After recent updates, some system tray icons are not working

Support
1

After I performed recent updates via Pamac, PIA VPN client and Megasync desktop no longer show their icons in the system tray even though both apps are active and running. Pamac also does not show it’s icon when updates are pending. I have tried to un-install and re-install packages, but it did not help. I did try the solution from this post: App indicator icons not working after update, but it didn’t help either. I can’t find any error logs since everything is running, there is just no tray icon.

current system info:

Operating System: Manjaro Linux
KDE Plasma Version: 5.27.8
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.110.0
Qt Version: 5.15.11
Kernel Version: 6.5.5-1-MANJARO (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: X11
Processors: 16 × AMD Ryzen 7 2700X Eight-Core Processor
Memory: 31.3 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: AMD Radeon RX 580 Series

Any insight into where to look for problems is appreciated.

2

Do you have the kvantum-theme-matchama theme installed?

If so, that theme is no longer supported, and needs to be uninstalled:

sudo pacman -R kvantum-theme-matchama

Otherwise, its presence can cause theme issues such as you describe.

3

If they were using kvantum … but then again kvantum doesnt dictate the icons in the system tray … the desktop theme does.
(along with the softwares in question - including the application itself, libappindicator, etc)
Kvantum is most commonly used to configure QT appearance on a GTK desktop, though there are those who use it on KDE … its settings are for window decorations the QT theme engine.

4

No, kvantum has no effect on window decorations. It only affects the (qt5-based) application itself — toolbar, buttons, scrollbars, et al. It’s an alternative theme engine to the default Breeze theme built into Plasma itself, and it’s SVG-based.

Window decorations (in Plasma) are handled by the Aurorae framework.

5

Ah, right, theme-engine.
Still it does not impact items on the system tray.

1 Like
6

Correct. The system tray icons are either set by the application itself or by the chosen icon theme.

7

Not yet. This may be true in upcoming Plasma, but for now they (the majority) are dictated by the “Desktop Theme”.

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8

Is the kvantum-theme-matchama not a desktop theme?

I’ve never used it, however, if it was a global theme, that could be different: icons have often been included; whether part of the theme proper, or imported. Themes can therefore change the appearance or otherwise affect icons on the tray; albeit not usually the system icon defaults associated with the tray handler itself.

While this isn’t strictly true with KDE, it can be. My focus isn’t always on giving the solution but finding possible solutions; and given that the issue with (the now unsupported) ‘matchama’ theme has raised its ugly head in recent days, it was a possibility.

However, this description is also reminiscent of tray apps not being fully reinitialized after a crash. Restarting the apps in question, or a reboot, normally returns them to their former glory.

That said, due to the proximity to the recent update, this issue could be something else entirely.

9

No. kvantum doesn’t have anything to do with the desktop theme, nor with the window decorations, nor with the icons used. It only cover the application theme.

1 Like
10

I was responding mainly to these ramblings:

11

Thanks everyone for all the help and suggestions. It turned out that I had installed Chrome Remote Desktop and it had stopped using the console, display 0. I don’t know why that changed with the last round of updates. All the tray icons were on display 20 that Chrome Remote Desktop was using. once I stopped that and uninstalled it, everything is back to normal.
Thanks again for all the help and sorry for being just a user.

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