No more global menu support for GTK-based apps?

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I’ve only noticed this yesterday, but after firing up gimp 3.0 — which is gtk3-based — its menu is now displayed inside the application window instead of in Plasma’s global menu widget, or, if you opt for client-side decorations, in the gimp toolbar. The same is true for abiword and diffuse, which are also gtk3-based.

Now, gimp 2.x was either way still exporting its menu to the Plasma global menu widget, and I do still have the appmenu-gtk-module installed — which was specifically created to allow gtk2 and gtk3 applications to export their menus to the Plasma global menu widget — but looking at the package information, appmenu-gtk-module appears to not have been updated anymore since May 2024, and the -git version from the AUR hasn’t even been touched anymore since April 2024.

Any ideas? :thinking: :man_shrugging:

Note: chromium still exports its menu — actually, a redacted version of it — to Plasma’s global menu widget, but chromium was specifically coded for that by Google upstream, even without having to rely on the appmenu-gtk-module. That’s why the menu it exports is only a redacted version of chromium’s full menu, which in turn can be brought up by clicking the three vertical dots to the right of the toolbar.

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Actually, I hadn’t noticed it either, until now you mention it. As to why or how to fix it, I’m afraid I have nothing to suggest. :man_shrugging:

To put a positive spin on it, though, it’s absence does free up an amount of panel space for … stuff.

Sorry to play it down; I know it’s one of your favourite features. :slight_smile:

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Does it have anything to do with grouping?

I don’t have any idea what the issue you’re having means. I don’t notice any differences. Lots of things that were updated in Gtk3 have put their spell on things globally, like MyPaint didn’t want to start until I changed its code. I’m sure there are other things as well, not yet discovered. But so far, nothing major for me.

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At the cost of lost screen real estate, because now the menu has to take up space inside the application window. :man_shrugging:

No. Different beast. :wink:

Oh yes — such is the nature of gtk. :roll_eyes:

Getting back to the subject at hand, there was a comment at kde.org about some bug fix introduced in Plasma 6.3.3 for the in-window menus of gtk applications.

From this #member-hub post by @scotty65… :point_down:

I suspect that it may have been that particular patch which broke the global menu. :thinking:

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Oh, now I get it: Gtk - Gollum’s Troll Kave

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I’m fairly neuro-typical, so my idea won’t sit well with you.

I really like the way Firefox does the menu - after being a little annoyed it wouldn’t work with Global Menu a year or so back…

However, now I don’t even use Global Menu and everything’s wonderful :wink:

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The stock firefox has never supported a global menu — or at least, not on GNU/Linux, because the macOS version does — but there are specially patched versions of it in the AUR, and likewise for some of the firefox spinoffs like librewolf.

I actually have a HowTo about it in the Tutorials section. :point_down:

The problem however is that it takes about 5 hours of compiling. Been there, done that, have the T-shirt and the bumper sticker. :wink:

Well, it’s a matter of personal preference. The global menu corresponds to my personal preferences in ergonomics and logic, and it makes for a more integrated feel regarding applications and operating system, which is perfectly consistent with the fact that UNIX was conceived as an integrating toolbox, in which applications become mere extensions of the operating system, as opposed to separate entities like in MS-Windows.