google-chat-linux-git

An electron-base client for Google Hangouts Chat, since Google didn't see fit to provide one.

upstream project : https://github.com/robyf/google-chat-linux

I'm not the author of the app : praise robyf for his excellent work.

I'm barely maintaining it for my own use now that he left off.

Systray Support

Note : from 0.4.1 on, electron moved to electron-8, with a different Tray integration implementation. It may fail to work with some window managers (Cinnamon is one of them)

See electron/electron#21445

To use previous Tray implementation :

• edit package.json
• replace "electron": "^8.0.0" by "electron": "^7.0.0"
• run npm installand give it a try. (npm start or ./google-chat-linux.sh, see below for detailed instructions)

IMPORTANT NEWS

0.4.4

• Secure tray icon change.
• Avoid renderer processes to be restarted on every navigation.
• Add 'About' menu to display version.
• Restart app to 'keep minimized' configuration takes effect.

0.4.3

• by default keep window in windows list when 'closing'. Add a 'view' menu to change back to previous behaviour : hiding on 'close'. This is done for DE that does NOT display systray of eletron 8 : Cinnamon for instance, any DE that doesn't handle well 'appindicator' in electron 8.
• At first run, shows in windows list on close to prevent lost windows on those DE.
• Change color of minimized window icon for those DE.

0.4.2 adds a "Menu" in app, press Alt to reveal it. It's the same as systray menu, for OS's where systray is not (yet?) properly supported

from 0.4.1 : update to electron 8 for better Systray compatibility on linux when appindicator lib is used. see electron/electron#21445. You may have to install some plugnis depending on your DE (xfce4-statusnotifier-plugin for instance)

from 0.4.0 on : systray color works without hidden window, so everything should be ok again!

from 0.3.2 on : systray icon color change IS BACK through the use of a hidden window ... kind of dirty but seems to work.

on version 0.3.0 and 0.3.1 : systray icon color change does not work anymore, I volontarily removed it. Why ? It requires "nodeIntegration: true" in electron, which in turn breaks the "Search" for people (Ctrl K), which is much, much more useful than the icon color change.

As a compensation, there is a custom theme ... :) (activate it from systray menu)

build and run

npm install
./google-chat-linux.sh

make it work manually

electron 6 beta is required, 7 recommended (works with 5.0.1 and up, with some minor annoyances)

npm install electron
export PATH=$HOME/node_modules/.bin:$PATH

fix the rights on sandbox executable as the error message will suggest:

sudo chown root:root $HOME/node_modules/electron/dist/chrome-sandbox && sudo chown 4755 $HOME/node_modules/electron/dist/chrome-sandbox
electron .

OR if you're in a hurry :

export ELECTRON_DISABLE_SANDBOX=true; export NODE_OPTIONS="--no-force-async-hooks-checks"; electron .

Linux packages

Arch (Manjaro, Antergos)

a package 'google-chat-linux-git' is availabe on AUR for Arch Linux and derivatives.

Debian based (Ubuntu, Mint ...)

Tested on Ubuntu 18.04, Mint

Note some envionment varaibles are set in index.js : ELECTRON_DISABLE_SANDBOX and NODE_OPTIONS="--no-force-async-hooks-checks". This should work. Else, set them manually.

Run :

npm run dist

will build a .deb file in dist/. Run for instance sudo dkpg -i dist/google-chat-linux*.deb.

Installation of the .deb file is tested under Ubuntu, and works fine. Under Mint it installs well but react with emotes crashes the app. Go wonder.

NOTE : to run from a terminal you'll have to :

• either sudo chown root:root /opt/google-chat-linux/chrome-sandbox && sudo chown 4755 /opt/google-chat-linux/chrome-sandbox after the .deb is inYYstalled
• or run export ELECTRON_DISABLE_SANDBOX=true; export NODE_OPTIONS="--no-force-async-hooks-checks" before the launch of /opt/google-chat-linux/google-chat-linux

The provided .desktop file takes care of it, so running from your desktop launcher will work.