collection at the touch of a button to get the look the artist designed.
Themes should be installed as specified by the DesktopThemeSpec.
Theme Package Structure
A theme-package is an archive containing several different kinds of themes and a themepackage file describing all the contents. The archive should be a gzip-compressed tarball with a .theme extension.
Individual themes are located in different folders, see below: [[!format txt """ / /ThemePackage.index /gtk-2.0/ /metacity/ /xfwm4/ /icons/ /cursors/ """]]
Theme Package Description
The Theme``Package.index file should be formatted as followed:
Theme Name
[[!format txt """ [ThemePackage Entry] Name=Example theme """]] The Name of the theme, it is required for identification-purposes.
Desktop-file version
[[!format txt """ Version=1.0 """]] The Desktop-file syntax version, this field must be present.
Mime-type
[[!format txt """ Type=X-ThemePackage """]] The mime-type, this field must be present and have the value X-Theme``Package.
Maintainer
[[!format txt """
Maintainer=John Doe
Name < email >
If for some reason this field is not available, Theme-manager implementations may choose to warn a user about this fact.
Theme version
[[!format txt """ Theme-Version=1.0 """]] The Theme``Package version-number (increases with every update), this field should be present and formatted as followed
a[.b[.c[.d[.e]]]] Where a, b, c, d and e are numbers between 0 and 4294967296 (32 bits unsigned integers).
Theme components
[[!format txt """ Contains=gtk-2.0;xfwm4;metacity;icons;wallpapers;cursors """]] A list of themes contained within the ?ThemePackage, these strings MUST represent the folder-names inside the archive. However, since not every theme-category might be available, some of the items from this list could be missing. (eg, if it does not contain an icon-theme, just leave out the 'icons' entry from this list)
It is possible to include any theme-category to a theme-package, given it adheres to the following rules:
- the category should be unique (eg, it can't be called gtk-2.0 and conflict to existing gtk themes)
- the theme should be installed in $XDG_DATA_DIRS/themes
- This means that the theme data-files can be found in $XDG_DATA_DIRS/themes/THEME_NAME/COMPONENT_NAME/ where THEME_NAME equals the Name field from the Theme``Package.desktop file, and the COMPONENT_NAME equals the name of a theme-category. Applications which install themes may choose which components to install but it should also provide an option to install all available components.
Component-related information
You may add an individual section for certain package-components, this can be used to add additional information regarding the individual theme-author and license related to the specific themes.
Author(s) / Artist(s) name(s)
[[!format txt """
[gtk-2.0]
Authors=Jane Doe
Name < email >[; Name < email >[; etc...]]
Theme Component Name
[[!format txt """
Name=Component Theme Name
"""]]
The component's theme name, this is optional and overrides the ThemePackage name for a component. It is useful when a ThemePackage is filled with several pre-existing themes.
Theme Component Description
[[!format txt """ Description=This Example theme gives the User Interface an olive-greenish look. """]] This field provides a description about the specific component.
Theme Component License Information
[[!format txt """ License=GPL;Creative-Commons """]] The License under which the component is distributed, if this field is missing or empty a theme-manager may choose to notify the user about such fact.
ThemePackage.index Example
[[!format txt """
[ThemePackage Entry]
Name=Example theme
Version=1.0
Type=X-ThemePackage
Maintainer=John Doe
[gtk-2.0]
Authors=Jane Doe <jane AT freedesktop DOT org>; John Doe <john AT freedesktop DOT org>
Description=This Example theme gives the User Interface an olive-greenish look.
License=GPL;Creative-Commons
[xfwm4]
Authors=John Doe Jr. <john_jr AT freedesktop DOT org>
Description=This Example theme provides window-decoration with round borders.
License=Creative-Commons
[metacity]
Name=Existing Theme
Authors=John Doe Jr. <john_jr AT freedesktop DOT org>
Description=This Example theme provides window-decoration with round borders.
License=Creative-Commons
[icons]
Authors=John Doe <john AT freedesktop DOT org>
License=Public Domain
"""]]