Disable background-wineserver by default

Disable `background-wineserver` by default, as it resolves two
common and longstanding issues with typical Protontricks usage when the
`wineserver` process is preserved between commands:

* Graphical applications can crash due to an issue likely related to
  different X11 libraries used inside the Steam Runtime. This issue is
  tracked in #166.
* Console output can become broken. This issue was reported in #223 (and
  likely other GitHub issues as well).

The original reason for implementing the background `wineserver` process
was to shorten `wine` command launch time, as Winetricks could take
nearly a minute to launch in some situations. This seems to be mostly a
non-issue now, with a `wine cmd.exe /c echo %ProgramFiles%` command
taking around 0.7 seconds to launch on my system, and `protontricks
<appid> good` taking around 20 seconds to complete, which is still very
reasonable compared to 10 seconds with `--background-wineserver`.

Fixes #166.
Fixes #223.

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/).
 ### Added
  - Flatpak version of Steam is also detected with non-Flatpak installation of Protontricks
 
+### Changed
+ - `--background-wineserver` is now disabled by default due to problems with crashing graphical applications and broken console output
+
 ### Fixed
  - Fix detection of Steam library folders using non-standard capitalizations for `steamapps`
  - _Steam Linux Runtime - Sniper_ is no longer incorrectly reported as an unsupported runtime

src/protontricks/cli/launch.py

@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ def main(args=None):
     )
     parser.add_argument("executable", type=str)
     parser.add_argument("exec_args", nargs=argparse.REMAINDER)
-    parser.set_defaults(background_wineserver=None)
+    parser.set_defaults(background_wineserver=False)
 
     args = parser.parse_args(args)
 

src/protontricks/cli/main.py

@@ -115,7 +115,8 @@ def main(args=None, steam_path=None, steam_root=None):
         action="store_true",
         help=(
             "Launch a background wineserver process to improve Wine command "
-            "startup time. Default if bwrap is enabled."
+            "startup time. Disabled by default, as it can cause problems with "
+            "some graphical applications."
         )
     )
     parser.add_argument(
@@ -124,10 +125,10 @@ def main(args=None, steam_path=None, steam_root=None):
         action="store_false",
         help=(
             "Do not launch a background wineserver process to improve Wine "
-            "command startup time. Default if bwrap is not enabled."
+            "command startup time."
         )
     )
-    parser.set_defaults(background_wineserver=None)
+    parser.set_defaults(background_wineserver=False)
 
     parser.add_argument("appid", type=int, nargs="?", default=None)
     parser.add_argument("winetricks_command", nargs=argparse.REMAINDER)

tests/cli/test_launch.py

@@ -118,12 +118,13 @@ def _set_launch_args(*args, **kwargs):
         ])
 
         # CLI flags are passed through to the main CLI entrypoint
-        assert cli_args[0:5] == [
-            "--verbose", "--no-runtime", "--no-bwrap", "--no-term", "-c"
+        assert cli_args[0:6] == [
+            "--verbose", "--no-runtime", "--no-bwrap",
+            "--no-background-wineserver", "--no-term", "-c"
         ]
-        assert cli_args[5].startswith("wine ")
-        assert cli_args[5].endswith("test.exe'")
-        assert cli_args[6] == "10"
+        assert cli_args[6].startswith("wine ")
+        assert cli_args[6].endswith("test.exe'")
+        assert cli_args[7] == "10"
 
         # Steam installation was provided to the main entrypoint
         assert str(cli_kwargs["steam_path"]) == str(steam_dir)
@@ -161,8 +162,7 @@ def _set_launch_args(*args, **kwargs):
             # entrypoint
             assert argument in cli_args
         else:
-            assert "--background-wineserver" not in cli_args
-            assert "--no-background-wineserver" not in cli_args
+            assert "--no-background-wineserver" in cli_args
 
     def test_cli_error_handler_uncaught_exception(
             self, launch_cli, default_proton, steam_app_factory, monkeypatch,

tests/cli/test_main.py

@@ -168,10 +168,6 @@ def test_run_winetricks_steam_runtime_v2(
         # inside the sandbox
         assert commands[0].args == str(wine_bin_dir / "bwrap-launcher")
 
-        # keepalive wineserver process launched in background to improve
-        # Wine command launch time
-        assert commands[1].args == str(wine_bin_dir / "wineserver-keepalive")
-
         # winecfg was run
         command = commands[-1]
 
@@ -282,10 +278,11 @@ def test_run_winetricks_steam_runtime_v2_no_bwrap(
     @pytest.mark.parametrize(
         "args,wineserver_launched",
         [
-            # background wineserver enabled for bwrap by default
-            (["-c", "'echo nothing'", "20"], True),
+            # background wineserver disabled for bwrap by default
+            (["-c", "'echo nothing'", "20"], False),
 
-            # background wineserver disabled by default for everything else
+            # background wineserver also disabled by default for everything
+            # else
             (["--no-bwrap", "-c", "'echo nothing'", "20"], False),
 
             # Manually disable background wineserver
@@ -626,8 +623,8 @@ def test_run_bwrap_default(
         """
         Perform commands for two Proton apps, one using a Proton version
         using the legacy Steam Runtime and another app using newer Steam
-        Runtime with bwrap. Ensure that the correct defaults for `use_bwrap`
-        and `background_wineserver` are used in both cases.
+        Runtime with bwrap. Ensure that the correct default for `use_bwrap`
+        is used in both cases.
 
         Regression test for #150
         """
@@ -646,33 +643,19 @@ def test_run_bwrap_default(
             name="Fake game 2", appid=20, compat_tool_name="new_proton"
         )
 
-        # bwrap and background wineserver are disabled for the old app by
-        # default
+        # bwrap is disabled for the old app by default
         cli(["-v", "-c", "bash", "10"])
         assert any(
             filter(lambda msg: "Using 'bwrap = False'" in msg, caplog.messages)
         )
-        assert any(
-            filter(
-                lambda msg: "Using 'background-wineserver = False'" in msg,
-                caplog.messages
-            )
-        )
 
         caplog.clear()
 
-        # bwrap and background wineserver is enabled for the new app by
-        # default
+        # bwrap is enabled for the new app by default.
         cli(["-v", "-c", "bash", "20"])
         assert any(
             filter(lambda msg: "Using 'bwrap = True'" in msg, caplog.messages)
         )
-        assert any(
-            filter(
-                lambda msg: "Using 'background-wineserver = True'" in msg,
-                caplog.messages
-            )
-        )
 
     @pytest.mark.usefixtures("flatpak_sandbox")
     def test_select_steam_installation(