Mabox CHANGELOG (Openbox)

Changelog with important changes in Mabox.
With commands to help you follow new features if you like.


??.?? Codename: Jaskier release planned for … April?

Reworked Mabox theme manager (work in progress)

New Tint2 panel configs + colorizer module for them (work in progress)

:dvd: 26.03 March ISO refresh

released: 24.03.2026

TODOlist

dynamic menu W-o, cli and conky widget

Conky and Conky Manager improvements

Default conky sysinfo now have battery indicator.
Now is possible to disable conky click actions from Conky Manager.

Keyboard shortcuts list

mb-kb --gui many improvements, some contributed by @muzqs , thanks!


:dvd: 26.02 ISO

released: 2026.02.24

:dvd: 26.01 ISO second

released: 2026.01.31

live session fixes

  • mabox-keyring added

Update notifier/status icon and menu

  • added Renew PGP keys menu entry
  • pkgslist: added 2 menu entries for package statistics: yay -Ps and qdirstat pkg:/

:dvd: 26.01 January ISO

released: 2026.01.14
see: Mabox 26.01 - latest 6.18 LTS kernel | MaboxLinux

LTS Kernels: 6.1.8 and 6.6


:dvd: 25.12 December ISO

released: 2025.12.16
see: Mabox 25.12 - improvements, fixes and GTK2 farewell | MaboxLinux

GTK2 farewell

GTK2 removed from upstream repos (Arch then Manjaro).
Many packages now use GTK3 :

  • pcmanfm file manager
  • lxtask task manager
  • lxappearance
  • lxappearance-obconf
  • lxrandr display settings
  • lxinput mouse and keyboard settings
  • viewnior image viewer

GKrellm system monitor removed from iso-profile (moved to AUR)


Other changes

  • File manager bookmarks handling in dynamic menus eg. W - .: local and network: ssh, samba, ftp
  • Volume Tint2 panel executor updated/fixed
  • Picom disabled by default (in live session, and after installation)

:dvd: 25.09 ISO refresh second

released: 2025.09.30

lxappearance, lxappearance-obconf and pcmanfm replaced with gtk3 versions.

yay -R lxappearance-obconf
yay -S lxappearance-gtk3 lxappearance-obconf-gtk3 pcmanfm-gtk3

Also:
lxrandr → lxrandr-gtk3
lxtask → lxtask-gtk3


:dvd: 25.09 ISO refresh

released: 2025.09.05

  • reworked themes for Theme Manager (blobthemes)

:dvd: 25.08 ISO refresh (second)

released: 2025.08.31

Conky handling improvements

  • Conky border width handling
  • separate border color from text color
  • refreshed default Conky set (now 16 Conky configs to choose from)

This time, refreshing all Conky configs is highly recommended:

mb-reset conky

New Conkys

SVG Logo

3 variants (3D, square,circle), easy to customize colors and transparency.

Better clock

Easy to configure (from right-click menu) Clock and Date widget.

Info Bar

Basic horizontal InfoBar


Quick Terminal F12 (Quake Terminal)

Option: desktops all applied, to avoid switching desktops while unhide terminal.
Options: skip pager, skip taskbar to save space on the taskbar - you can still use mouse to show/hide by wheel-up/wheel-down above terminal icon in the panel.
rc.xml:

<application title="Quake Term">
  <desktop>all</desktop>
  <skip_pager>yes</skip_pager>
  <skip_taskbar>yes</skip_taskbar>
</application>

skippy-xd-git removed from repo

skippy-xd-git package replaced with skippy-xd. Use mb-reset to update config file.

yay -S skippy-xd
mb-reset skippy-xd

:dvd: 25.08 ISO refresh

released: 2025.08.14
see: Mabox 25.08 - Chinese, Japanese and Korean fonts | MaboxLinux

Installer

ext4 filesystem is default again
autologin checked by default
rootreusepassword checked by default


:dvd: 25.07 ISO refresh (second this month)

released: 2025.07.31

Installer and ISO

Filesystem: btrfs is selected by default - change to ext4 if you like.
(I don’t like this change, I will revert to ext4 by default next time.)

Chinese, Japanese and Korean fonts included - package: noto-fonts-cjk - ISO is bigger, ~2.9 GB now.

Panel quick config dynamic menu W-A-p

New options to configure taskbar behavior, overall polishing.

Firefox

Show bookmarks toolbar by default


:dvd: 25.07 ISO refresh

released: 2025.07.17
see: Mabox 25.07 - July ISO refresh - auto theming! | MaboxLinux

Auto theming is back!

Creating themes based on the color palette of the currently set wallpaper. Menus, Openbox Window Decoration, Conky and PyRadio.

Disabled by default.
Available from Colorizer W-A-o or Wallpaper & Desktop styling menu (right click on thumbnail in panel or W-A-w.

nitrogen → feh (wallpaper setter)

feh (fehbg wrapper script) is now used as wallpaper setter (instead of aging and troublesome nitrogen).

Firefox system window decoration

Firefox uses system window decorations by default.


:dvd: 25.04 ISO refresh

released: 2025.04.30

status icon + dynamic menu :new_button:

See: April ISO refresh - panel improvements, status indicator with dynamic menu | MaboxLinux

Dependencies:
mabox-checkupdates-systemd - required - for updates checking
Optional (recommended):

yay -S expac qdirstat

new default tint2 panel config

with many improvements

cp /usr/share/mabox/lang/en/.config/tint2/Istredd.tint2rc ~/.config/tint2/

then reload tint2. (Use Istredd.tint2rc config)

mabox-checkupdates-systemd

systemd timer, service and libalpm hook to check updates.
Service runs 2 minutes after boot and then every 3 hours.
Stores list of available updates in /tmp/updates/updates_list
Will be used by Conky and future panel notifier - tint2 executor.

yay
yay -S mabox-checkupdates-systemd
sudo systemctl enable mabox-checkupdates.timer

Installer

Calamares 3.3 series (qt6).
Systemd timers/services enabled:

  • mabox-checkupdates (every 3h)
  • fstrim (weekly)
  • pacman-filesdb-refresh (weekly)

:dvd: 25.03 ISO refresh

released: 2025.03.31
see: March 2025 ISO refresh - 6.12 LTS kernel, AreaClick, skippy-xd!

ISOs with LTS kernels: 6.1 or 6.12

superclick

Now handles Openbox margins correctly :slight_smile:

areaclick

Like hot-corners, but better. Launch commands on-click. Configurable.

skippy-xd

Window & Desktop switcher. Improved greatly thanks to new developer.

:package: New packages

skippy-xd-git - window and desktop switcher (replaces skippy-xd)
tumbler - thumbnail generation service


:computer: Commands… (for old installations, only if you need to follow new features)

yay -Syyu   # packages database refresh, and full system update
yay -S skippy-xd-git tumbler

# and to pick Openbox rc.xml changes
# look at areaclick and skippy-xd related commands, key/mouse binds
mb-reset -c obrcxml

mb-reset skippy-xd

openbox --reconfigure # or log out & login to apply new rc.xml

# re-login to have skippy-xd daemon started

:dvd: 25.01 ISO refresh

released: 2025.01.14

– refreshed Mabox Control Center
– many improvements to Conky Manager
– new dynamic menu for selecting Picom configurations
– new dynamic menu for configuring fonts
– Wallpaper & Desktop styling menu is taking shape

:package: New packages

fastfetch replaces the aging neofetch
jumpapp run-or-raise application switcher


:computer: Commands… (for old installations, only if you need to follow new features)

yay -Syyu    # packages database refresh, and full system update

yay -S fastfetch jumpapp

# and to pick Openbox rc.xml changes
mb-reset -c obrcxml

openbox --reconfigure # or log out & login to apply new rc.xml
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