Installed preference packs no longer shown in preferences

[furgo16]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Problem description

When going to Edit > Preferences > General, the list of installed preference packs is empty. Neither the built-in nor the manually installed packs are shown. The Manage... button does work, in that the dialog that appears upon clicking on it shows all themes (built-in and manual).

This side by side comparison with a screenshot seems to hint to a regression. FreeCAD 0.21 did show the preference packs. On my system I can reproduce this behavior with both the snap and Debian (freecad-daily PPA) packages.

FreeCAD 0.21	FreeCAD 0.22

Full version info

OS: Ubuntu Core 22 (ubuntu:GNOME/ubuntu)
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.22.0dev.36999 (Git) Snap 1001
Build type: Release
Branch: main
Hash: ed77603af999525b65dcfc4a41337f15a052c9ef
Python 3.10.12, Qt 5.15.10, Coin 4.0.0, Vtk 7.1.1, OCC 7.7.1
Installed mods: 
  * OpenTheme 2024.4.20
  * BIM 2021.12.0
  * Curves 0.6.35
  * ezydxf
  * ExplodedAssembly
  * BillOfMaterials 0.0.8.2
  * Ondsel-Lens 2024.4.16.01
  * Assembly4 0.50.12

Subproject(s) affected?

Core

Anything else?

No response

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[maxwxyz]

I cannot reproduce this on Windows 11, my preference pack from 0.21.2 is also visible in 0.22

[chennes]

Themes now show up in the Theme drop-down, right? I thought that was why we added the Theme addon type in the first place.

[Roy-043]

@furgo16 This may be pathing issue. Do you experience the same with installed external workbenches?

[furgo16]

Themes now show up in the Theme drop-down, right? I thought that was why we added the Theme addon type in the first place.

@chennes

In 0.22, themes show up:

1. ✅ under Preferences > General, Application section, Theme: dropdown.
2. ❌ under Preferences > General, Preference packs section (although not for me here, hence this bug)
3. ✅ under Preferences > General, Preference packs section, Manage... button

In 0.21 themes showed up:

1. ✅ under Preferences > General, Application section, Stylesheet: dropdown.
2. ✅ under Preferences > General, Preference packs section
3. ✅ under Preferences > General, Preference packs section, Manage... button

This may be pathing issue. Do you experience the same with installed external workbenches?

@Roy-043 I'm not sure I quite follow. The external workbenches I have installed show up correctly under Preferences > Workbenches > Available Workbenches. Let me know if that answers the question.

I initially thought that this might be a packaging issue, but I've observed that I get this same behavior on the snap package, the Debian package, and in a local build from a fresh checkout.

[chennes]

In 0.22, themes show up:
1. ✅ under Preferences > General, Application section, Theme: dropdown.
2. ❌ under Preferences > General, Preference packs section (although not for me here, hence this bug)
3. ✅ under Preferences > General, Preference packs section, Manage... button

This was a specific (and deliberate) change to the way Theme addons are handled. 0.21 had no conception of a theme, and only showed stylesheets in its list. In 0.22 dev, we now have the ability for an Addon to declare itself a "theme" (generally a stylesheet combined with a set of user preferences). We've eliminated user-facing bare Qt stylesheets entirely, and internally all themes are preference packs. So when you install an addon declared as a Theme, it will show up only in the themes menu (though its installation can still be managed by the preference packs manager, since technically it's a combination of a preference pack and a stylesheet). If this behavior is not to your liking, a discussion with the @FreeCAD/design-working-group may be fruitful to explore other options.

[furgo16]

Thanks for the clarification. I understand the reasoning, but from #13714 (comment) it would seem that on Windows the preference pack themes show up both in the Theme dropdown and in the Preference packs list.

Also related: #13748