outdated xdg-desktop-portal-gtk on mint 21.2

[taltamir]

linux mint 21.2 has an outdated version of outdated xdg-desktop-portal-gtk
which is disrupting some flatpak programs which rely on it being up to date.

as per this issue on flatpak
https://github.com/flatpak/xdg-desktop- ... ssues/1014

this breaks various programs which depends on v1.16.
for example crow translate cannot save settings as it depends on this package.
https://github.com/crow-translate/crow- ... issues/599

the latest release version of xdg-desktop-portal-gtk is v1.16
which was last updated on Apr 18, 2023.
which is 4 months ago.

commits since have not been released as a proper "version" yet and can be considered nightly builds so naturally are not suitable for deployment.
but v1.16 is an actual proper version release. suitable for updating mint's repo

[SMG]

but v1.16 is an actual proper version release. suitable for updating mint's repo

What criteria are you using to say it is "suitable"?

Linux Mint 21 versions are based on Ubuntu 22.04 which is using version 1.14. Package: xdg-desktop-portal-gtk (1.14.0-1build1) has a lot of dependencies

[taltamir]

but v1.16 is an actual proper version release. suitable for updating mint's repo

What criteria are you using to say it is "suitable"?

Linux Mint 21 versions are based on Ubuntu 22.04 which is using version 1.14. Package: xdg-desktop-portal-gtk (1.14.0-1build1) has a lot of dependencies

suitable might not have been the best wording choice there. I meant it is an official stable release and not just a nightly build.

it having many dependencies is all the more reason it needs to be updated.
As I know of at least two programs that are broken by mint using an outdated version of xdg-desktop-portal-gtk

I should also note that I did not mean pushing it immediately out to public. But rather to add it to the romero testing repo.

[oswald_c]

it having many dependencies is all the more reason it needs to be updated.

It having many dependencies is all the more reason why it might not install cleanly or work in Mint 21.2.

[SMG]

the latest release version of xdg-desktop-portal-gtk is v1.16
which was last updated on Apr 18, 2023.
which is 4 months ago.

All I was able to find was this which indicates the newest version is 1.14.1.

I recommend you add your request for your two flatpaks to this existing issue linuxmint / xdg-desktop-portal-xapp / Add a Background portal implementation #2 which appears to be the correct place for it. You can monitor progress there.

[taltamir]

All I was able to find was this which indicates the newest version is 1.14.1.

The link you found is debian official repo.
xdg-desktop-portal is not a debian program, it is an important component of flatpak.
specifically it is the desktop integration portal for Flatpak

It is developed by flatpak developers in the flathub github.
https://github.com/flatpak/xdg-desktop-portal

A portal frontend service for Flatpak and possibly other desktop containment frameworks.

xdg-desktop-portal works by exposing a series of D-Bus interfaces known as portals under a well-known name (org.freedesktop.portal.Desktop) and object path (/org/freedesktop/portal/desktop).

The portal interfaces include APIs for file access, opening URIs, printing and others.

Documentation for the available D-Bus interfaces can be found here.

To clarify, the issue here is that latest linux mint is deploying with an outdated version of flatpak (component).

If you check ubuntu
https://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keyw ... top-portal
jammy (22.04LTS) is running v1.14
kinetic (22.10) is running v1.15
lunar (23.04) is running v1.16

if you check fedora
https://packages.fedoraproject.org/pkgs ... op-portal/
Fedora 39 is running v1.17
Fedora 38 is running v1.16
Fedora 37 is running v1.15

Debian and mint are both running v1.14.

v1.14 is simply missing functionality that was added in later version. This missing functionality breaks various programs.
Various programs are developed on (most likely) ubuntu lunar or kinetic and then released via flatpak, and then fail to work on mint due to mint using the outdated version of flatpak desktop portal integration.

My suggestion is not to just immediately push the latest xdg-desktop-portal on everyone.
But to update these flatpak components to latest version on the romero repo. (by just using the version of those components from ubuntu lunar)
If I understand correctly romero is used by mint for testing future updates before they are released to the public.

... huh. so, all this time I was assuming I am on the "normal" release of mint rather than the LTS one.
But I just now noticed that all mint versions without exception are built on ubuntu LTS or debian LTS package base.
https://linuxmint.com/download_all.php
Even though mint updates frequently. Those are all based on ubuntu/debian LTS codebase. despite the frequent updates.

[taltamir]

I recommend you add your request for your two flatpaks to this existing issue linuxmint / xdg-desktop-portal-xapp / Add a Background portal implementation #2 which appears to be the correct place for it. You can monitor progress there.

Looking at it, it seems quite vague. I am not sure if it is the same issue.

[SMG]

But I just now noticed that all mint versions without exception are built on ubuntu LTS or debian LTS package base.
https://linuxmint.com/download_all.php
Even though mint updates frequently. Those are all based on ubuntu/debian LTS codebase. despite the frequent updates.

They always have been. All versions of Linux Mint 19 were based on Ubuntu 18.04. All versions of LM20 were based on Ubuntu 20.04. All versions of LM21 are based on Ubuntu 22.04. This is not something new.

I recommend you add your request for your two flatpaks to this existing issue linuxmint / xdg-desktop-portal-xapp / Add a Background portal implementation #2 which appears to be the correct place for it. You can monitor progress there.

Looking at it, it seems quite vague. I am not sure if it is the same issue.

I am. I asked the Linux Mint developer who works on the flatpak integrations. He pointed me to that existing issue.

There are pieces which are part of the flatpak ecosystem (xdg-desktop-portal) and there are pieces which are part of the Linux Mint ecosystem (xdg-desktop-portal-xapp). The pieces in the Linux Mint ecosystem must be in place so the flatpak ecosystem can work. In order for Linux Mint to be able to work with the newer version of xdg-desktop-portal, the Linux Mint package of xdg-desktop-portal-xapp must be updated. Just changing xdg-desktop-portal is not going to help.

In fact, that was stated in the first link you provided in this link.

There is nothing that Flatpak can do to get a newer xdg-desktop-portal; it's a component that runs outside the Flatpak sandbox, like Flatpak itself, so getting a newer version is between you and your distribution.

Your distribution is Linux Mint and Linux Mint uses xdg-desktop-portal-xapp to work with that component.

[taltamir]

I appear to have two different xdg-desktop-portal installed on mint 21.2 by default

`xdg-desktop-portal-gtk` which is using GTK (is it for gnome?)

`xdg-desktop-portal-xapp` which if I am reading it right is for Cinnamon/MATE/Xfce4

Is the gnome version of the desktop portal even actually usable in cinnamon desktop environment?
Or would it only be of use if I installed a gnome desktop? And at the moment only the xapp version is used since I am using cinnamon?

[SMG]

I appear to have two different xdg-desktop-portal installed on mint 21.2 by default

If you open Synaptic Package Manager and search for the package and then right-click on the name and select Properties, you will have a plethora of information available to you.

If you select the Dependencies tab, you can use a drop-down box to switch to Dependents.

Is the gnome version of the desktop portal even actually usable in cinnamon desktop environment?
Or would it only be of use if I installed a gnome desktop? And at the moment only the xapp version is used since I am using cinnamon?

Xapps apply to all three Linux Mint desktops, Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce. This is not a "Cinnamon" issue. It is an issue with Linux Mint.

[taltamir]

Is the gnome version of the desktop portal even actually usable in cinnamon desktop environment?
Or would it only be of use if I installed a gnome desktop? And at the moment only the xapp version is used since I am using cinnamon?

Xapps apply to all three Linux Mint desktops, Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce. This is not a "Cinnamon" issue. It is an issue with Linux Mint.

I am aware that Xapps applies to cinnamon, and mate, and xfce. I even stated as such earlier.

The question I asked was whether -gtk can be used at all by cinnamon.
or if cinnamon only exclusively uses -xapps version of the portal.
Asking whether cinnamon uses -xapps exclusively does not mean that I think -xapps is exclusive to cinnamon.

And while mate, xfce, and cinnamon are the default desktops for mint.
There are options to install other desktops on mint. I just saw KDE plasma in the official mint repo as an option you can install. (of course at that point you might as well be running kubuntu)

[SMG]

The question I asked was whether -gtk can be used at all by cinnamon.
or if cinnamon only exclusively uses -xapps version of the portal.
Asking whether cinnamon uses -xapps exclusively does not mean that I think -xapps is exclusive to cinnamon.

I already explained that -xapps is what is used, but you apparently didn't like that answer so you keep repeating your question as if I didn't answer it already when I did.

You are welcome to help the developers re-write the code so it works the way you want it to work, but that would be counterproductive to the current implementation of flatpak integration on Linux Mint.

And while mate, xfce, and cinnamon are the default desktops for mint.

Those are the only desktops that Linux Mint supports. There are no other supported desktops.

Just because something is available in Software Manager does not mean Linux Mint supports it. Support for KDE ended with LM18.3. There are no plans to revive support for it.

I recommend you follow the Linux Mint Blog to keep up to date with the current development plans.

[carobinario]

I can confirm this bug in Linux Mint 21.3 Cinnamon. Too bad I can't schedule Pika Backup backups.

[MikeNovember]

Hi,

Flatpak:
On GitHub, flatpak latest release is 1.14.5.
On flatpak stable PPA, latest flatpak available is 1.14.4.1.
Higher versions such as 1.15.6 are unstable ones. Some of its functionalities have been backported to 1.14.5.
My suggestion: use flatpak stable PPA, and update your installation each time a release is added to it.
Or compile from source...

xdg portals:
On Mint 20.x there was no xdg-desktop-portal-xapp, and flatpaks worked. Linux Mint blog presented the xdg-desktop-portal-xapp addition in 21.x as a way to have a better compatibility with flatpaks...
The https://github.com/linuxmint/xdg-deskto ... p/issues/2 is open, since 2023-05-09, without any assignee.
There is no other distro with this: flatpaks work on Debian and Ubuntu without xdg-desktop-portal-xapp; xdg-desktop-portal-xapp is presented as a backend for xdg-desktop-portal, that is itself a frontend. Other backends are xdg-desktop-portal-gnome, xdg-desktop-portal-kde, xdg-desktop-portal-gtk. Linux Mint 20.x used xdg-desktop-portal-gtk only.
Note that, while version 1.0.3 is in the repository, version 1.0.4 is available from here https://github.com/linuxmint/xdg-deskto ... ter.mint21. If you download the "packages.tar.gz" file and decompress it, you will find the "xdg-desktop-portal-xapp_1.0.4_amd64.deb" and "xdg-desktop-portal-xapp-dbg_1.0.4_amd64.deb" packages. You can test if "xdg-desktop-portal-xapp_1.0.4_amd64.deb" installation solves your problem. [not sure, release notes say "Implement color picking (#12)"]

You may have fresher versions of xdg-desktop-portal (1.14.6-1ubuntu0~22.04.sav0) and xdg-desktop-portal-gtk (1.14.1-1~22.04.sav0) from Rob Savoury backports PPA.

Compiling from source:
https://github.com/flatpak/xdg-desktop- ... tag/1.18.2
https://github.com/flatpak/xdg-desktop- ... tag/1.15.1

Regards,

MN

PS: xdg-desktop-portal-xapp is presented to have been made using xdg-desktop-portal-gtk and some Cinnamon/Mate/XFCE specific features. If it doesn't have the background portal, it is probably because the used version of xdg-desktop-portal-gtk didn't have it. If the latest version of xdg-desktop-portal-gtk, the 1.15.1, did have this background portal, a new version of xdg-desktop-portal-xapp could be made and have this functionality. And, since xdg-desktop-portal-xapp depends on xdg-desktop-portal-gtk, simply upgrading the xdg-desktop-portal-gtk version to 1.15.1 (by compiling it) might solve the problem.