Re: [Pan-users] Pan doesn't usually minimize to system tray

[Duncan]

Dave posted on Sun, 24 Sep 2017 11:01:20 +0000 as excerpted:

> On Sun, 24 Sep 2017 04:02:51 +0000, David Melik wrote:
> 
>> I found out why it works sometimes.  You can't maximize Pan, or it
>> won't work.  The only thing is focused, non-maximized, then selecting
>> the icon in the system tray, not actually selecting to minimize.
> 
> I wonder if it's because Pan is primarily Gniome based and you, like me
> are using KDE?  Any Gnome or equivalent fork users care to comment?

I'm using kde/plasma too, but FWIW, the traditional system tray as a 
feature has been rather neglected/maligned by both camps, in favor of 
"notifications", a semi-standardized (XDG/Opendesktop.org) feature that 
is presented a bit differently by different desktops.

On the kde/plasma side, a "legacy" systray adapter app, commonly the qt-
based xembedsniproxy, originally a separate package that they wanted you 
to build/install if you required it, that got integrated into the plasma-
workspace package due to popular demand, but remains a build-time option 
(on gentoo exposed via USE flag, with a couple others including a gtk2 
based alternative similarly available), must be running in ordered to 
have your "legacy" tray apps appear in the systray at all.  (Otherwise, 
it's pretty much just the newer built-in options such as the battery 
applet, klipper, the weather applet, etc, tho newer plasma can 
"swallow" (their term) normal plasma5-based plasmoids like the comic-
strip plasmoid, as well.)

I'm not as familiar with the Gnome side, but I do know, because it made 
FLOSS-community headlines, that they said they're aware that the existing 
gnome3 popup notifier solution isn't optimal, and they're planning to get 
rid of it, tho what they plan on replacing it with, if anything, wasn't 
clear.

Meanwhile, there's the whole wayland thing to consider as well, with the 
systray considered an x11 legacy.  The native-wayland plasma solution 
isn't mature yet, tho running live-git and following the review and 
commit list I know that's one of two major focuses ATM (the other still 
being the now kirigami-based convergence, while they're pretty much just 
maintaining the traditional x11 desktop where it's at, minor improvements 
only), and I honestly don't know what the wayland notification solution 
looks like but I expect the plasma-native functionality at least should 
be quite similar, while the legacy x11 stuff will of course continue to 
run via a rootless-X xwayland and kwayland.

The gnome wayland side is said to be more mature, to the point it's the 
default in some distros now, but I've even less of an idea there what 
they're doing, except that the above comment about the existing solution 
not being optimal and that they're killing it, surely applies.  But what 
they plan on replacing it with, for wayland as for X, I've not the 
foggiest.

Of course pan's optional tray functionality continues to exist thru all 
this, at least when it's built against gtk2 (I've no idea if it's an even 
an option still when built against gtk3), but it remains "legacy" 
functionality that doesn't fit the "new vision" of where gnome is going, 
and I've a feeling that neither Charles nor Heinrich as lead devs used it 
that much if at all beyond basic testing, so it remains available, but 
also remains semi-broken, because no one with the skills to do anything 
about it apparently cares about that feature enough to create and submit 
patches to make it work properly.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman