Gnome-Shell interation problem on Ubuntu 18.04

[efwe]

• Wavebox Version: 3.4.16
• Operating System & Version: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
• (Linux only) Install method: Snap

I see many entries like the following. It looks like gnome-shell-extension-appindicator is called every second and the 'unable to lookup icon' is from the appIndicator.js. Funny enough i see the
number of unread mails in the status bar and when the app is in this endless loop i see something like
[1] -> [2] -> [1] -> [2]

May 19 02:03:47 osa gnome-shell[1766]: [AppIndicatorSupport-WARN] Attempting to re-register :1.103/org/ayatana/NotificationItem/wavebox1; resetting instead
May 19 02:03:47 osa gnome-shell[1766]: [AppIndicatorSupport-WARN] Item :1.103/org/ayatana/NotificationItem/wavebox1 is already registered
May 19 02:03:49 osa gnome-shell[1766]: [AppIndicatorSupport-WARN] Attempting to re-register :1.103/org/ayatana/> May 19 02:03:47 osa gnome-shell[1766]: [AppIndicatorSupport-WARN] Attempting to re-register :1.103/org/ayatana/NotificationItem/wavebox1; resetting instead
May 19 02:03:47 osa gnome-shell[1766]: [AppIndicatorSupport-WARN] Item :1.103/org/ayatana/NotificationItem/wavebox1 is already registered
May 19 02:03:49 osa gnome-shell[1766]: [AppIndicatorSupport-WARN] Attempting to re-register :1.103/org/ayatana/NotificationItem/wavebox1; resetting instead
May 19 02:03:49 osa gnome-shell[1766]: [AppIndicatorSupport-WARN] Item :1.103/org/ayatana/NotificationItem/wavebox1 is already registered
May 19 02:03:49 osa gnome-shell[1766]: [AppIndicatorSupport-FATAL] unable to lookup icon for wavebox1_2098NotificationItem/wavebox1; resetting instead
May 19 02:03:49 osa gnome-shell[1766]: [AppIndicatorSupport-WARN] Item :1.103/org/ayatana/NotificationItem/wavebox1 is already registered
May 19 02:03:49 osa gnome-shell[1766]: [AppIndicatorSupport-FATAL] unable to lookup icon for wavebox1_2098

this logging can be ended by really switching to wavebox

i also had one not reproducable crash but i leave the trace here for reference

May 19 02:03:49 osa gnome-shell[1766]: [AppIndicatorSupport-FATAL] unable to lookup icon for wavebox1_2098
May 19 02:03:49 osa wavebox_wavebox.desktop[4884]: 3.14.6
May 19 02:03:49 osa wavebox_wavebox.desktop[4884]: TypeError: Cannot read property 'show' of null
May 19 02:03:49 osa wavebox_wavebox.desktop[4884]: at t.a.show (/snap/wavebox/109/resources/app/bin/app/index.js:1:21693)
May 19 02:03:49 osa wavebox_wavebox.desktop[4884]: at Function.processWindowVisibility (/snap/wavebox/109/resources/app/bin/app/index.js:1:281919)
May 19 02:03:49 osa wavebox_wavebox.desktop[4884]: at Function.processSingleInstanceArgs (/snap/wavebox/109/resources/app/bin/app/index.js:1:437466)
May 19 02:03:49 osa wavebox_wavebox.desktop[4884]: at Function. (/snap/wavebox/109/resources/app/bin/app/index.js:1:455558)
May 19 02:03:49 osa wavebox_wavebox.desktop[4884]: TypeError: Cannot read property 'show' of null
May 19 02:03:49 osa wavebox_wavebox.desktop[4884]: at t.a.show (/snap/wavebox/109/resources/app/bin/app/index.js:1:21693)
May 19 02:03:49 osa wavebox_wavebox.desktop[4884]: at Function.processWindowVisibility (/snap/wavebox/109/resources/app/bin/app/index.js:1:281919)
May 19 02:03:49 osa wavebox_wavebox.desktop[4884]: at Function.processSingleInstanceArgs (/snap/wavebox/109/resources/app/bin/app/index.js:1:437466)
May 19 02:03:49 osa wavebox_wavebox.desktop[4884]: at Function. (/snap/wavebox/109/resources/app/bin/app/index.js:1:455558)
May 19 02:03:49 osa gnome-shell[1766]: Object .Gjs_AppIndicatorIconActor__1 (0x55861368fa20), has been already finalized. Impossible to set any property to it.
May 19 02:03:49 osa org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1766]: == Stack trace for context 0x558611b12330 ==
May 19 02:03:49 osa org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1766]: #0 0x7fffddf43f60 b resource:///org/gnome/gjs/modules/_legacy.js:83 (0x7fc61f5b5de0 @ 87)
May 19 02:03:49 osa org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1766]: #1 0x558611ebe800 i /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/[email protected]/indicatorStatusIcon.js:93 (0x7fc61c9c2098 @ 58)
May 19 02:03:49 osa org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1766]: #2 0x7fffddf452e0 b resource:///org/gnome/gjs/modules/_legacy.js:82 (0x7fc61f5b5de0 @ 71)
May 19 02:03:49 osa org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1766]: #3 0x7fffddf45af0 b self-hosted:915 (0x7fc61f5f12b8 @ 367)
May 19 02:03:49 osa org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1766]: #4 0x7fffddf45be0 b resource:///org/gnome/gjs/modules/signals.js:128 (0x7fc61f5d3230 @ 386)
May 19 02:03:49 osa org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1766]: #5 0x558611ebe778 i /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/[email protected]/appIndicator.js:190 (0x7fc61c9a8cd0 @ 22)
May 19 02:03:49 osa org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1766]: #6 0x7fffddf46f60 b resource:///org/gnome/gjs/modules/_legacy.js:82 (0x7fc61f5b5de0 @ 71)
May 19 02:03:49 osa org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1766]: #7 0x558611ebe6d0 i /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/[email protected]/statusNotifierWatcher.js:176 (0x7fc61c99bf78 @ 26)
May 19 02:03:49 osa org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1766]: #8 0x7fffddf482e0 b resource:///org/gnome/gjs/modules/_legacy.js:82 (0x7fc61f5b5de0 @ 71)
May 19 02:03:49 osa org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1766]: #9 0x558611ebe630 i /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/[email protected]/statusNotifierWatcher.js:170 (0x7fc61c99bef0 @ 68)
May 19 02:03:49 osa org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1766]: #10 0x7fffddf49660 b resource:///org/gnome/gjs/modules/_legacy.js:82 (0x7fc61f5b5de0 @ 71)
May 19 02:03:49 osa org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1766]: #11 0x7fffddf49e90 b self-hosted:917 (0x7fc61f5f12b8 @ 394)

after restart of the app everything looks normal.

~fw

[Thomas101]

Thanks for reporting. There's a few open issues on Ubuntu with similar log messages [#1739468] [#1740993] so it looks like it may be an upstream issue with Ubuntu.

Looking through the crash log it looks like it happens when you try to launch the app when it's already running. There's a handover procedure that runs when this happens which refocuses the window and basically give the appearance that you've just switched to the app. Looking through the code, I think there could be an edge case where if you try to launch the app twice in quick succession you could end up here, but I'll have to have a try at reproducing.

[flexiondotorg]

@Thomas101 I just wanted to share a work around for an issue that exists in Electron. App Indicators only work correctly with the Unity desktop, which is now deprecated. This is not a snap issue, but an issue in Electron that incorrectly asserts the current desktop environment must be Unity for Indicators to be used otherwise it falls back to Notification Area support.

There is a simple work around for Electron applications published as snaps. The following environment: stanza can be added to the apps: section of the snapcraft.yaml:

# Coerce XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP to Unity so that App Indicators
# are used and do not fall back to Notification Area applets# or disappear completely.
environment: 
  XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP: Unity

I hope that's helpful.

[Thomas101]

Thanks for the heads up @flexiondotorg. We've added XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP in as suggested and confirmed it's listed in the environment at runtime, but still see the messages @efwe posted. Should adding the variable in suppress things like this?

On a side note, when testing the tray icon appears to work correctly - it just outputs the logs!

[Thomas101]

Thanks for taking time to report this. I'm going to close it off though, as we're already setting the environment variables as suggested and the upstream issues with Ubuntu remain open as regards this.

If you think there's something we can do to reduce the logs though, feel free to re-comment and we'll give it a try. Thanks!