How to use built in system /usr/share/ icons with fnott? #17

RyanErwin commented 2021年07月19日 17:37:54 +02:00

I'm sorry, I have a feeling this is a user issue but I haven't been able to find it documented anywhere.

On the ArchWiki, the default notify-send example is:

notify-send 'Hello world!' 'This is an example notification.' --icon=dialog-information

For me, it shows up without the icon...

image

Inside my fnott.ini I've tried setting different values for icon-theme besides the default hicolor but I can't seem to get any of the default icons in /usr/share/notify-osd or /usr/share/icons to show up.

Everything works fine if I set the complete icon path, but I would like to just use the standard icon names so that when themes are changed the corresponding icons are used.

Please advise what I need to do to get the icons to be pulled in correctly.

Happy to provide more details if needed.

Running fnott v1.1.1 on Sway v1.5.1 on Ubuntu 21.04

I'm sorry, I have a feeling this is a user issue but I haven't been able to find it documented anywhere. On the [ArchWiki](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Desktop_notifications#Usage_in_programming), the default `notify-send` example is: ``` notify-send 'Hello world!' 'This is an example notification.' --icon=dialog-information ``` For me, it shows up without the icon...  Inside my `fnott.ini` I've tried setting different values for `icon-theme` besides the default `hicolor` but I can't seem to get any of the default icons in `/usr/share/notify-osd` or `/usr/share/icons` to show up. Everything works fine if I set the complete icon path, but I would like to just use the standard icon names so that when themes are changed the corresponding icons are used. Please advise what I need to do to get the icons to be pulled in correctly. Happy to provide more details if needed. Running fnott v1.1.1 on Sway v1.5.1 on Ubuntu 21.04

dnkl commented 2021年07月19日 17:49:28 +02:00

notify-send 'Hello world!' 'This is an example notification.' --icon=dialog-information

This should work, assuming you have set icon-theme correctly. What did you set icon theme too?

The name must match one of the directories under /usr/share/icons (or rather, under XDG_DATA_DIRS/icons). I.e. it is case sensitive.

Have you verified that your fnott.ini is in the correct location? I.e. do other settings work?

Another thing, perhaps obvious; you need to restart fnott after modifying fnott.ini.

/usr/share/notify-osd

I've never heard of this directory? Which applications are using it?

> notify-send 'Hello world!' 'This is an example notification.' --icon=dialog-information This should work, assuming you have set `icon-theme` correctly. What did you set icon theme too? The name **must** match one of the directories under `/usr/share/icons` (or rather, under `XDG_DATA_DIRS/icons`). I.e. it is case sensitive. Have you verified that your `fnott.ini` is in the correct location? I.e. do other settings work? Another thing, perhaps obvious; you need to restart fnott after modifying `fnott.ini`. > /usr/share/notify-osd I've never heard of this directory? Which applications are using it?

RyanErwin commented 2021年07月19日 18:28:15 +02:00

Thank you for replying so quickly!

When I check $XDG_DATA_DIRS, I have:

/usr/share/ubuntu:/home/ryan/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share:/var/lib/flatpak/exports/share:/usr/local/share/:/usr/share/:/var/lib/snapd/desktop

So that includes /usr/share/icons

Under /usr/share/icons I have a bunch of choices, but the fnott default is hicolor and I haven't changed that value.

 /usr/share/icons  ls
Adwaita/ Oxygen_White/ gnome/
Bluecurve/ Oxygen_Yellow/ handhelds/
Breeze_Snow/ Oxygen_Zion/ hicolor/
DMZ-Black/ Yaru/ locolor/
DMZ-White/ breeze/ nuoveXT2/
HighContrast/ breeze-dark/ redglass/
Humanity/ breeze_cursors/ ubuntu-mono-dark/
Humanity-Dark/ default/ ubuntu-mono-light/
KDE_Classic/ desktop-base/ vendor/
LoginIcons/ elementary-xfce/ whiteglass/
Oxygen_Black/ elementary-xfce-dark/ cab_extract.png
Oxygen_Blue/ elementary-xfce-darker/ cab_view.png

I am certain the fnott.ini is being read, because each time I reconfigure fnott, I've been running it in the foreground and see:

 ~/SourceInstall/fnott  pkill fnott
 ~/SourceInstall/fnott  fnott
info: config.c:887: loading configuration from /home/ryan/.config/fnott/fnott.ini

Under /usr/share/icons/hicolor there are many folders... I have no idea how fnott decides which of these subfolders it's going to look in.

 /usr/share/icons/hicolor  ls
1024x1024/ 22x22/ 36x36/ 64x64/ apps/ index.theme
128x128/ 24x24/ 42x42/ 72x72/ scalable/
16x16/ 256x256/ 48x48/ 8x8/ symbolic/
192x192/ 32x32/ 512x512/ 96x96/ icon-theme.cache

I haven't changed the fnott default max-icon-size=32, so does it use the 32x32 folder? Or does it always use the scalable folder? What is the logic for which of these "size" folders are selected?

Once you do choose an folder like scalable or 32x32, you still have a bunch more subfolders, like:

 /usr/share/icons/hicolor/32x32  ls
actions/ devices/ intl/ stock/
animations/ emblems/ mimetypes/ session-properties.svg
apps/ emotes/ places/
categories/ filesystems/ status/

or

 /usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable  lsactions/ categories/ emotes/ mimetypes/ status/
animations/ devices/ filesystems/ panel/ stock/
apps/ emblems/ intl/ places/ workrave-sheep.svg

For example, I do have an .svg icon at: /usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/qemu.svg and when I call notify-send with the full path: it works:

notify-send 'Hello world!' 'This is an example notification.' --icon=/usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/qemu.svg

image

However, whenever I try to use just the icon name like qemu in this case, for any icon I've tried, I'm not able to get any of them to display. To give a small example, I tried every permutation I could imagine for a whole lot of possible icons, but haven't been able to get any of them to display just based on the icon name, or even any truncated version of the icon path.

 ~  notify-send 'Hello world!' 'This is an example notification.' --icon=scalable/apps/qemu.svg
 ~  notify-send 'Hello world!' 'This is an example notification.' --icon=scalable/apps/qemu.svg
 ~  notify-send 'Hello world!' 'This is an example notification.' --icon=apps/qemu.svg
 ~  notify-send 'Hello world!' 'This is an example notification.' --icon=apps/qemu
 ~  notify-send 'Hello world!' 'This is an example notification.' --icon=qemu.svg
 ~  notify-send 'Hello world!' 'This is an example notification.' --icon=qemu.svg

Sorry for being so verbose. If it's already part of fnott then I've obviously missed something somewhere. At least we can hopefully make this into a concise FAQ entry for the future.

Thank you for replying so quickly! When I check $XDG_DATA_DIRS, I have: ``` /usr/share/ubuntu:/home/ryan/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share:/var/lib/flatpak/exports/share:/usr/local/share/:/usr/share/:/var/lib/snapd/desktop ``` So that includes `/usr/share/icons` Under `/usr/share/icons` I have a bunch of choices, but the fnott default is `hicolor` and I haven't changed that value. ``` /usr/share/icons  ls Adwaita/ Oxygen_White/ gnome/ Bluecurve/ Oxygen_Yellow/ handhelds/ Breeze_Snow/ Oxygen_Zion/ hicolor/ DMZ-Black/ Yaru/ locolor/ DMZ-White/ breeze/ nuoveXT2/ HighContrast/ breeze-dark/ redglass/ Humanity/ breeze_cursors/ ubuntu-mono-dark/ Humanity-Dark/ default/ ubuntu-mono-light/ KDE_Classic/ desktop-base/ vendor/ LoginIcons/ elementary-xfce/ whiteglass/ Oxygen_Black/ elementary-xfce-dark/ cab_extract.png Oxygen_Blue/ elementary-xfce-darker/ cab_view.png ``` I am certain the `fnott.ini` is being read, because each time I reconfigure `fnott`, I've been running it in the foreground and see: ``` ~/SourceInstall/fnott  pkill fnott ~/SourceInstall/fnott  fnott info: config.c:887: loading configuration from /home/ryan/.config/fnott/fnott.ini ``` Under `/usr/share/icons/hicolor` there are many folders... I have no idea how `fnott` decides which of these subfolders it's going to look in. ``` /usr/share/icons/hicolor  ls 1024x1024/ 22x22/ 36x36/ 64x64/ apps/ index.theme 128x128/ 24x24/ 42x42/ 72x72/ scalable/ 16x16/ 256x256/ 48x48/ 8x8/ symbolic/ 192x192/ 32x32/ 512x512/ 96x96/ icon-theme.cache ``` I haven't changed the fnott default `max-icon-size=32`, so does it use the `32x32` folder? Or does it always use the scalable folder? What is the logic for which of these "size" folders are selected? Once you do choose an folder like `scalable` or `32x32`, you still have a bunch more subfolders, like: ``` /usr/share/icons/hicolor/32x32  ls actions/ devices/ intl/ stock/ animations/ emblems/ mimetypes/ session-properties.svg apps/ emotes/ places/ categories/ filesystems/ status/ ``` or ``` /usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable  lsactions/ categories/ emotes/ mimetypes/ status/ animations/ devices/ filesystems/ panel/ stock/ apps/ emblems/ intl/ places/ workrave-sheep.svg ``` For example, I do have an .svg icon at: `/usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/qemu.svg` and when I call `notify-send` with the full path: it works: ``` notify-send 'Hello world!' 'This is an example notification.' --icon=/usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/qemu.svg ```  However, whenever I try to use just the icon name like `qemu` in this case, for any icon I've tried, I'm not able to get any of them to display. To give a small example, I tried every permutation I could imagine for a whole lot of possible icons, but haven't been able to get any of them to display just based on the icon name, or even any truncated version of the icon path. ``` ~  notify-send 'Hello world!' 'This is an example notification.' --icon=scalable/apps/qemu.svg ~  notify-send 'Hello world!' 'This is an example notification.' --icon=scalable/apps/qemu.svg ~  notify-send 'Hello world!' 'This is an example notification.' --icon=apps/qemu.svg ~  notify-send 'Hello world!' 'This is an example notification.' --icon=apps/qemu ~  notify-send 'Hello world!' 'This is an example notification.' --icon=qemu.svg ~  notify-send 'Hello world!' 'This is an example notification.' --icon=qemu.svg ``` Sorry for being so verbose. If it's already part of `fnott` then I've obviously missed something somewhere. At least we can hopefully make this into a concise FAQ entry for the future.

dnkl commented 2021年07月19日 18:35:07 +02:00

Each theme has an index.theme file that lists its own directories. Fnott will scan through all these directories, choosing the icon that most closely matches the preferred size. This means it should pick the scalable variant, if it exists.

At this point, it might make sense to try enable debug logging and see which folders fnott is looking at. Unfortunately, this requires recompiling fnott. If you feel comfortable doing that, apply this patch:

diff --git a/icon.c b/icon.c
index 5012cc7..52e58b8 100644
--- a/icon.c
+++ b/icon.c
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 #include <tllist.h>
 
 #define LOG_MODULE "icon"
-#define LOG_ENABLE_DBG 0
+#define LOG_ENABLE_DBG 1
 #include "log.h"
 #include "png-fnott.h"
 #include "svg.h"

and then compile a debug version of fnott. Finally, start fnott manually from a terminal to see the log output.

Another alternative could be to strace fnott. It'll be more text to go through to see the directories, but on the other hand can be done on a pre-built release binary.

Each theme has an `index.theme` file that lists its own directories. Fnott will scan through all these directories, choosing the icon that most closely matches the preferred size. This means it _should_ pick the scalable variant, if it exists. At this point, it might make sense to try enable debug logging and see which folders fnott is looking at. Unfortunately, this requires recompiling fnott. If you feel comfortable doing that, apply this patch: ```diff diff --git a/icon.c b/icon.c index 5012cc7..52e58b8 100644 --- a/icon.c +++ b/icon.c @@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ #include <tllist.h> #define LOG_MODULE "icon" -#define LOG_ENABLE_DBG 0 +#define LOG_ENABLE_DBG 1 #include "log.h" #include "png-fnott.h" #include "svg.h" ``` and then compile a debug version of fnott. Finally, start fnott manually from a terminal to see the log output. Another alternative could be to `strace` fnott. It'll be more text to go through to see the directories, but on the other hand can be done on a pre-built release binary.

dnkl commented 2021年07月19日 21:57:31 +02:00

Finally, start fnott manually from a terminal to see the log output.

I'll have to take that back... The logging done, even with debug logs enabled, isn't enough. strace it is.

I would suggest running something like strace fnott > /tmp/fnott-strace.log 2>&1. If you're not comfortable looking through the output yourself, just attach it here and I'll have a look.

> Finally, start fnott manually from a terminal to see the log output. I'll have to take that back... The logging done, even with debug logs enabled, isn't enough. `strace` it is. I would suggest running something like `strace fnott > /tmp/fnott-strace.log 2>&1`. If you're not comfortable looking through the output yourself, just attach it here and I'll have a look.

RyanErwin commented 2021年07月20日 07:14:32 +02:00

@dnkl Thanks so much for your help with this! First off, I wasn't aware of how the /usr/share/icons/*/index.theme files worked so that's for explaining that!

Using strace I think I've gotten a bit closer to understanding the problem... For a test I set my icon-theme=FunkyFoo (just a test name that doesn't exist)... Instead of searching under /usr/share/icons/FunkyFoo Fnott is searching under /usr/share/ubuntu/icons/FunkyFoo and the same for the backup default hicolor, it's actually searching under /usr/share/ubuntu/icons/hicolor.

If I copy the .png or .svg icon to the path that Fnott is searching, I'm able to display it in the notify-send message.

So I think perhaps this is an Ubuntu vs Arch compatibility issue... For reference, here are the icon paths that I see being searched in strace... Any thoughts on something else that I can configure to search /usr/share/icons not /usr/share/ubuntu/icons?

openat(AT_FDCWD, "/home/ryan/.local/share/icons/FunkyFoo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/ubuntu/icons/FunkyFoo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/home/ryan/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share/icons/FunkyFoo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/var/lib/flatpak/exports/share/icons/FunkyFoo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/local/share//icons/FunkyFoo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share//icons/FunkyFoo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/var/lib/snapd/desktop/icons/FunkyFoo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/home/ryan/.local/share/icons/hicolor", O_RDONLY) = 4
openat(4, "index.theme", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/ubuntu/icons/hicolor", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/home/ryan/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share/icons/hicolor", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/var/lib/flatpak/exports/share/icons/hicolor", O_RDONLY) = 4
openat(4, "index.theme", O_RDONLY) = 5

Those are:

• /home/ryan/.local/share/icons/FunkyFoo¬
• /usr/share/ubuntu/icons/FunkyFoo¬
• /home/ryan/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share/icons/FunkyFoo¬
• /var/lib/flatpak/exports/share/icons/FunkyFoo¬
• /usr/local/share//icons/FunkyFoo¬
• /usr/share//icons/FunkyFoo¬
• /var/lib/snapd/desktop/icons/FunkyFoo¬
• /home/ryan/.local/share/icons/hicolor¬
• index.theme¬
• /usr/share/ubuntu/icons/hicolor¬
• /home/ryan/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share/icons/hicolor¬
• /var/lib/flatpak/exports/share/icons/hicolor¬
• index.theme¬

---

I explicitly set my icon-theme=Adwaita and then did a test for phone-symbolic and the icon is displayed properly.

I still don't understand why the default hicolor icon set isn't working and is incorrectly choosing a path of /usr/share/ubuntu/icons/hicolor (inserting the extra ubuntu directory in the middle.

For reference, I've attached the full strace output of:

• fnott-strace-Adwaita.log - when icon-theme=Adwaita
• fnott-strace-hicolor.log - when icon-theme=hicolor
• fnott-strace-icon-theme-unset.log - when no value for icon-theme is set.

@dnkl Thanks so much for your help with this! First off, I wasn't aware of how the `/usr/share/icons/*/index.theme` files worked so that's for explaining that! Using `strace` I think I've gotten a bit closer to understanding the problem... For a test I set my `icon-theme=FunkyFoo` (just a test name that doesn't exist)... Instead of searching under `/usr/share/icons/FunkyFoo` Fnott is searching under `/usr/share/ubuntu/icons/FunkyFoo` and the same for the backup default `hicolor`, it's actually searching under `/usr/share/ubuntu/icons/hicolor`. If I copy the `.png` or `.svg` icon to the path that Fnott is searching, I'm able to display it in the `notify-send` message. So I think perhaps this is an Ubuntu vs Arch compatibility issue... For reference, here are the icon paths that I see being searched in strace... Any thoughts on something else that I can configure to search `/usr/share/icons` not `/usr/share/ubuntu/icons`? ``` openat(AT_FDCWD, "/home/ryan/.local/share/icons/FunkyFoo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/ubuntu/icons/FunkyFoo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) openat(AT_FDCWD, "/home/ryan/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share/icons/FunkyFoo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) openat(AT_FDCWD, "/var/lib/flatpak/exports/share/icons/FunkyFoo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/local/share//icons/FunkyFoo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share//icons/FunkyFoo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) openat(AT_FDCWD, "/var/lib/snapd/desktop/icons/FunkyFoo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) openat(AT_FDCWD, "/home/ryan/.local/share/icons/hicolor", O_RDONLY) = 4 openat(4, "index.theme", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/ubuntu/icons/hicolor", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) openat(AT_FDCWD, "/home/ryan/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share/icons/hicolor", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) openat(AT_FDCWD, "/var/lib/flatpak/exports/share/icons/hicolor", O_RDONLY) = 4 openat(4, "index.theme", O_RDONLY) = 5 ``` Those are: * /home/ryan/.local/share/icons/FunkyFoo¬ * /usr/share/ubuntu/icons/FunkyFoo¬ * /home/ryan/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share/icons/FunkyFoo¬ * /var/lib/flatpak/exports/share/icons/FunkyFoo¬ * /usr/local/share//icons/FunkyFoo¬ * /usr/share//icons/FunkyFoo¬ * /var/lib/snapd/desktop/icons/FunkyFoo¬ * /home/ryan/.local/share/icons/hicolor¬ * index.theme¬ * /usr/share/ubuntu/icons/hicolor¬ * /home/ryan/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share/icons/hicolor¬ * /var/lib/flatpak/exports/share/icons/hicolor¬ * index.theme¬ --- I explicitly set my `icon-theme=Adwaita` and then did a test for `phone-symbolic` and the icon is displayed properly. I still don't understand why the default `hicolor` icon set isn't working and is incorrectly choosing a path of `/usr/share/ubuntu/icons/hicolor` (inserting the extra `ubuntu` directory in the middle. For reference, I've attached the full strace output of: * fnott-strace-Adwaita.log - when `icon-theme=Adwaita` * fnott-strace-hicolor.log - when `icon-theme=hicolor` * fnott-strace-icon-theme-unset.log - when no value for `icon-theme` is set.

dnkl commented 2021年07月20日 08:35:20 +02:00

I'm a bit short on time right now, and will have to take a deeper look later. But it looks like the problem is that fnott stops searching for a particular theme as soon as it has found it in one of the XDG_DATA_DIRS.

So, fnott will search all the XDG_DATA_DIRS, in order. This is why it first looks at /usr/share/ubuntu/*/, and look in all of them until it finds a valid theme, with a name matching the configured one.

With hicolor, it finds /var/lib/flatpak/exports/share/icons/hicolor. /var/lib/flatpak/exports/share is from your XDG_DATA_DIRS. And then fnott stops there, even if it cannot find the icon it's searching for.

It should probably continue searching the remaining XDG_DATA_DIRS in this case. So, a fnott bug :)

I'm a bit short on time right now, and will have to take a deeper look later. But it looks like the problem is that fnott stops searching for a particular theme as soon as it has found it in _one_ of the `XDG_DATA_DIRS`. So, fnott will search all the `XDG_DATA_DIRS`, in order. This is why it first looks at `/usr/share/ubuntu/*/`, and look in all of them until it finds a valid theme, with a name matching the configured one. With hicolor, it finds `/var/lib/flatpak/exports/share/icons/hicolor`. `/var/lib/flatpak/exports/share` is from your `XDG_DATA_DIRS`. And then fnott stops there, even if it cannot find the icon it's searching for. It should probably continue searching the remaining `XDG_DATA_DIRS` in this case. So, a fnott bug :)

dnkl commented 2021年07月20日 21:07:44 +02:00

Can you test #18?

Can you test https://codeberg.org/dnkl/fnott/pulls/18?

RyanErwin commented 2021年07月21日 06:52:36 +02:00

Woohoo!

notify-send 'Hello world!' 'This is an example notification.' --icon=blueman-device

image

In case anyone else needs to checkout a pull request, I did:

git clone https://codeberg.org/dnkl/fnott.git && cd fnott
git fetch origin pull/18/head:foo
# note 18 was the number of the pull request
# "foo" is just your local branch name... Could be whatever you like
git checkout foo

Then build the debug version with:

mkdir -p bld/debug && cd bld/debug
meson --buildtype=debug ../..
ninja
./fnott

Woohoo! ``` notify-send 'Hello world!' 'This is an example notification.' --icon=blueman-device ```  In case anyone else needs to checkout a pull request, I did: ``` git clone https://codeberg.org/dnkl/fnott.git && cd fnott git fetch origin pull/18/head:foo # note 18 was the number of the pull request # "foo" is just your local branch name... Could be whatever you like git checkout foo ``` Then build the debug version with: ``` mkdir -p bld/debug && cd bld/debug meson --buildtype=debug ../.. ninja ./fnott ```

dnkl commented 2021年07月21日 09:48:16 +02:00

Great! Thanks for testing!

Great! Thanks for testing!