KStatusNotifier / AppIndicator support

[incuso]

Hi, I am using stalonetray in a fvwm desktop

recently Dropbox started to warn that "Your desktop environment doesn't support the Dropbox tray icon. Starting May 27, 2025. Dropbox updates will require App Indicator Support. To continue to use the tray, update your environment"

Thanks

[pjchamberlain]

Hi, I'm using standalonetray in crostini (Chromebook linux environment)

I have the same issue with Dropbox - is there a way to address the requirement for App Indicator Support?

Thanks

[kolbusa]

Hi! This project is mostly in life support so I am not sure if I have bandwidth for that. I may have more time in a month or so, but whether I am able to add support will also depend the complexity of what needs to be done... Are there any good docs on what 'App Indicator Support' is?

[powerman]

Are there any good docs on what 'App Indicator Support' is?

AppIndicator (originally by Canonical for Unity) and the KDE StatusNotifierItem spec use DBus menus and icons, allowing richer functionality and consistency across desktop environments. Under the hood, libappindicator-using applications register with a DBus “indicator” service rather than embedding icons via XEmbed. https://wiki.ayatana-indicators.org/

[kolbusa]

Minor update: I did not have enough time to start really working on this, but I did toy with a standalone server. My current concerns are that adding support for AppIndicator would require new dependencies (glib and potentially gtk?). This is not in the spirit of this project. But I agree it would be useful to have.

So I think I have two options:

1. Writing some sort of proxy which would listen on dbus for the icons and then create separate X11 windows that follow XEmbed for each of the AppIndicator icons. I am not sure how reliable this setup is going to be.
2. Enabling AppIndicator support in stalonetray directly. I am not sure if I would be able to run two event loops in the same process though.

So I am putting this on the back burner, for now, and if someone wants to volunteer to try either (1) or (2) please do not hesitate.