[BUG]: GTK3 / GTK4 enabled replaces the background to Ubuntu's gray

[QuentiumYT]

Describe the bug I did some tweaks and got a nice result for Open Bar but after a reboot, my background was completely gray (just after the extension loaded). I did a bit more research and a couple of extension reset, and found that the experimental GTK apps causes this issue.

By the way, there's a typo in the FLATPAK description: Requires 'Apply to GTK apps' to be tunrned on :)

Thanks

To Reproduce

1. Reset the extension to defaults
2. Enable "Apply to GTK apps" only
3. Logout / reboot

Relevant Specs:

• Open Bar version: 42
• Gnome version: 47.0
• OS/Distribution: Ubuntu 24.10

Screenshots

[neuromorph]

Hello,

after a reboot, my background was completely gray (just after the extension loaded)

Do you mean the desktop background (wallpaper) became gray? Or is the issue with the background of panel menus? Gtk apps should not affect here but I would look into it. I have Gnome 47 with Fedora in a VM so will test it out.

By the way, there's a typo in the FLATPAK description: Requires 'Apply to GTK apps' to be tunrned on :)

Thanks for letting me know! I will fix it :)

Thank you for reporting!

[QuentiumYT]

Hello, Yes a gray background was above the original background (still selected but not visible). It covers the whole screen, topbar and dash to dock included. Thanks, I can also test once you have some clue about that :)

[neuromorph]

Yes a gray background was above the original background (still selected but not visible). It covers the whole screen, topbar and dash to dock included.

I am unable to reproduce it. Also, this would require a widget to be covering the entire screen which is sometimes done by extensions but not by OpenBar. There maybe some conflict with other extension but not sure. Are you using any screen brightness or drawing etc related extensions? You could try by disabling all other extensions.

OpenBar optionally adds small widgets between the top bar and screen edge so, to be sure, you can disable it by turning off the option "Enable Buttons Proximity" in "Top Bar Properties".

Also, a more obvious screenshot may help. In the one shared above, things seem ok except the wallpaper looks gray.

Thanks.

[Nejkira]

I've been experiencing this as well. It could be reproducable with GTK4 Desktop Icons NG extension. Because Open Bar somehow fiddles with GTK4's CSS, the GTK4 elements and apps will lose transparency and will result in gray background.

It visibly occurs in GTK4 apps like Gnome-console or Ghostty terminal that they stop being transparent.

Open Bar version: 42 Gnome version: 47.0 OS/Distribution: CachyOS

[QuentiumYT]

Ohh interresting, I also have the GTK4 Desktop Icons NG extension. Yeah it probably mess with that :)

[neuromorph]

It could be reproducable with GTK4 Desktop Icons NG extension.

Cool, thanks a lot for that! I am able to reproduce with that extension.

Ohh interresting, I also have the GTK4 Desktop Icons NG extension. Yeah it probably mess with that :)

That confirms it! So yes, it is an extension compatibility issue.

I looked into their code and have some update. Hopefully this should fix the issue. You can get the latest version of Open Bar from GitHub main branch. Specifically, you only need stylesheets.js file so you can just replace this file in your local install with the GitHub version here.

You will need to log out and login after the change.

Let me know if that fixes the issue.

Thanks!

[QuentiumYT]

I changed the stylesheets.js file in ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/openbar@neuromorph, rebooted but it's stil gray, any idea? I enabled both GTK and Flatpak apps tho How can I debug the css written?

[neuromorph]

Can you share the gtk.css file under the .config/gtk-4.0 directory in home

[QuentiumYT]

Can you share the gtk.css file under the .config/gtk-4.0 directory in home

Will do that tomorrow, but I haven't seen the code you added from stylesheet.js if you need that info :) it's around 7.9kB if I remember correctly

[neuromorph]

Oh, my bad! I misplaced the added bit, in haste. I have fixed it. You can get the updated file from the same link.

Hope it works out :)

[QuentiumYT]

I can confirm it works, I tested also with an external monitor plugged in. When I logged out, the second screen had a gray background but after a restart, it looks normal (idk what happened). Thanks for your quick replies!

Also small question about background as it's still related: This app, Flameshot, got a gray background but other apps not. Do you have any clue why? Everything is just transparent in Openbar's config ^^

[QuentiumYT]

Just a little bump to know if it's because the app icon has this background or has any relation to openbar?

[neuromorph]

I couldn't get back to it earlier but just saw the notification. Thanks for the closure. Were you able to get it to work though? It does seem to do with the icon itself. Some icons don't behave well with CSS styling. I hope to be taking up some of the open issues soon and will test it out as well then.

[QuentiumYT]

There is still angles to Flameshot app, but it changes from gray to black depending if there's a fullscreen app open or the desktop visible. As the main issue was fixed, I closed it because it's only minor. I just discovered that Flameshot uses X11 legacy tray icons, that might be why it behaves differently. Feel free to reopen this issue if you think something could be done, but looks like it's on Flameshot's side.