How to install docklike taskbar in Mint 20 XFCE

03 Aug 2020

XFCE is a great desktop environment for Linux, but there is one thing that has been missing by many users, i.e. a dock, where launchers and open windows indicators are grouped together on the panel. Docklike plugin is what solves this problem.

On Arch Linux it is available in Arch User Repository (AUR), so the installation is a one-liner, but on other distributions it can be difficult. Below is a short instruction how to do it on Linux Mint 20.

First, you have to install the dependencies:

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sudo apt install xfce4-dev-tools libstartup-notification0-dev libwnck-3-dev libxfce4ui-2-dev libxfce4panel-2.0-dev
Then go to the plugin's page (https://github.com/nsz32/docklike-plugin) and download the code. Unpack it, go to the directory where you unpacked the files and follow the dev's install instructions, line by line:

./autogen.sh

make

sudo make install

Almost there. The final two commands are:

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sudo cp src/.libs/libdocklike.so /usr/lib/xfce4/panel-pluginsand

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sudo cp docklike.desktop /usr/share/xfce4/panel/plugins/
Now you should be able to add the plugin to the XFCE panel the usual way, i.e. by right-clicking the panel and choosing the Panel -> Add New Items option. Enjoy!

Tested on: Linux Mint 20, July 2020