Icon theme reverts to Yaru when entering Appearance settings

[Karol]

[ Impact ]

I upgraded to the 22.04 beta last week from 21.10. I use a custom icon theme. Whenever I enter the Appearance tab in settings the icon theme is set back to Yaru.

[ Test case(s) ]

1. Run
   gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme Adwaita

2. Start Settings Appearance panel:
   gnome-control-center ubuntu

User theme settings should have not changed (Adwaita is still in use)

3. Select a Dark/Light variant OR a Color in the Appearance panel:
   - Interface and icon themes are matching the selected variant / accent.

Note: The icon theme is still reset if changed externally while the appearance panel is open.

--

1. Run
   gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface icon-theme Adwaita

2. Start Settings Appearance panel:
   gnome-control-center ubuntu

Icon theme settings should have not changed (Adwaita icon theme is still in use)

3. Select a Dark/Light variant OR a Color in the Appearance panel:
   - Interface and icon themes are matching the selected variant / accent.

Note: The theme is still reset if changed externally while the appearance panel is open.

--

1. From Gedit settings, select an editor color scheme that is not Yaru or Yaru-dark.

2. Start Settings Appearance panel:
   gnome-control-center ubuntu

Gedit theme should not have changed

3. Select a Dark/Light variant OR a Color in the Appearance panel:
   - Does not change the Gedit theme, unless a Yaru variant is selected as
     gedit color scheme.

[ Regression Potential ]

Theme is not updated to upgraders that use some unsupported custom themes.
Theme selection doesn't work in some custom configurations.

---

ProblemType: BugDistroRelease: Ubuntu 22.04
Package: gnome-control-center 1:41.4-1ubuntu9
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.15.0-25.25-generic 5.15.30
Uname: Linux 5.15.0-25-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu80
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: pass
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Thu Apr 7 20:47:41 2022
InstallationDate: Installed on 2022-02-02 (64 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 21.10 "Impish Indri" - Release amd64 (20211012)SourcePackage: gnome-control-center
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Karol (wasowski02)]

If I select a custom accent color (let's say red) and then change the icon theme through gnome-tweaks, then when enetering the Appearance settings the theme will change to the appropriate Yaru variant (Yaru-red in this example)

[Paul White (paulw2u)]

I can confirm this. As comment #2 but worded differently:

Set icon theme to Adwaita (in Tweaks)
Note a specific Adwaita icon on the Dock
Open Settings | Appearance
Icon will immediately change to the relevant Yaru version.

[Marco Trevisan (Treviño) (3v1n0)]

Well, in Ubuntu we don't support custom themes when you use the Ubuntu session (while you're free to tweak your GNOME session when using that - need to apt install gnome-session).

So if you change the accent color, both icon and gtk themes will be changed.

We may avoid changing them if a non-Yaru theme was used previously, but I've the feeling that we'd may instead look as broken for those people who have customized their ubuntu session previously and they now want to switch to one of the stock yaru themes.

[Karol (wasowski02)]

It does also revert the theme of some system apps.

1. Open gedit
2. Go to preferences
3. Select the desired theme under Fonts & Colors (non-Yaru)
4. Go into Appearance settings in the settings app.
5. Reopen gedit and the theme will be Yaru.

I think the main issue is that the theme reverts to Yaru even if no settings are changed. It is understandable that selecting a new accent color reverts to the appropriate Yaru theme, but if no settings are changes, then why does it do that?

[Ignacio (naign)]

Here is a video of this issue.

https://streamable.com/21xq3z

It breaks completely.

[Yahya Mateen (akaabdullahmateen)]

The issue is reproducible for me in two different manners:

First way:

1. Install gnome-tweaks and download a custom icon theme, for example: [la-capitaine-icon-theme](https://github.com/keeferrourke/la-capitaine-icon-theme)
2. Move this icon theme to ~/.icons
3. Open gnome-tweaks and in Appearance -> Icons, select this icon theme
4. Open gnome-control-center and go to Appearance tab. *No need to do anything further, just click on Appearance tab*

Other way:

1. Set a custom icon theme in gnome-tweaks (I am using "la-capitaine-icon-theme", available at https://github.com/keeferrourke/la-capitaine-icon-theme )
2. Minimize or close all open windows, and right-click to open desktop context menu
3. Select "Change background"

The icons are reverted to Yaru-XX.

The problem is the fact that this icon reverting occurs when the Appearance tab just opens rather than when some appearance setting is changed (as if Ubuntu tries to revert theme and icon settings on launch of Appearance tab, rather than invoking such a process on setting change).

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package gnome-control-center - 1:42.2-1ubuntu1

---------------
gnome-control-center (1:42.2-1ubuntu1) kinetic; urgency=medium

  * debian/patches: Drop applied upstream and update old to use Gtk4 and Adw.
    Some have been dropped as not relevant anymore.
    While usage of AdwLeaf is now too invasive to do a revert as per
     debian/patches/ubuntu/window-Stop-using-HdyLeaflet.patch so it's better
    if we just help fixing the issues upstream.
  * debian/patches: Ensure VNC/RDP remote control setting is honored
    (LP: #1977663)
  * debian/patches: Drop workaround for X-SnapInstanceName.
    It's in snapd for 3 years now, we can safely assume we support it.
  * background: Allow configuring the ubuntu accent color.
    Move the ubuntu colors configuration to a single widget
    (CcUbuntuColorsRow) so that it can be easily included in other widgets
    with minimal changes.
    We keep resources and the widget itself compiled together with the ubuntu
    panel, so that there's no need to change multiple panels build scripts,
    given that these are per-process anyways.
    Helps with LP: #1968213
  * ubuntu-colors-row: Do not change themes on startup (or on user changes)
    Do not override user themes unless an user has explicitly selected a
    color theme. This applies to both the user theme and the icons, as we
    want a consistent experience. But users could still use tweaks to change
    them.
    At the same time, avoid changing the gedit color scheme if an user
    previously set a non-Yaru theme. (LP: #1968213)
  * debian/patches: Ensure both VNC and RDP settings are disabled if requested
    (LP: #1971415)
  * debian/patches: Move the VNC support patch under the ubuntu topic

gnome-control-center (1:42.2-1) unstable; urgency=medium

  * New upstream release
  * Drop the snap & RDP patches: applied in new release

gnome-control-center (1:42.1-3) unstable; urgency=medium

  * Cherry-pick patch to fix snap support
  * Enable snap support in the Applications panel

gnome-control-center (1:42.1-2) unstable; urgency=high

  * Add patch to turn off RDP gsettings key when turning off RDP Sharing
    (LP: #1971415)

gnome-control-center (1:42.1-1) unstable; urgency=medium

  * New upstream release
    - Fix On switch for RDP Sharing
  * Drop 4 patches applied in new release

gnome-control-center (1:42.0-3) unstable; urgency=medium

  * Team upload
  * d/p/appdata-Correct-name-of-launchable.patch:
    Add proposed patch to correct name of .desktop file in appdata
  * d/p/debian/Ignore-result-of-test-network-panel.patch:
    Add patch to work around build-time test failure
  * Reorder patch series so patches from upstream come first

gnome-control-center (1:42.0-2) unstable; urgency=medium

  * Team upload

  [ Jeremy Bicha ]
  * Update build-dependencies
  * Revert "Disable colord panel until colord GTK4 client library is available"
  * debian/control.in: Recommend power-profiles-daemon for power mode feature
  * debian/rules: Disable malcontent on Ubuntu: it's not in main there yet
  * d/p/online-accounts-Fix-goa-helper-on-X11.patch:
    Cherry-pick a patch to fix GNOME Online Accounts in Xorg
  * d/p/network-...

[Łukasz Zemczak (sil2100)]

Hello Karol, or anyone else affected,

Accepted gnome-control-center into jammy-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-control-center/1:41.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.3 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, what testing has been performed on the package and change the tag from verification-needed-jammy to verification-done-jammy. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-jammy. In either case, without details of your testing we will not be able to proceed.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance for helping!

N.B. The updated package will be released to -updates after the bug(s) fixed by this package have been verified and the package has been in -proposed for a minimum of 7 days.

[Karol (wasowski02)]

Hi Łukasz,

For some reason I am unable to install the update. It was kept back, when I ran `sudo apt upgrade` and when I try to explicitly install it I get this:

karol@kolatek ~ $ sudo apt list --upgradable
Listing... Done
gnome-control-center/jammy-proposed 1:41.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.3 amd64 [upgradable from: 1:41.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.1]
N: There are 3 additional versions. Please use the '-a' switch to see them.
karol@kolatek ~ $ sudo apt install gnome-control-center
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 libfreerdp-server2-2 : Depends: libfreerdp2-2 (= 2.6.1+dfsg1-3ubuntu2.1) but 2.6.1+dfsg1-3ubuntu2.2 is to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
karol@kolatek ~ $

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

You can get the freerdp deb from https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/freerdp2/2.6.1+dfsg1-3ubuntu2.2/+build/23854758 , that's probably another issue due to the apt phasing

[Karol (wasowski02)]

Hi Sebastien,

Thanks for the quick reply. I've found the correct version libfreerdp .deb package and tried to install it, but it had other dependency issues. I used this version: https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-security-proposed/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+build/23822013

The package available in the repo is too new (available: ubuntu2.2, neede: ubuntu2.1). Installing build 2.2 yielded the following issues:

karol@kolatek ~/Downloads $ sudo apt install ./libfreerdp2-2_2.6.1+dfsg1-3ubuntu2.1_amd64.deb
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Note, selecting 'libfreerdp2-2' instead of './libfreerdp2-2_2.6.1+dfsg1-3ubuntu2.1_amd64.deb'
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 libfreerdp2-2 : Depends: libwinpr2-2 (= 2.6.1+dfsg1-3ubuntu2.1) but 2.6.1+dfsg1-3ubuntu2.2 is to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
karol@kolatek ~/Downloads $

I'm sorry, but don't really feel like installing a possibly endless stream of dependencies.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

sorry for the annoyance, the other debs are the same page but you shouldn't have to go through those problems. you can disable phasing with the options described in https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/phased-updates-in-apt-in-21-04 but otherwise I would recommend waiting for the SRU to be available for everyone...

[Nathan Teodosio (nteodosio)]

Installed 1:41.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.3, logged out then back in, and although the icon-theme no longer changes when entering the appearance menu, /usr/bin/gedit theme does change from Cobalt back to Yaru.

[Marco Trevisan (Treviño) (3v1n0)]

Due to an oversight I missed copying part of the fix that landed in kinetic, so I've re-uploaded gnome-control-center (1:41.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.4) to jammy.

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

Hello Karol, or anyone else affected,

Accepted gnome-control-center into jammy-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-control-center/1:41.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.4 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, what testing has been performed on the package and change the tag from verification-needed-jammy to verification-done-jammy. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-jammy. In either case, without details of your testing we will not be able to proceed.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance for helping!

N.B. The updated package will be released to -updates after the bug(s) fixed by this package have been verified and the package has been in -proposed for a minimum of 7 days.

[Nathan Teodosio (nteodosio)]

Installed 1:41.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.4, logged out then back in, and the icon theme no longer changes when entering the appearance menu, neither does /usr/bin/gedit theme changes from Cobalt back to Yaru.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package gnome-control-center - 1:41.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.4

---------------
gnome-control-center (1:41.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.4) jammy; urgency=medium

  * debian/patches: Read the user value for gedit setting before changing it.
    This is an oversight while backporting the patch that is already in
    kinetic. (LP: #1968213)
  * debian/gbp.conf: Set upstream branch to upstream/42.x

gnome-control-center (1:41.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.3) jammy; urgency=medium

  * debian/control.in: Depend on gnome-remote-desktop (LP: #1980606)

gnome-control-center (1:41.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.2) jammy; urgency=medium

  * debian/patches: Refresh indexes
  * debian/patches: Ensure VNC/RDP remote control setting is honored
    (LP: #1977663)
  * ubuntu-panel: Do not change themes on startup (or on user changes)
    Do not override user themes unless an user has explicitly selected a
    color theme. This applies to both the user theme and the icons, as we
    want a consistent experience. But users could still use tweaks to change
    them.
    At the same time, avoid changing the gedit color scheme if an user
    previously set a non-Yaru theme. (LP: #1968213)

 -- Marco Trevisan (Treviño) <email address hidden> Thu, 11 Aug 2022 16:10:13 -0400

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

The verification of the Stable Release Update for gnome-control-center has completed successfully and the package is now being released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regressions.

[Eric Donkersloot (ericd)]

This bug is still present in Ubuntu 23.10