Desktop Icons NG doesn't display icons in Xorg sessions until I turn it off and turn it back on

[Jonathan Kamens]

1. Observe icons from Desktop Icons NG on desktop.
2. Log out.
3. Log back in.
4. Observe that desktop icons are gone.
5. Open Extensions app.
6. Observe that the Desktop Icons NG extension is enabled.
7. Turn it off and turn it back on.
8. Observe that the missing desktop icons now appear.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 22.04
Package: gnome-shell-extension-desktop-icons-ng 39-2ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.15.0-18.18-generic 5.15.12
Uname: Linux 5.15.0-18-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu78
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: unknown
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Sat Mar 5 13:06:10 2022
InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-01-02 (1158 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 18.10 "Cosmic Cuttlefish" - Release amd64 (20181017.3)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: gnome-shell-extension-desktop-icons-ng
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to jammy on 2022-02-20 (12 days ago)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

I can reproduce the issue when logging in to a Xorg session, but not when logging in to a Wayland ditto. So the behavior may be Xorg specific.

@Jonathan: Did you encounter the issue with Xorg or Wayland?

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

Hmm.. I installed gnome-shell and mutter and friends from jammy-proposed, and after that the desktop icons show up as expected both on Xorg and Wayland.

So it looks like this is just a temporary state which will not be present when gnome-shell and mutter have been upgraded from 41 to 42.

Closing this bug report. Please feel free to request it to be re-opened if you find that the issue is still present with version 42 of gnome-shell and mutter in place.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

We should probably get to the bottom of bug 1963755 first.

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

Seems reasonable indeed. (Almost a duplicate I wasn't aware of.)

[Jonathan Kamens (jik)]

I don't think these two issues are duplicates, which is why I filed them separately.

This issue occurs even when the other one, which is intermittent, does not.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Looks like this is a temporary problem where the new version of gjs/mozjs is too stringent to allow the old syntax used in gnome-shell 41. This has been fixed already gnome-shell 42 but a workaround for DING to support older gnome-shell versions is probably a good idea.

Mar 14 17:34:54 nine gnome-shell[25609]: Some code accessed the property 'WorkspaceGroup' on the module 'workspaceAnimation'. That property was defined with 'let' or 'const' inside the module. This was previously supported, but is not correct according to the ES6 standard. Any symbols to be exported from a module must be defined with 'var'. The property access will work as previously for the time being, but please fix your code anyway.
Mar 14 17:34:54 nine gnome-shell[25609]: JS ERROR: TypeError: className is undefined
                                         replaceMethod@/<email address hidden>/gnomeShellOverride.js:84:49

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Fix proposed: https://gitlab.com/rastersoft/desktop-icons-ng/-/merge_requests/300

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Fix released in gnome-shell 42.alpha and later, by:

https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/commit/8b3f74bb7dcbd8f0b01d1083fd056987289116e5

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

Fixed in gnome-shell-extension-desktop-icons-ng 39+20220316.cc9c7d3e-1