[BUG] Notifcations - GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown

[centifanto]

Describe the bug

I cannot get the notifcation panel to open

If I run ~/.config/waybar/toggle.sh, the Waybar hides, and then I run it again and I get this warning:

(waybar:20853): WARNING **: 13:43:30.130: Status Notifier Item with bus name ':1.48' and object path '/org/ayatana/NotificationItem/nm_applet' is already registered

Then I press on the Notification 🔔 and this error pops up in stdout:

GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name is not activatable

I'm on the latest rolling dotfiles and system completely up to date.

I've tried swaync-client --reload-config but get the same GDBus error above

I cannot find the .sh file mentioned in this issue: https://github.com/mylinuxforwork/dotfiles/issues/661

I don't understand why I would need to reinstall sway mentioned here, but I did anyways: https://github.com/mylinuxforwork/dotfiles/issues/1037

I still get notification popups, but obviously cannot interact because the panel will not open.

My .config/waybar/themes/ml4w-minimal/config has these adjustments:

    "modules-right": [
        "custom/updates",
        "custom/hypridle",
        "pulseaudio",
        "backlight",
        "battery",
        "custom/cliphist",
        "custom/exit",
        "clock",
        "tray",
        "custom/notification"
    ]

Any ideas where else for troubleshooting?

Steps to reproduce

Press 🔔 in Waybar

Expected behavior

Notification panel opens

Screenshots

No response

Distribution

Other (please specify below)

If Other, specify

CachyOS

Additional context

No response

Code of Conduct

• [x] I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[centifanto]

I've tried reverting all the waybar config and module files to stock, yet still have this issue. Is this something else? I've tried making sure dunst and mako are not running. Then when I run swaync-client --reload-config, I get this output:

GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name is not activatable
Could not connect to CC service. Will wait for connection...

Anyone have ideas of what I am dealing with here? I have not modified any of swaync config, in fact didn't even know what it was until this issue came up and I started researching. TYIA

[centifanto]

Ok, I might have gotten closer, but now I might need @mylinuxforwork to chime in here. I found out if I run exec swaync in the terminal then my notificaiton panel opens! But that now is confusing because it appears this command is not running on start:

# Load Notification Daemon
exec-once = swaync

.config/hypr/conf/autostart.conf

What would you suggest to troubleshoot this autostart not working?

[centifanto]

rebooted, now swaync won't even start via the terminal manually. Removed and reinstalled, no joy. I am very confused as I have two ThinkPad X1 carbons that I've customized exactly the same, both fully up to date, yet just one of them has this issue. If anyone has any ideas it would be much appreciated

[centifanto]

Sorry for the repeat messages, but I think I might have just found the culprit! If I pkill mako, and then run exec swaync, the notification panel works!

I tried uninstalling mako, but get this:

:: removing mako breaks dependency 'mako' required by cachyos-hyprland-settings

@mylinuxforwork could you comment here on this? TYIA!

[Affanmm]

Sorry for the repeat messages, but I think I might have just found the culprit! If I pkill mako, and then run exec swaync, the notification panel works!

I tried uninstalling mako, but get this:

:: removing mako breaks dependency 'mako' required by cachyos-hyprland-settings

@mylinuxforwork could you comment here on this? TYIA!

This cmd will remove mako and its dependencies, can you try this and see if something breaks. sudo pacman -Rsn mako

[Affanmm]

And if you want to really force it use this sudo pacman -R --nodeps mako

[centifanto]

Thanks for the reply, but Hyprland settings require that for a dependency so I did not think I should remove it, since Stephan has a Hyprland settings app.

[centifanto]

I went a different route for the time being until I can get a conclusive answer about this, hopefully someone can chime in about the dependency

Here's the different attempts I made to fix this: Searched for any mako ref: sudo grep -r "exec-once = mako" /

- /etc/skel/.config/hypr/config/autostart.conf
- /home/user/.var/app/com.ml4w.dotfilesinstaller/data/backup/com.ml4w.dotfiles/20250908-150212/.config/hypr/config/autostart.conf

Commented both of those out but no joy.

Then ran htop, and searched for mako, then searched for the PPID of the mako PID:

ps -fp 1916
PID    PPID  C STIME TTY          TIME CMD
1916    1145  0 12:59 ?        00:00:00 /usr/bin/mako

Found that systemd is starting mako

ps -fp 1145
PID    PPID  C STIME TTY          TIME CMD
1145       1  0 12:59 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd --user

Disabling the service, rebooted, but it was running again 😤

systemctl --user stop mako.service
systemctl --user disable mako.service

Actual solution:

systemctl --user mask mako.service
Created symlink '/home/user/.config/systemd/user/mako.service' → '/dev/null'.

Rebooted, and boom, my notification panel works again and swaync started successfully! 🍾

Would really like to know if the Hyprland settings app really needs mako or not.

[Affanmm]

@centifanto I do not think that it requires mako. On the other hand masking it has the same effect as uninstalling it. So maybe.

At least it is not installed as a dependency in either dotfiles or the hyprland-settings repos.

[centifanto]

oh interesting. so the pacman error about it being a dependency is incorrect?

[Affanmm]

Ohhh.... It all makes sense now.

The package cachyos-hyrpland-setting is like the default dotfiles for cachy os and it uses mako. But as you have installed ML4W dotfiles, they use swaync. Thus there is a conflict. So as you are not using the default cachyos hyrpland config so you can remove the mako package.

It is totally safe as long as you stick to swaync, in the ml4w dotfiles. I hope it makes sense now.

[centifanto]

oh ok, thanks for that explanation

So shouldn't Stephan's scripts address this conflict? I don't remember the mention of it in the YouTube walkthroughs. It's also odd I am only having an issue with one laptop, the other one does not

[mylinuxforwork]

I also had no issue with cachyos in a VM. But I will try again.But maybe a comment in the wiki would make sense.