Gnome Wallpaper Changer

One feature I really liked about Windows 7 that is lacking on F13 Gnome is the ability to automatically rotate desktop wallpapers. This minor aesthetic functionality is easily implemented using crontab and a simple python script. I set the script to run every 15 minutes using crontab and to read from a specific folder of wallpapers (.backgrounds/dual). I used Davyd's Madeley's python script:

#!/usr/bin/python
#
# change-background.py
#
# A script to change to a random background image
#
# (c) 2004, Davyd Madeley
#
# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
# any later version.
#
# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
# GNU General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
# Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
#

backgrounds = ".backgrounds/dual"

import gconf
import os
import random
import mimetypes

class GConfClient:
def __init__ (self):
self.__client__ = gconf.client_get_default ()
def get_background (self):
return self.__client__.get_string ("/desktop/gnome/background/picture_filename")
def set_background (self, background):
self.__client__.set_string ("/desktop/gnome/background/picture_filename", background)

client = GConfClient ()


dir_items = os.listdir (os.path.join (os.environ["HOME"], backgrounds))
items = []

for item in dir_items:
mimetype = mimetypes.guess_type (item)[0]
if mimetype and mimetype.split ('/')[0] == "image":
items.append (item)

item = random.randint (0, len (items) - 1)
current_bg = client.get_background ()

while (items[item] == current_bg):
item = random.randint (0, len (items) - 1)

client.set_background (os.path.join (os.environ["HOME"], backgrounds, items[item]))

The crontab file is set as:

*/15 * * * * DISPLAY=:0.0 /usr/local/bin/change-background.py