[x11] Add pseudo-transparency #4496

elParaguayo · 2023-10-06T09:17:58Z

Adds a new config option, x11_fake_transparency, to emulate transparency in bars/widgets by copying the root window contents to the background of the bar/widget before rendering the contents on top.

Primary benefit of this is to prevent issues with the Systray widget which cannot currently be displayed with semi-transparent backgrounds.

Unlike the previous version, I've (largely) managed to contain the logic to the x11 backend.

Draft for now as some things to check:

Check behaviour when widgets don't fill bar
Check multiple screen behaviour (e.g. positioning)
Fix Systray behaviour
Handle wallpaper changes (both by set_wallpaper and by external commands)

Adds a new config option, `x11_fake_transparency`, to emulate transparency in bars/widgets by copying the root window contents to the background of the bar/widget before rendering the contents on top. Primary benefit of this is to prevent issues with the `Systray` widget which cannot currently be displayed with semi-transparent backgrounds.

elParaguayo · 2023-10-06T20:29:11Z

Getting some weird behaviour with a second screen:

Widget background is blank until redrawn
Systray background does not work on secondary monitor

EDIT: Fixed these!

ervinpopescu · 2023-10-08T15:20:50Z

So far, this does not fix #2935, as can be seen in the screenshot below:

Expected behavior:

Is it a problem with the decoration, as in qtile-extras should be updated too?

elParaguayo · 2023-10-08T15:22:37Z

I'll need to fix qtile-extras separately. Is that just the systray in a rectdecoration? Can you share the config for that decoration?

EDIT: try with the systray-pseudotransparent branch of qtile-extras.

ervinpopescu · 2023-10-09T08:03:02Z

Hmm, that branch still doesn't solve it... Currently my bar bg is #ffffff00 and the systray decoration config is:

decor_bg = "#1e1e2e"
RectDecoration(
    colour=decor_bg,
    radius=10,
    extrawidth=10,
    line_width=8,
    line_colour=decor_bg,
    padding_y=-3,
    padding_x=3,
    filled=True,
)

Additionally, I get issues like the one below where neither the bar nor the systray icons' backgrounds' aren't redrawn:

This seems to get fixed when the bar is redrawn, eg. when I trigger my MouseOverClock widget (copied directly from the docs btw).

elParaguayo · 2023-10-09T09:54:33Z

Are you talking about the overlapping icon issue or an issue with rendering the decoration? I can't recreate this. Can you try disabling your compositor?

As for the bar not updating, have you pulled the latest update to this PR? I think that issue should be fixed now.

ervinpopescu · 2023-10-09T10:06:33Z

qtile-extras on latest version (built using makepkg -sic in ~/.cache/yay/qtile-extras-git)

$ yay -Qi qtile-extras-git | grep Version
Version         : r291.3c00b08-1

$ qtile --version
0.23.0b3.dev64+g8ce36674

The decoration renders fine, however the icons are still overlapping and I can't figure out ATM what to change for this to work. My compositor is turned off, the bar transparency is working and the bar seems to be correctly drawn (no more weird artifacts), but I would prefer using the compositor. The bar not updating was with the latest commit.

elParaguayo · 2023-10-09T10:17:08Z

I assume you have x11_fake_transparency = True in your config.

Which apps are giving the overlapping widgets?

Are you able to post a link to your config so I can try the whole thing?

ervinpopescu · 2023-10-10T06:54:56Z

I assume you have x11_fake_transparency = True in your config.

Yes, I do.

Which apps are giving the overlapping widgets?

All which are updating: nm-applet, blueman-applet, mictray, pa-applet.
Of course flameshot has no problems.

Are you able to post a link to your config so I can try the whole thing?

https://github.com/ervinpopescu/dots/tree/qtile-pseudotransparency/configs/.config/qtile

I need to add something about the bar not being redrawn, I was changing the wallpapers when I noticed that, so I suppose the "fake/pseudo" stands for the bar copying the part of the wallpaper which is under it to its background, correct?

elParaguayo · 2023-10-10T07:20:20Z

Thanks for the info.

You're correct about how pseudotransparency works. We copy the wallpaper to the background of the widget.

Re changing wallpaper. That would make sense as I haven't added any code to redraw the bar in that scenario yet. Are you using the built-in set_wallpaper command or an external command?

I'll take a look again and see if I can recreate the overlapping icons.

ervinpopescu · 2023-10-10T07:52:03Z

I'm running the wallpaper update externally. Is there too much overhead if the bar diffs the current root background every x seconds against its own background?

I suppose I should migrate to using set_wallpaper, I've been postponing qtile-related config updates for a while now. I still think the wallpaper change should be handled, whether being done internally or externally.

I'll take a look again and see if I can recreate the overlapping icons.

Thanks!

Can't figure out how to check if the imports can fail for you, so here is a trusty command for you to check them yourself (run in the qtile config root):

grep --binary-files=without-match --color=always -r --no-filename -w import | sort -h | uniq

elParaguayo · 2023-10-10T08:33:18Z

You're right that the wallpaper change needs to be handled. It's trivial if using the set_wallpaper command (I just haven't implemented it yet) but I need to think about how to do it when it's changed by an external app. I'm reluctant to continuously poll and would prefer to see if there's some event that I can catch.

EDIT: Yes - there is an event we can use for this.

elParaguayo · 2023-10-10T17:33:15Z

OK - the wallpaper change issue should be fixed (the code needs some tidying but it should work).

libqtile/backend/x11/core.py

m-col · 2023-10-10T20:39:10Z

libqtile/backend/x11/core.py

+ # Remove PropertyChange from root window's event mask if it's there
+ if self.eventmask & xcffib.xproto.EventMask.PropertyChange:
+ self.eventmask &= ~xcffib.xproto.EventMask.PropertyChange
+ self._root.set_attribute(eventmask=self.eventmask)


Is this what other projects use when they use pseudo transparency? Polybar perhaps?

Yes - they listen for the same event. I didn't know that before I wrote the code but just checked!

interestingly, polybar suggests that systray always uses pseudotransparency, even if the bar doesn't. I didn't think that was possible as you couldn't reparent a window with 24-bit depth into one with a 32-bit depth. I should look into that.

Nice :) happy to have that in this PR or a follow up

I might have a play around and see if I can add it here.

Had a play. Will leave this for a follow-up!

libqtile/backend/x11/core.py

libqtile/backend/x11/drawer.py

m-col

Nice work :) couple comments

ervinpopescu · 2023-10-11T17:03:54Z

The wallpaper change issue is fixed, with some expected artifacts while the bar updates its background. Any progress on the overlapping icons?

elParaguayo · 2023-10-11T17:31:38Z

No. Because I can't recreate it!

elParaguayo · 2023-10-11T20:26:43Z

@ervinpopescu Can you confirm that you get the same overlapping issue without using widget decorations? That should be the case but wanted to check.

ervinpopescu · 2023-10-12T09:50:52Z

Yes, running e2fc6df without using decorations gives the same result.

ervinpopescu · 2023-10-12T15:13:47Z

This minimal config (no decorations) still gives the same overlapping icons. What should I do to troubleshoot this, given that you are unable to reproduce?

elParaguayo · 2023-10-12T15:42:21Z

Let me try that config. Does the issue arise when you just have a single icon in the tray or does it only happen with multiple icons?

Can you also explain what you do to trigger the issue i.e. how are you making the tray icon change?

ervinpopescu · 2023-10-12T16:36:24Z

One icon triggers it and I am changing the icon based on the state of the application I guess. For example, pressing on the mictray icon is muting the microphone so the icon changes to a "cut microphone".

elParaguayo · 2023-10-12T16:47:04Z

Interesting. I get that behaviour with your config but not mine. Needs further investigating.

EDIT: I only get the behaviour when picom is running. NB I'm also running this within xephyr.

elParaguayo · 2023-10-12T16:59:56Z

OK - so the first issue with that config is that it has no wallpaper and so it disables pseudotransparency as it can't find a pixmap for the root window (lots of lines in the log). If you add a wallpaper and run your config, the icons behave correctly.

However, the issue returns if you run picom...

EDIT: ah, and I can now recreate with my own config. That's useful.

EDIT 2: I know what the issue is. Now I just need to work out how to fix it!

elParaguayo · 2023-10-12T18:18:27Z

So, the issue is that picom is swallowing events which means a redraw of the bar is not being called. If you disable picom, you should find that this works ok.

ervinpopescu · 2023-10-12T18:36:02Z

I assume I need to wait for you to push the changes, right? For me, with picom not running, this is still appearing.

elParaguayo · 2023-10-12T18:41:46Z

That's odd. I can reliably trigger this when running picom but it works fine without it for me but maybe that's a xephyr thing.

EDIT: And there are no changes yet as I have no idea how to fix it (or if I even can fix it).

ervinpopescu · 2023-10-12T18:53:14Z

Oh, okay, I misunderstood, my bad. What other application can be swallowing events? And how did you figure out that is what's happening?

elParaguayo · 2023-10-12T19:51:12Z

I put some print statements in the parts of the widget code that trigger the bar to be redrawn. This happens when certain events are handled by the icon. Those print statements were not called once picom was running.

However, I think there may be more to this than just that. Those print statements happened when I interacted directly with the icon but I'm not sure the same applies when the icons update themselves without interaction.

elParaguayo · 2023-10-12T20:12:58Z

Can you try with the blueman-applet with and without picom:

toggle the powered state with busctl set-property org.bluez /org/bluez/hci0 org.bluez.Adapter1 Powered b true and false
(exit and restart applet) toggle powered state with context menu from the icon.

Do you get any different behaviours?

ervinpopescu · 2023-10-13T06:02:39Z

Unfortunately, with or without picom, the 2 situations behave the same, even if I leave only blueman-applet in the Systray.

elParaguayo · 2023-10-13T06:10:07Z

Then there's still something I'm missing...

Does qtile cmd-obj -o bar top -f eval -a "self.draw()" clear the issue (albeit temporarily)?

ervinpopescu · 2023-10-13T06:35:46Z

Nope, nothing is changed.

elParaguayo · 2023-10-13T06:38:06Z

Really?! Then I've really got no idea what's causing this.

ervinpopescu · 2023-10-13T06:43:36Z

Glad we're on the same page! 😄

github-actions · 2024-01-12T16:04:32Z

This PR is stale because it has been open 90 days with no activity. Remove the status: stale label or comment, or this will be closed in 30 days.

github-actions · 2024-04-11T20:01:34Z

This PR is stale because it has been open 90 days with no activity. Remove the status: stale label or comment, or this will be closed in 30 days.

jooooscha · 2024-04-21T10:08:58Z

I am still experiencing this issue. Is there any new progress?

I would be willing to work on this, if anyone could summarize the current status.

elParaguayo · 2024-04-21T10:36:52Z

I'm not actively working on this at the moment.

elParaguayo mentioned this pull request Oct 6, 2023

Adding pseudo-transparency #4126

Closed

5 tasks

elParaguayo added 3 commits October 6, 2023 13:09

Fix systray

9287d05

[tox] ffibuild verbosity

c0c8f27

Fill blank bar space

be8d34e

elParaguayo force-pushed the new-pseudotransparency branch from 61a3199 to be8d34e Compare October 6, 2023 16:30

Mask copy to prevent spamming

5d651b5

More changes

57eb159

elParaguayo marked this pull request as ready for review October 8, 2023 07:49

Fix second screen issue

8ce3667

elParaguayo force-pushed the new-pseudotransparency branch from eadfe12 to 8ce3667 Compare October 8, 2023 11:27

Update bar on wallpaper change

70aadae

elParaguayo commented Oct 10, 2023

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[x11] Add pseudo-transparency #4496

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