[beta] Can't minimize to tray on Ubuntu 17.10

[bungabunga]

• I have searched open and closed issues for duplicates

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Bug description

There is no tray icon and Signal Desktop can't be minimmized to it on Ubuntu 17.10 although this feature was already implemented on Signal Desktop Beta and the latest beta is installed.

Some may suggest that the tray feature was abandoned on Ubuntu because it was abandoned on Gnome (the latest Ubuntu is using Gnome), but that is not correct. Ubuntu comes with "Ubuntu AppIndicators" Gnome extension preinstalled and I am seeing and using tray icons of other apps installed (Sys-monitor, Parcellite clipboard manager, Mega, ClassicMenu Indicator, Syncthing-GTK). It's also true that for some unknown reason some other apps doesn't show in tray.

Steps to reproduce

• update Signal Desktop to the latest beta
• open it
• no tray icon found

Platform info

Operating System: Ubuntu 17.10
Browser: Firefox, Brave, Chromium, Opera, Chrome
Signal version: v.1.1.0-beta.4

Link to debug log

https://gist.github.com/anonymous/b470cafdb7fbb502d4d9c88f92eca4a5

[mpsdskd]

Did you try opening a Terminal and typing
signal-desktop-beta --start-in-tray ?

Release notes:

Add a tray icon to the application behind command-line argument - thanks @m-pilia (#1676)

--use-tray-icon enables the tray icon
--start-in-tray enables the tray icon and the application starts minimized in the tray bar

[bungabunga]

Just tried that. No luck. It seems Signal Desktop started but is hidden in the "tray", where it's not visible.

https://gist.github.com/anonymous/ef132c1edfae0ea5275cd3500c22045d

--
EDITED:

"deleted, because of mistake"

[mpsdskd]

Perhaps you have the same problem I have? #1876
In that case there would be a white rectangle as tray icon, which can be overlooked easily?

[bungabunga]

no, i don't see anything in tray.

also: please ignore the edited part of my previous message, i was running an instance of Signal Desktop (hidden in "tray") when trying to start another.

[m-pilia]

@bungabunga Is the package libappindicator1 installed on your system? I did no test on Ubuntu, but as far as I remember that package should be necessary in order to have the Electron tray working on GNOME: https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/master/docs/api/tray.md

[bungabunga]

yes, the package is installed.

[GuardianMajor]

@scottnonnenberg Not to go too far off topic but wanted to ask quickly if this minimize to tray has been released to all betas or just on Linux? I didn't want to add to the noise by opening a new issue to ask. Because I am not seeing this on windows as an option at all and I have the latest beta 1.1.0-beta.4, TIA.

[scottnonnenberg]

It's available via command-line arguments only, in beta builds only, to enable testing by motivated folks. I'll likely release it as-is in the next production build though, just because it's not something a random person will run into.

[GuardianMajor]

@scottnonnenberg ok got it, can you provide what the command line is for windows to test it? I know you said it will be released next update but in the meantime that would be great, thanks. I've been waiting for this feature for a while :)

[scottnonnenberg]

The two command line arguments are listed above: --use-tray-icon or --start-in-tray

[Mela]

Same issue on Mint Mate 18.

[sweah82]

The tray icon option doesn't work for me. I'm on Ubuntu 17.10 with Gnome.
With --use-tray-icon signal-desktop-beta starts normal, but there is no tray icon. With --start-in-tray signal-desktop-beta is invisible and there is no tray icon. I activated the ubuntu appindicators extension and there are several tray icons of other apps visible and ready to use.

[scottnonnenberg]

@Mela What window manager are you using in Mint Mate?

It seems that we have some investigating to do on Gnome.

[kpuljek]

I have some light to be shed!

On ubuntu 17.10 the issue is present when using the "Ubuntu appindicators" default tray that comes preinstalled on the system. Using topicons https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1031/topicons/ shows signal just fine, along with other applications that don't work with the default (Discord!)

I think that ubuntu's tray comes from this project: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/615/appindicator-support/

So it should be probably reported there, or to Canonical/Ubuntu

Edit: https://askubuntu.com/questions/974613/how-do-i-close-applications-discord-in-ubuntu-17-10-gnome

[bungabunga]

@kpuljek thanks for your observations!

using https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1031/topicons/ indeed shows Signal (and some other tray icons previously hidden) but showes it at a center of the screen which is apparently intended place for Gnome tray icons but not so for Ubuntu-Gnome ones. also, using it doesn't show some other icons (Mega, PIA VPN...) that the other extension does show.

there's also a question whether Ubuntu's default tray extension's way of (not) showing some icons is a bug or a feature.

[kpuljek]

@bungabunga you can use the gnome tweak tool to tweak the position and the offset of the tray and place it wherever you want on the panel. Hope that helps

[tribut]

There seems to be a misunderstanding in this thread. The AppIndicators supported by default on Ubuntu and the legacy Tray Icons supported by TopIcons (Plus) are not the same technology.

Upstream is discussing API Changes to properly support AppIndicators in electron/electron#10427. Electron has added Ubuntu 18.04 (using GNOME) to their whitelist in version 1.8.1, but that will not work for deriviates and non-standard sessions (which has been partly fixed in version 2.0.1).

If you are confident that your system supports AppIndicators and you don't want to install TopIcons (and you shouldn't, the technology is horrible) then you can run:

XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=Unity:Unity7 signal-desktop --use-tray-icon

This will trigger electron to use the more modern AppIndicators. Hopefully the proper test (using DBus) will land in electron soon-ish.

[mat-ale]

Same issue on Linux Mint 18.3 Cinnamon.
signal-desktop --use-tray-icon does not help.

[ilikenwf]

Same issue here running signal-desktop 1.31.0-2 on Arch using Cinnamon. It was working until a recent software update...

[AGCaesar]

@ilikenwf probably related to Electron 8 update...

[josh-signal]

@AGCaesar we're still on 6: https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Desktop/blob/development/package.json#L206

[AGCaesar]

Yes, but Arch Linux moved to electron 8 2 days ago :)

[josh-signal]

@AGCaesar what do you mean? Is this a fork and unofficial build?

[m-pilia]

@josh-signal The Arch Linux package modifies the package.json in various ways, among other things to use the version of Electron installed on the system.

[knarrff]

Likely the same issue on Debian 10 (Buster): --use-tray-ico does not produce an icon in the tray and using --start-in-tray produces a running, but unreachable signal (because it is minimized in the tray, but there is no icon to click on).
This is version 1.32.1 from

deb [arch=amd64] https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial main

It worked yesterday, on Debian 9 (stretch), before the upgrade of Debian, but the update also included an update of signal (bad timing I guess).

Using another notification area helped: instead of the default xfce systray, xfce4-statusnotifier-plugin helped, as mentioned in #3974. Also, there seem to be more than two open tickets that look suspiciously alike.

[dagdrommer]

I have the same issue since a recent update to electron 8 aswell (Manjaro/Arch).

[kierun]

I have the same issue on Fedora 31 with v1.32.1 installed from dnf. It did use to work, now it no longer does. Using --use-tray-icon makes no difference.

[kenpowers-signal]

@dagdrommer / @kierun what behavior are you observing? Is the tray icon ever created? If so, are you not able to open the app?

[kierun]

What behavior are you observing? Is the tray icon ever created? If so, are you not able to open the app?

The app starts fine in full screen mode (the option --start-in-tray does nothing) but there is no tray icon and setting the option `--use-tray-icon makes no difference.

[kenpowers-signal]

@kierun can post a debug log here?

[kierun]

@kenpowers-signal It should be here

[kenpowers-signal]

@kierun Can you check your spelling of --start-in-tray? Every instance I see of Initializing BrowserWindow config says "show": true.

[kierun]

@kierun Can you check your spelling of --start-in-tray? Every instance I see of Initializing BrowserWindow config says "show": true.

Ah, just tried it. Yes, I think I might have been either misspelling it or not setting it since an older version was running. If I start with --start-in-tray from a shell, I get debug output on the shell but the window never appears and there is no tray icon. I have to either ctrl+C or kill … it.

[kenpowers-signal]

@kierun Can you post the debug output here?

[kierun]

The command was: ; signal-desktop --use-tray-icon --start-in-tray > debug.log 2>&1 and the output should be attached.

debug.log

[kierun]

@kenpowers-signal Thank you so much for looking into it. Your help is much appreciated.

[knarrff]

As mentioned above, there seem to be two different kinds of notification channels apps can use, and something apparently changed to use the other kind. So, if your notification area only knows about one, but signal now uses the other, the notification might be sent out and everything seems fine from signal's end, but the notification area will not display that notification. Using another notification app might help, as might changing settings of your notification area to also listen for the other kind.

[dagdrommer]

@dagdrommer / @kierun what behavior are you observing? Is the tray icon ever created? If so, are you not able to open the app?

This is my log when I run signal-desktop --use-tray-icon --start-in-tray > debug.log 2>&1
No window appears; I ended the process in the terminal using control+c.

debug.log

[noauthoritybuturself]

same in Linux Mint 19.3 (Tricia)

[stojadin]

Another case right here, on Ubuntu 18.04. With --use-tray-icon, I get the Signal window running but I don't get the tray icon. With --start-in-tray I get neither the Signal window nor the tray icon, I can see it running in the processes but without a window or a tray icon I can't access it, the only way I found is to kill the process and run again without --start-in-tray. The tray seems to work properly as other applications (Skype, Slack...) get their tray icons and the icons work fine.