Child Item

Tray icon not showing on Arch+Cinnamon after trying all other recipes from these forums

Dear all,

I am a Dropbox Plus user working on Arch Linux with Cinnamon 4.4.8 desktop and all latest updates (ext4 file system), and I have tried many solutions to make the darndest tray icon appear for months. Without it, managing synchronisation is hellishly inefficient; I can’t possibly keep the names of all folers to synchronise in the head, and having no tray icon complicates life a lot. Here are the steps I tried to fix it.

Dropbox daemon version: 97.3.460
Dropbox command-line interface version: 2020.03.04

1. From this thread:
https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-installs-integrations/Systray-menu-Cinnamon/td-p/130030
Stopping and starting Dropbox again via command line (`dropbox-cli stop` and `dropbox-cli start`) did not work.
2. Enabling and disabling support for indicators in the Cinnamon ‘General’ settings (with reboots in between) and trying to stop and restart Dropbox did not work.
3. Doing it through `dropbox stop; dbus-launch dropbox start` did not do anything.
4. Deleted Dropbox via `sudo pacman -Rncs dropbox`, deleted all the hidden dot directories from `~`, did a clean install from scratch. Still did not work.
5. Installing the optional packages `sudo pacman -S ufw-extras perl-file-mimeinfo libappindicator-gtk3` did nothing.
6. From the Arch Wiki page (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/dropbox😞 enabling `sudo systemctl enable dropbox@avk` and adding
```
[Service]
Environment=DISPLAY=:0
```
to `systemctl edit dropbox@avk` and rebooting did nothing.
7. The solution from this comment: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/dropbox/?setlang=cs&comments=all#comment-726182 — did nothing: `sudo systemctl edit dropbox@` and adding
```
[Service]
# Fix successful start not detected
SuccessExitStatus=SIGKILL
# Fix stopping and detection of running status and main process
Type=forking
PIDFile=%h/.local/share/dropbox/dropbox.pid
```
Again, starting and stopping dropbox@avk won’t help. Creating an empty `.dropbox-dist` in `~` did not change anything.

Just running `dropbox` from the command line gives:

```
dropbox: locating interpreter
dropbox: logging to /tmp/dropbox-antifreeze-2DCxPl
dropbox: initializing
dropbox: initializing python 3.7.5
dropbox: setting program path '/opt/dropbox/dropbox'
dropbox: setting python path '/opt/dropbox:/opt/dropbox/python-packages.zip'
dropbox: python initialized
dropbox: running dropbox
dropbox: setting args
dropbox: applying overrides
dropbox: running main script
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._constant_time.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._openssl.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/cryptography.hazmat.bindings._padding.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/psutil._psutil_linux.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/psutil._psutil_posix.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/apex._apex.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/tornado.speedups.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/PyQt5.QtWidgets.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/PyQt5.QtCore.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/PyQt5.QtGui.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/PyQt5.QtNetwork.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
dropbox: load fq extension '/opt/dropbox/PyQt5.QtDBus.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so'
```

And then, it stops and does nothing (no return to the command prompt, as if it were freezing).

What information can I send you in order to diagnose the long-lasting trouble that eludes existing solutions?

Yours sincerely,
Vladimir.

Find more posts tagged with

Setting Up the Apps

Desktop

Install

Dropbox Plus

Linux

Spam

Insightful

Accepted answers

Fifis

Hello again.

I managed to find the solution. It was very easy. The problem was, the ‘XApp Status Applet’ (xapp-status) was not enabled. Cinnamon is using XApp.StatusIcon (replacing the deprecated Gtk.StatusIcon in GNOME 3.26+) to pass information through dbus in multiple desktop environments. Linux Mint is warning users that it should be added upon the first launch via MintReport, but not Arch.

After adding it to the applet panel, the Dropbox icon appeared after restarting the dæmon.

I updated the Arch Wiki page as well.

Thank you for the involvement and support, now the ticket can be closed.

All comments

Lusil

Hey @Fifis, thanks the descriptive post and for the troubleshooting you've carried out so far - great work!

Just to make sure that we can have a better look into this, could you also try running the current stable version of the desktop app (96.4.172)?

To do this, you'll have to first go to your General tab from the website and make sure that Early Releases aren't checked.

If this doesn't work out for you, could you check your support options for contacting our team from here?

Let me know of any updates - cheers!

Fifis

Dear Lucil,

Thank you for your prompt reply.

In brief: your suggestion to downgrade to 96.4.172 did not work, the icon did not appear. However, a different error message appeared not.

Not so in brief: I unchecked the ‘Early release’ option, as you told me to, purged everything (including .dropbox and .dropbox-dist), installed it anew, and witnessed this strange behaviour. It is syncing:

~ > dropbox-cli status
Syncing 2,336 files • 35 mins
Uploading 1 file...
Downloading 2,335 files (9,891 KB/sec, 35 mins)

However, the version number won’t appear if asked for:

~ > dropbox-cli version
Dropbox daemon version: Not installed
Dropbox command-line interface version: 2020.03.04

When invoked not via `dropbox-cli version` but rather via `dropbox --version`, it threw an error message about permissions and asked me to show it to the tech support—but at least it reports the version number:

bn.BUILD_KEY: Dropbox
bn.VERSION: 96.4.172
bn.constants.WINDOWS_SHELL_EXT_VERSION: 37
bn.is_frozen: True
machine_id: 4c041ec0-71fc-43bc-a215-a51041f2499e
pid: 2042
ppid: 1438
ppid exe: '/usr/bin/zsh'
uid: 1000
user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='avk', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=1000, pw_gid=1000, pw_gecos='', pw_dir='/home/avk', pw_shell='/bin/zsh')
effective_user_info: pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='avk', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=1000, pw_gid=1000, pw_gecos='', pw_dir='/home/avk', pw_shell='/bin/zsh')
euid: 1000
gid: 1000
egid: 1000
group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='avk', gr_passwd='x', gr_gid=1000, gr_mem=[])
effective_group_info: grp.struct_group(gr_name='avk', gr_passwd='x', gr_gid=1000, gr_mem=[])
LD_LIBRARY_PATH: None
cwd: '/home/avk'
real_path='/home/avk'
mode=0o40755 uid=1000 gid=1000
parent mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
HOME: '/home/avk'
appdata: '/home/avk/.dropbox'
real_path='/home/avk/.dropbox'
mode=0o40755 uid=1000 gid=1000
parent mode=0o40755 uid=1000 gid=1000
dropbox_path: None
not found
parent not found
sys_executable: '/opt/dropbox/dropbox'
real_path='/opt/dropbox/dropbox'
mode=0o100755 uid=0 gid=0
parent mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
trace.__file__: '/opt/dropbox/python-packages.zip/dropbox/client/ui/common/boot_error.pyc'
real_path='/opt/dropbox/python-packages.zip/dropbox/client/ui/common/boot_error.pyc'
not found
parent not found
tempdir: '/tmp'
real_path='/tmp'
mode=0o41777 uid=0 gid=0
parent mode=0o40755 uid=0 gid=0
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 8145, in main_startup
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 3287, in run
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 1553, in startup_low
File "dropbox/client/main.pyc", line 1392, in _parse_command_line_flags
File "getopt.pyc", line 93, in getopt
File "getopt.pyc", line 157, in do_longs
File "getopt.pyc", line 174, in long_has_args
getopt.GetoptError: option --version not recognized

This is all very strange since while the error message says it is indeed `bn.VERSION: 96.4.172`, it fails to detect `/home/avk/Dropbox ` as the home directory.

The bottom line is, the tray icon is nowhere to be seen.

—

I went to the support page, and there were 3 options: Live chat, Email, and Community. This is how I ended up here contacting you—are you suggesting changing it to Email or Live chat to get further assistance?

Lusil

Thanks for the additional info, @Fifis.

You could try an advanced reinstall to see if that does the trick.

If it doesn't, I'd recommend sending a ticket to our team due to account-specific info that may be needed, so that they can have a better look into this for you.

In this case, you can also let me know the ID (eg. #1234567) that'll be created so that I can pass your comments along on the ticket.

Let me know how it goes. Cheers!

PS. For any other users reading this, who are facing the same issue, please note that if you're on a Basic (free) account, there's a three device limit and you'll have to make sure that you've got less than three devices connected to proceed.

Fifis

Dear Lusil,

Thank you for your prompt reply, and sorry for the delay. I tried the complete advanced reinstall, but to no avail.

I created a ticket for the team, and its number is #10690413.

Lusil

Thanks for letting me know, @Fifis.

I've passed your comments from here along to the member of my team reviewing this for you and, as soon as they have more info, they'll get back to you via email.

In the meantime, if you have any other questions, just give us a nudge. Cheers!

Fifis

Hello again.

After adding it to the applet panel, the Dropbox icon appeared after restarting the dæmon.

I updated the Arch Wiki page as well.

Thank you for the involvement and support, now the ticket can be closed.

Lusil

Thanks for keeping me in the loop, @Fifis. Great work with the troubleshooting!

If anything else comes up in the future, just give us another nudge.

In the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful day ahead!