Hi
I raised this in another section of the forum thinking that it might be related to the browsers.
However, I have tested this assumption by adding a new user and using KDE and I cannot replicate the problem. However, as the new user, I could replicate the problem when I used Mate DE. This leads me to conclude there is something amiss with the Mate DE with respect to this and while I’d like to use Mate, I don’t really see my way to doing so if I have to keep developing workarounds for basic issues like this.
I’d very much welcome any help to debug this please.
I would strongly advise you against having multiple desktop environments installed like that, because conflicts like the one you’re describing can occur as a result.
But, I would look into the xdg-desktop-portals, maybe the one mate is supposed to use isn’t installed? Or it could be conflicting with the kde one somehow (though I think it shouldn’t).
Just to clarify - the issue predates the KDE install and I did that simply to reduce the range of possible causes.
Two questions:
(1) How does one test a DE unless one can log out of the main user into a testing profile with a different DE to test whether it is system-wide or a DE-specific issue?
(2) More importantly, can you please elaborate on your suggestion that I look into the xdg-desktop-portals. What am I looking for and how would I know whether the correct one is or is not installed? I installed the Mate DE version of EOS, so would have thought that doing so would have pulled in all of the relevant libraries.
<Edit: Since replying, I have installed the default xdg-desktop-portal, rebooted and logged back into my Mate a/c but the issue persists.
Whether or not this is the ‘correct’ library, I don’t know and from the Arch literature, the Mate DE doesn’t seem to have a specific version, unless it is under a different name (e.g., ‘Cosmic’)?>
@ MyNameIsRichard - thanks so much! This has fixed the issue for the browsers and also Mendeley.
Because I opened this issue under Applications, I’ll link to your solution there too.
Thanks a mill, and also to rabcor for the initial suggestion.
You might also need xdg-desktop-portal-xapp if running XApps like Xed known from Linux Mint.
I have a few because I run the Cinnamon DE, and have installed:
$ pacman -Qs xdg-desktop*
local/xdg-desktop-portal 1.20.0-2
Desktop integration portals for sandboxed apps
local/xdg-desktop-portal-gtk 1.15.3-1
A backend implementation for xdg-desktop-portal using GTK
local/xdg-desktop-portal-xapp 1.1.0-2
A backend implementation for xdg-desktop-portal using GTK and various pieces
of Cinnamon/MATE/Xfce4 infrastructure
Thanks Moonbase59 - I’ve bookmarked your suggestion and if something isn’t working the way it should, I’ll dig into this further.
Without jinxing it (!!), it seems that things are stable now, although I had some issues with the Themes for Mate after trying various fixes to the problem. However, they are sorted to a satisfactory degree now, so I’m leaving well enough alone.
Cheers