[bug] no notifications in gnome 46+ (eg fedora 41 and ubuntu 24.04)

[giovannifranco1]

I'm experiencing an issue where the plugin does not work on Fedora 41. The system is properly set up with GTK, and all dependencies seem to be in place. However, when I try to use the plugin, nothing happens—there are no logs or error messages to help diagnose the issue.

• Node: v20
• Gnome 47

#[cfg_attr(mobile, tauri::mobile_entry_point)]
pub fn run() {
    tauri::Builder::default()
        .plugin(tauri_plugin_notification::init())
        .plugin(tauri_plugin_opener::init())
        .invoke_handler(tauri::generate_handler![open, notification])
        .setup(|app| {
            println!("setup");

            use tauri_plugin_notification::NotificationExt;
            app.notification()
                .builder()
                .title("Tauri")
                .body("Tauri is awesome")
                .show()
                .unwrap();

            Ok(())
        })
        .run(tauri::generate_context!())
        .expect("error while running tauri application");
}

Permissions:

"permissions": [
    "core:default",
    "opener:default",
    "core:menu:default",
    "core:window:allow-minimize",
    "core:window:allow-maximize",
    "core:window:allow-close",
    "core:window:allow-unmaximize",
    "core:window:allow-show",
    "notification:default",
    "notification:allow-notify",
    "notification:allow-check-permissions",
    "notification:allow-show",
    "notification:allow-batch"
  ]

[pewsheen]

I have the same issue on my Ubuntu 24.04, no matter if it's Wayland or X11.

Actually it will pop up and close immediately, so it looks like nothing happened. I suspect it is because the notification handler being dropped after show() will also close the notification as well.

[giovannifranco1]

It's really strange, especially because if you check outside the scope of tauri::Builder(), the notify-rust library works normally.

[pewsheen]

A workaround I use in my side project is spawning a new thread and showing the notification with an empty .on_close()

[jaca1119]

Seems like downstream issue with gnome because there is already issue in notify-rust https://github.com/hoodie/notify-rust/issues/218 and in libnotify gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libnotify/-/issues/41

[xingwangzhe]

Alternative Solution: Using System notify-send Command

I've successfully resolved the GNOME 46+ notification issue by bypassing the Tauri plugin and using the system notify-send command directly. This approach works reliably across all Linux desktop distributions,but may not safe?.

Solution Code

#[command]
pub fn send_notification(_app: AppHandle, title: String, body: String) -> Result<(), String> {
    thread::spawn(move || {
        let result = Command::new("notify-send")
            .args(["--app-name=wngtools", "--urgency=normal", "--expire-time=5000",
                   "--hint=string:sound-name:message-new-instant", &title, &body])
            .output();

        match result {
            Ok(output) if output.status.success() => {
                println!("✅ Notification sent: {}", title);
            }
            _ => {
                eprintln!("❌ Notification failed for: {}", title);
            }
        }
    });
    Ok(())
}