change permissions to copy pictures into backgrounds

[Colin Law]

On 8 May 2012 17:39, Thomas Blasejewicz <thomas at s7.dion.ne.jp> wrote:
> (2012/05/09 1:11), compdoc wrote:
>>>
>>> owner: Thomas Blasejewicz
>>
>> I don't understand that. In the Linux distros I've known, you cannot have
>> a
>> user name that contains capital letters. Nor have I ever seen a username
>> containing 2 names separated by a space.
>>
>> Maybe you're being too descriptive, and 'thomas' is the actual owner?
>>
>>
>>> the "default folder" for wallpapers appears to be:
>>> /usr/share/backgrounds
>>> owner: root
>>> group: root
>>
>> If the folder is owned by root, then use sudo to move any files into that
>> folder, and change permissions if necessary...
>>
> Click on the "Pictures" folder that was already there (I did not create it)
> and look at properties:
> thomas - Thomas Blasejewicz
> THAT is what I get on my screen as "owner"
>
>>> "use sudo to move any files ..."
> I am trying (for hours already), but have no success at all.
>
> hold on ... I have just (for reasons unknown) succeeded in copyint my
> pictures.
> Fine.
>
> BUT, they do NOT show up when I open "Appearance -> Look -> Wallpapers
> Only those "default images" show.
> Why?

Just to tie up the loose end here, in order for images to appear in
the default image set in the Appearance app it is not enough just to
copy them to /usr/share/backgrounds.  In fact there is nothing special
about images in that folder, it is just a place to save the images.
The default images (I believe) are actually determined by the contents
of the file /usr/share/gnome-background-properties/precise-wallpapers.xml.
 In order to add new images to the default set details would have to
be added to this file.  The images themselves could apparently be
anywhere.

To see what is in that file, in a terminal type
cat /usr/share/gnome-background-properties/precise-wallpapers.xml
If you want to edit it you can do it (but I advise against this) by
gksu gedit /usr/share/gnome-background-properties/precise-wallpapers.xml
but if you mess up the format then I don't know what will happen, so I
would advise keeping a copy of the original file.

Colin