Ghostty launch failure on Fedora KDE

[mochalins]

Issue Description

Opening Ghostty through the Plasma start menu fails with the error "The name is not activatable".

The ReleaseFast version of latest master branch (6c0e02d) is compiled and installed to the $HOME/.local prefix. Opening Ghostty through a terminal command works as expected, albeit without the typical Ghostty GTK top menu bar that is present on Gnome.

This is on a fresh install of Fedora 43 KDE Plasma, with requirements installed as per the documentation.

There are also no crash reports found from the command ghostty +crash-report.

Expected Behavior

Ghostty opens successfully from the KDE Plasma start menu.

Actual Behavior

Opening Ghostty fails with the error "The name is not activatable".

Reproduction Steps

1. Install a fresh version of Fedora 43 KDE Plasma edition, and update all packages through DNF to the latest available versions. Restart.
2. Install all dependencies for Fedora as outlined in the Ghostty documentation, including the blueprint-compiler package.
3. Clone and compile Ghostty commit 6c0e02d, installing to the $HOME/.local prefix.
4. Run update-desktop-database $HOME/.local/share/applications to ensure that Ghostty is present in the KDE Plasma start menu.
5. Optionally restart.
6. Attempt to launch Ghostty through the KDE Plasma start menu.

Ghostty Logs

info: ghostty version=1.3.0-main+6c0e02d11
info: ghostty build optimize=ReleaseFast
info: runtime=.gtk
info: font_backend=.fontconfig_freetype
info: dependency harfbuzz=11.0.0
info: dependency fontconfig=21402
info: renderer=renderer.generic.Renderer(renderer.OpenGL)
info: libxev default backend=io_uring
info(os_locale): setlocale from env result=en_US.UTF-8
info(gtk): GTK version build=4.20.3 runtime=4.20.3
info(gtk): libadwaita version build=1.8.3 runtime=1.8.3
warning: error reading optional config file, not loading err=error.FileIsEmpty path=/home/mocha/.config/ghostty/config.ghostty
info(config): default shell src=passwd value=/usr/bin/zsh
info(config): default working directory src=passwd value=/home/mocha
warning(gtk_ghostty_application): setting GDK_DEBUG=
warning(gtk_ghostty_application): setting GDK_DISABLE=gles-api,vulkan
warning(glib): WARNING: Adwaita: Using GtkSettings:gtk-application-prefer-dark-theme with libadwaita is unsupported. Please use AdwStyleManager:color-scheme instead.
info(gtk_systemd_cgroup): transient scope created cgroup=/user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/app.slice/app-ghostty-transient-23221.scope
info(gtk_ghostty_application): cgroup isolation enabled base=/user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/app.slice/app-ghostty-transient-23221.scope
info(opengl): loaded OpenGL 4.6
info(io_exec): found Ghostty resources dir: /home/mocha/.local/share/ghostty
info(io_exec): shell integration automatically injected shell=.zsh
warning(gtk_ghostty_application): unimplemented action=.cell_size
info(io_exec): started subcommand path=/bin/sh pid=23281
info(io_exec): subcommand cgroup=/user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/app.slice/app-ghostty-transient-23221.scope/surfaces/3938F0D0.scope
info(stream): OSC 1 (change icon) received and ignored icon=~
warning(io_handler): OSC 7 uri must contain a hostname: error.UriMissingHost
info(io_exec): pty fd closed, read thread exiting
info(surface): surface closed addr=3ad28fe0

Ghostty Version

Ghostty 1.3.0-main+6c0e02d11

Version
  - version: 1.3.0-main+6c0e02d11
  - channel: tip
Build Config
  - Zig version   : 0.15.2
  - build mode    : .ReleaseFast
  - app runtime   : .gtk
  - font engine   : .fontconfig_freetype
  - renderer      : renderer.generic.Renderer(renderer.OpenGL)
  - libxev        : io_uring
  - kernel version: 6.18.8-200.fc43.x86_64
  - desktop env   : other
  - GTK version   :
    build         : 4.20.3
    runtime       : 4.20.3
  - libadwaita    : enabled
    build         : 1.8.3
    runtime       : 1.8.3
  - libX11        : enabled
  - libwayland    : enabled

OS Version Information

Fedora 43

(Linux only) Display Server

None

(Linux only) Desktop Environment/Window Manager

KDE Plasma 6.5.5

Minimal Ghostty Configuration

command = /usr/bin/zsh
click-repeat-interval = 500
gtk-single-instance = true
auto-update-channel = tip

Additional Relevant Configuration

No response

I acknowledge that:

• I have reviewed the FAQ and confirm that my issue is NOT among them.
• I have searched the Ghostty repository (both open and closed Discussions and Issues) and confirm this is not a duplicate of an existing issue or discussion.
• I have checked the "Preview" tab on all text fields to ensure that everything looks right, and have wrapped all configuration and code in code blocks with a group of three backticks (```) on separate lines.

[rhodes-b]

albeit without the typical Ghostty GTK top menu bar that is present on Gnome

thats expected as its the default when not running on gnome feel free to set client for the following config option
https://ghostty.org/docs/config/reference#window-decoration

There are also no crash reports found from the command ghostty +crash-report.

this uses sentry which is disabled on linux as sentry does not work there

I also dont think this is a ghostty bug rather a dnf problem for example
scottames/copr#58

what is the path for Exec in the desktop file I just built a recent commit 6c0e02d1138d5376e4ac2f5e311b225494514a97 and the desktop file has the correct path so I don't think its a ghostty problem

[mochalins]

The path for the for Exec is correct, but I am noticing now that there's a field called Path which is empty; not sure if that is to be expected? Either way, this is a .desktop file that was generated and installed during the build process.

To reiterate, this is Ghostty built and installed not using DNF.
This identical setup process has worked without issues on a fresh install of the latest Fedora 43 Workstation, but fails on a fresh install of the latest Fedora 43 KDE Plasma.

Here's the full desktop file attached below:

[Desktop Entry]
Actions=new-window;
Categories=System;TerminalEmulator;
Comment=A terminal emulator
DBusActivatable=true
Exec=/home/mocha/.local/bin/ghostty --gtk-single-instance=true
Icon=com.mitchellh.ghostty
Keywords=terminal;tty;pty;
Name=Ghostty
NoDisplay=false
Path=
PrefersNonDefaultGPU=false
StartupNotify=true
StartupWMClass=com.mitchellh.ghostty
Terminal=false
TerminalOptions=
TryExec=/home/mocha/.local/bin/ghostty
Type=Application
Version=1.0
X-GNOME-UsesNotifications=true
X-KDE-Shortcuts=Ctrl+Alt+T
X-KDE-SubstituteUID=false
X-KDE-Username=
X-TerminalArgAppId=--class=
X-TerminalArgDir=--working-directory=
X-TerminalArgExec=-e
X-TerminalArgHold=--wait-after-command
X-TerminalArgTitle=--title=

[Desktop Action new-window]
Exec=/home/mocha/.local/bin/ghostty --gtk-single-instance=true
Name=New Window

[HeitorAugustoLN]

Me and other users have a similar issue using Nix/NixOS: nix-community/home-manager#8981

[bittner]

I can confirm this exact issue on the NixOS GNOME desktop as well. Setting DBusActivatable=false in (a copy of) the desktop file fixes the issue (which is the exact same fix that was done for KDE, IIUC).

Would a PR be welcome that sets the value to false in the desktop file?

[jcollie]

Setting DBusActivatable=false is not the correct answer (and a PR changing such would not be accepted). The correct answer will be figuring out why your system's DBus activation isn't working properly. There should be a file share/dbus-1/services/com.mitchellh.ghostty.service installed on your system, as well as share/systemd/user/app-com.mitchellh.ghostty.service which set things up for DBus activation.

[bittner]

Fair enough. And thanks for the hint!

The file you hinted at was a broken symlink on my setup, which made the startup fail silently. Deleting it fixed the problem already.