what is the result of:

pkgconfig --variable=externalplugindir libxfce4panel-1.0

can you attatch the file 'libxfce4panel-1.0.pc' here?

pkg-config --variable=externalplugindir libxfce4panel-1.0
get nothing.

libxfce4panel-1.0.pc 350 bytes   Download

gotcha. your xfce version is 4.6, which has unfortunately changed the .pc file from
the 4.4 one.

attach a list of all files installed by xfce4panel and libxfce4panel -- so that I can
guess where to put global menu plugin under 4.6

but svn 2147 is fine. later version have this problem.

i prefer to install it in ${LIBEXEC_DIR}/xfce/panel-plugin/ and the desktop file to /
usr/share/xfce4/panel-plugins/

part of info when compile:
	  echo '#define PREFIX "/usr"'; \
	  echo '#define EXEC_PREFIX "/usr"'; \
	  echo '#define BINDIR "/usr/bin"'; \
	  echo '#define SBINDIR "/usr/sbin"'; \
	  echo '#define LIBEXECDIR "/usr/lib"'; \
	  echo '#define DATAROOTDIR "/usr/share"'; \
	  echo '#define DATADIR "/usr/share"'; \
	  echo '#define SYSCONFDIR "/etc"'; \
	  echo '#define SHAREDSTATEDIR "/usr/com"'; \
	  echo '#define LOCALSTATEDIR "/usr/var"'; \
	  echo '#define INCLUDEDIR "/usr/include"'; \
	  echo '#define OLDINCLUDEDIR "/usr/include"'; \
	  echo '#define DOCDIR "/usr/share/doc/gnome-globalmenu"'; \
	  echo '#define INFODIR "/usr/share/info"'; \
	  echo '#define HTMLDIR "/usr/share/doc/gnome-globalmenu"'; \
	  echo '#define DVIDIR "/usr/share/doc/gnome-globalmenu"'; \
	  echo '#define PDFDIR "/usr/share/doc/gnome-globalmenu"'; \
	  echo '#define PSDIR "/usr/share/doc/gnome-globalmenu"'; \
	  echo '#define LIBDIR "/usr/lib"'; \
	  echo '#define LISPDIR ""'; \
	  echo '#define LOCALEDIR "/usr/share/locale"'; \
	  echo '#define MANDIR "/usr/share/man"'; \
	  echo '#define MANEXT ""'; \
	  echo '#define PKGDATADIR "/usr/share/gnome-globalmenu"'; \
	  echo '#define PKGINCLUDEDIR "/usr/include/gnome-globalmenu"'; \
	  echo '#define PKGLIBDIR "/usr/lib/gnome-globalmenu"'; \
	  echo '#define PKGLIBEXECDIR ""'; \
	  echo '#define ABSTOPSRCDIR "/home/lh/ABS/system/globalmenu/gnome-
globalmenu-svn/src/gnome-globalmenu-build"'; \

xfce4-panel.list 14.0 KB   Download

hi, yufeng, there is also someone else met this problem.also use Arch.

still can't find a solution?

Fixed in 2238.

Now these xfce components are installed into ..... / xfce4/panel-plugins. I hope
these locations are compatible with 4.4 and 4.6.

Unfortunately it wasn't solved yet.

Now the installer creates a duplicate xfce4 directory

/usr/lib/xfce4/xfce4/panel-plugins/GlobalMenu.XFCEPlugin

I am the other "arch user" that jarryson mentioned in here.

Thanks in advance.

Exellent! It's OK now!

@koiti,

I believe your distribution has a different convention for file locations than most
of other dists.

would you like to post your libxfce4panel-1.0.pc to here? (directly copy and paste
the content of the file here would be very nice).

As a workaround perhaps you can try either
export XFCE4_PANEL_PLUGIN_DIR='where ever you want'
then make
or
make XFCE4_PANEL_PLUGIN_DIR=.....

@ rainwoodman

I am also an Arch user.

The problem has been solved here too, the files keep being installed to
/usr/lib/xfce4/xfce4/panel-plugins/ , but the .desktop file now refers to the correct
location (it referred to /usr/lib/xfce4/panel-plugins/ before)

As  requested, here is the contents of libxfce4panel-1.0.pc:

prefix=/usr
datadir=${prefix}/share
exec_prefix=${prefix}
libdir=${exec_prefix}/lib
libexecdir=/usr/lib/xfce4
includedir=${prefix}/include
localedir=${prefix}/share/locale

internalplugindir=${libdir}/xfce4/panel-plugins
externalplugindir=${libexecdir}/xfce4/panel-plugins
desktopdatadir=${datadir}/xfce4/panel-plugins

Name: libxfce4panel
Description: Library for the Xfce Panel
Requires: libxfcegui4-1.0 libxfce4util-1.0
Version: 4.4.3
Libs: -L${libdir} -lxfce4panel
Cflags: -I${includedir}/xfce4/

Something to do with the libexecdir/externalplugindir flag?

You can close this issue now.

Cheers from Japan

@koiti, you should report it to Arch offical, because your problem seems because of 
the --libexecdir=/usr/lib/xfce4 option when compile xfce4-panel. 

but it really doesn't matter.