Switching to dark mode in settings does not change shell theme.

[Joshua T]

Changing the "Style" in the "Appearance" section of "Settings" (gnome-control-center), does not update the shell theme. When I select dark mode from settings, Libadwaita apps respond to the changes, but the shell theme and GTK3 applications do not. This has been observed on both Wayland and X11.

Ubuntu Version: Ubuntu Kinetic Kudu (development branch) | 22.10

Package Version: 1:43~rc-1ubuntu2

What I Expected: Changing the style in settings will affect all the apps that support changing light/dark mode. The shell theme will also respond to the change.

What happened instead: Only libadwaita apps are affected by changing the style in Settings. GTK3 apps and the shell theme do not change. When changing to dark mode via the quick settings menu, all the apps change their color scheme appropriately. However, there is not a smooth transition when switching the style from quick settings.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Note that changing the Style>Color value in Settings, or using the quick menu option 'Dark Mode' both seem to work around the problem.

[Batwam (batwam)]

I just tried the development build of 23.04 in a VM and the issue remains.

Is this going to be fixed before the new release?

[Luis Alvarado (luisalvarado)]

Hi Daniel, issue not yet working I am afraid. If I select the theme on the installation or change it from the settings, it does not change to dark mode. Nor does it stay there on 22.10 when suddenly it would go back to white or have of the theme would go back to white.

[vadim (vadim1337)]

I really don't like this bug, why doesn't anyone fix it?

[Luis Alvarado (luisalvarado)]

In case it helps, here is a video explaining in more detail the dark theme issue: https://youtu.be/5ToMbaqbEw4

[ccdisle (sim-blk)]

The issue re-appeared on my laptop as well after an update. Update history below.

"Start-Date: 2023-03-22 07:38:25
Commandline: /usr/bin/unattended-upgrade
Upgrade: printer-driver-foo2zjs-common:amd64 (20200505dfsg0-2ubuntu2, 20200505dfsg0-2ubuntu2.22.10.1), printer-driver-foo2zjs:amd64 (20200505dfsg0-2ubuntu2, 20200505dfsg0-2ubuntu2.22.10.1)
End-Date: 2023-03-22 07:38:30

Start-Date: 2023-03-22 07:38:33
Commandline: /usr/bin/unattended-upgrade
Upgrade: libgraphicsmagick++-q16-12:amd64 (1.4+really1.3.38+hg16739-1, 1.4+really1.3.38+hg16739-1ubuntu0.1), libgraphicsmagick-q16-3:amd64 (1.4+really1.3.38+hg16739-1, 1.4+really1.3.38+hg16739-1ubuntu0.1)
End-Date: 2023-03-22 07:38:34

Start-Date: 2023-03-22 08:00:48
Commandline: aptdaemon role='role-commit-packages' sender=':1.1579'
Upgrade: libsnmp-base:amd64 (5.9.3+dfsg-1ubuntu1.3, 5.9.3+dfsg-1ubuntu1.4), libsnmp40:amd64 (5.9.3+dfsg-1ubuntu1.3, 5.9.3+dfsg-1ubuntu1.4), google-chrome-stable:amd64 (111.0.5563.64-1, 111.0.5563.110-1)
End-Date: 2023-03-22 08:00:56

"

[Batwam (batwam)]

as far I can tell from the 23.04 dev version, this seems to now be resolved.
Can anyone else confirm?

[Narendra Utpala (narendrau23)]

I'm running 23.04 daily build and I can confirm the issue is gone here. Though the smooth theme switch animation that Gnome has is also gone, but I assume that is because the method of changing theme is changed to fix the aforementioned problem?

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Confirmed the bug is fixed in 23.04. Also I do still have the smooth theme switch animation.

[Batwam (batwam)]

Seems like it might only have been partially fixed. Is anyone else getting the issue where when opening a “save as” window from a browser (firefox/chrome) in dark mode, the window opens in light mode?

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

This bug is about shell elements whereas comment #12 is about app elements so please open a new bug.

[Batwam (batwam)]

yep, seems like it is confirmed and reported here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xdg-desktop-portal-gnome/+bug/2013126