[Linux / GNOME] Signal tries to close to system tray, even if that feature is not existing

[derMart]

Applies to Signal Desktop 6.32.0 on any GNOME > 3.26 without extensions.

See: snapcrafters/signal-desktop#143

Accordingly Signal wants to close to system tray when using the close button of the primary window.
This can't work on default GNOME installations, as the system tray feature there is not existing.
For details and a rational behind, see: https://blogs.gnome.org/aday/2017/08/31/status-icons-and-gnome/

That means Signal Desktop is relying on a feature here which is optional.

It is a little ironic, as the Windows version of Signal Desktop seems to have a preference to where it closes (see #6605) while the Linux version does not:

As mentioned in the snapcrafters issue, IMHO, I see following options to resolve the issue:

1. Automatically detect if system tray is existing and only then use it. Otherwise exit on close button
2. Add an option in the setting where to close on the close button. Either exit or to system tray. Where exit should be the default

I strongly recommend the second option. I also strongly recommend that Signal should, out of the box, close to exit. That is the standard and expected behaviour for all Linux apps. The concept of a system tray is not as present in the Linux world as in the Windows world and as such Signal should comply with expected behaviour in this case IMHO.

best
derMart

[ayumi-signal]

@derMart Hi, sorry you're experiencing this issue. Also appreciate the work you've done to think about expected behavior regarding tray settings.

It looks like the issue is affecting the unofficial snap package at version 6.20 and 6.32 now. For now we don't officially support community packaged versions of the app but we'll try to help out.

To help us repro, can you share some steps and env info:

• Is it still the snap package
• App install, was it fresh/upgrade
• Is it beta/production
• Did you open the app and do anything (e.g. first run, device linking, closed/reopened)
• Did you modify the setting at all
• Value of ~/.config/[signal]/ephemeral.json system-tray-setting

[derMart]

Dear @ayumi-signal, I am frankly a little bit confused by your comment. As @merlijn-sebrechts already commented this is very like a bug in the application itself, not the packaging, so it is very likely not only affecting the snap version. And well, I also assume that the preference dialog itself and the closing behaviour is not different across packaging either, or is it?

I will try to answer your questions:

• Is it still the snap package? -> I really don't know what you mean by this question? Could you please elaborate?
• App install, was it fresh/upgrade? As I installed the snap Signal was way below 6.32, so, the snap upgraded itself to 6.32.
• Is it beta/production? -> Versions where I can confirm problematic behaviour are 6.32.0 and 6.33.0. Both are production versions
• Did you open the app and do anything (e.g. first run, device linking, closed/reopened)? -> Well, sure, I use Signal Desktop. The problem appears everytime if one closes the app using the primary windows close button. Could you please be more specific?
• Did you modify the setting at all? -> Which setting do you mean?
• Value of ~/.config/[signal]/ephemeral.json system-tray-setting -> There is no key system-tray-setting in ephemeral.json

best

PS: If you tell me what your official way of installing singal-desktop for Linux / Ubuntu is, I will as well try to reproduce the issue there. But I don't expect any different outcome tbh.

[ayumi-signal]

@derMart Thank you for the information. This will help us to debug the problem.

As for the official way to install signal on Linux, instructions are on the official site at https://signal.org/download. Currently we support Debian based distros.

[merlijn-sebrechts]

This is indeed an issue with the snap version, I apologize for the confusion! You can close this issue.