any shell extensions preferences can't be opened unless "gnome-extensions-app" is installed first

[Kamil Paral]

Hello,
in F32, if you install gnome-shell extension through a web browser or dnf
and then want to display its configuration (a wrench icon next to it at
https://extensions.gnome.org/local/ ), or if you want to configure some of
the pre-installed extensions like background-logo, nothing happens after
you click on the button. No configuration is displayed. You need to install
gnome-extensions-app [1], which fixes the configuration dialogs, and you
can finally display them (even from a web browser). Or you can install
gnome-tweaks, which pulls gnome-extensions-app as a dependency. In the
out-of-the-box state, though, you can't display configuration and it's not
clear why.

This seems like a use case that was not considered, and it looks broken
from user PoV. I can see the following fixes:
a) Include the ability to show extension dialogs directly to gnome-shell
(that was the case in F31), and only distribute the application file in
gnome-extensions-app. It seems that all that needs to happen is to move
/usr/bin/gnome-shell-extension-prefs from gnome-extensions-app package to
gnome-shell package.
b) Install gnome-extensions-app by default (not ideal, people can uninstall
it and it breaks the dialogs, that is obscure behavior)
c) Make chrome-gnome-shell require gnome-extensions-app. This will fix the
web browser use case. Note, chrome-gnome-shell is installed by default, so
this would make gnome-extensions-app also installed by default.

Only a) fixes all use cases, I believe. Because extensions themselves can
have a button to show their configuration, I believe. If I remove
gnome-extensions-app, which looks to be a *manager* for extensions, I
wouldn't expect it to break the ability to show extensions preferences. But
it will, unless a) is done.

Which of the options is preferable? Or some other option? I'll file a bug
according to your recommendation. It would be really great if you could fix
this before F32 Final release.

Kamil

[1] I don't see "Extensions" app in gnome-software in a clean installation,
only in an upgraded one. Why, I don't know - but this brokenness is very
regular in gnome-software. A new user can't install it easily, though,
that's the point.

[Florian Müllner]

On Tue, Mar 31, 2020 at 16:39, Kamil Paral <kparal(a)redhat.com&gt; wrote:
>  Hello,
>  in F32, if you install gnome-shell extension through a web browser or 
>  dnf and then want to display its configuration (a wrench icon next to 
>  it at https://extensions.gnome.org/local/ ), or if you want to 
>  configure some of the pre-installed extensions like background-logo, 
>  nothing happens after you click on the button. No configuration is 
>  displayed. You need to install gnome-extensions-app [1], which fixes 
>  the configuration dialogs, and you can finally display them (even 
>  from a web browser). Or you can install gnome-tweaks, which pulls 
>  gnome-extensions-app as a dependency. In the out-of-the-box state, 
>  though, you can't display configuration and it's not clear why. 

This will be fixed by the 3.36.1 update, where the actual preference 
dialog has been split from the app and moved to a portal-like D-Bus 
service (bundled with gnome-shell).

Cheers,
Florian

[Kamil Paral]

On Tue, Mar 31, 2020 at 5:16 PM Florian Müllner <fmuellner(a)gnome.org&gt; wrote:

>  On Tue, Mar 31, 2020 at 16:39, Kamil Paral <kparal(a)redhat.com&gt; wrote:
>  > Hello,
>  > in F32, if you install gnome-shell extension through a web browser or
>  > dnf and then want to display its configuration (a wrench icon next to
>  > it at https://extensions.gnome.org/local/ ), or if you want to
>  > configure some of the pre-installed extensions like background-logo,
>  > nothing happens after you click on the button. No configuration is
>  > displayed. You need to install gnome-extensions-app [1], which fixes
>  > the configuration dialogs, and you can finally display them (even
>  > from a web browser). Or you can install gnome-tweaks, which pulls
>  > gnome-extensions-app as a dependency. In the out-of-the-box state,
>  > though, you can't display configuration and it's not clear why.
>
>
>  This will be fixed by the 3.36.1 update, where the actual preference
>  dialog has been split from the app and moved to a portal-like D-Bus
>  service (bundled with gnome-shell).
>  
Thanks for the info! Will we have that before F32 Final? Otherwise I might
create a commonbugs entry for it.

[Frantisek Zatloukal]

On Wed, Apr 1, 2020 at 2:44 PM Kamil Paral <kparal(a)redhat.com&gt; wrote:

>  Thanks for the info! Will we have that before F32 Final? Otherwise I
> might
>  create a commonbugs entry for it.
>  
 Yes, see Kalev's email. Plan is to have 3.36.1 (already in testing) before
Final Freeze.

[Kamil Paral]

On Wed, Apr 1, 2020 at 3:48 PM Frantisek Zatloukal <fzatlouk(a)redhat.com&gt;
wrote:

>  On Wed, Apr 1, 2020 at 2:44 PM Kamil Paral <kparal(a)redhat.com&gt;
> wrote:
>
> > Thanks for the info! Will we have that before F32 Final? Otherwise I
> > might create a commonbugs entry for it.
> >
>
>   Yes, see Kalev's email. Plan is to have 3.36.1 (already in testing)
>  before Final Freeze.
>  
Great, I can confirm the problem is gone in 3.36.1.