File Chooser does not open for Flatpak Applications | F40 | Sway

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1

Hello,

I’m on a mostly fresh install of Fedora Sway 40, and whenever I hit a button that should result in the file chooser opening up (like I try to Download something in Ungoogled Chromium or set my library in Steam), nothing happens. I’ve gotten stuck trying to look at fixes and debug it myself, so I was wondering if I could get some help.

system information

OS: Fedora Linux 40 (Sway) x86_64 
Kernel: 6.9.9-200.fc40.x86_64

xdg portal package information

Name         : xdg-desktop-portal-wlr
Version      : 0.7.1
Release      : 1.fc40
Architecture : x86_64
Size         : 111 k
Source       : xdg-desktop-portal-wlr-0.7.1-1.fc40.src.rpm
Repository   : @System
From repo    : anaconda

Name         : xdg-desktop-portal
Version      : 1.18.4
Release      : 1.fc40
Architecture : i686
Size         : 488 k
Source       : xdg-desktop-portal-1.18.4-1.fc40.src.rpm
Repository   : updates
Summary      : Portal frontend service to flatpak
URL          : https://github.com/flatpak/xdg-desktop-portal/

Name         : xdg-desktop-portal
Version      : 1.18.4
Release      : 1.fc40
Architecture : x86_64
Size         : 2.3 M
Source       : xdg-desktop-portal-1.18.4-1.fc40.src.rpm
Repository   : @System
From repo    : updates
Summary      : Portal frontend service to flatpak
URL          : https://github.com/flatpak/xdg-desktop-portal/

The last thing I tried to do to fix this was to reinstall Fedora Sway spin while keeping my home directory, but nothing got fixed. On my last install I was trying to get my gtk and qt6 themes to work together with kvantum, and it may be possible along the way that I deleted something important in the ~/home/username directory. (I recall deleting ~/.local/gtk-2.0 and ~/.local/gtk-3.0.

I also have the following files in /usr/share/xdg-desktop-portal:

/usr/share/xdg-desktop-portal/sway-portals

[preferred]
# Use xdg-desktop-portal-gtk for every portal interface...
default=gtk
# ... except for the ScreenCast, Screenshot and Secret
org.freedesktop.impl.portal.ScreenCast=wlr
org.freedesktop.impl.portal.Screenshot=wlr
org.freedesktop.impl.portal.Secret=gnome-keyring

/usr/share/xdg-desktop-portal/wlroots-portals

[preferred]
# Use xdg-desktop-portal-gtk for every portal interface...
default=gtk
# ... except for the ScreenCast and Screenshot
org.freedesktop.impl.portal.ScreenCast=wlr
org.freedesktop.impl.portal.Screenshot=wlr

/usr/share/xdg-desktop-portal/portals/gnome-keyring.portal

[portal]
DBusName=org.freedesktop.secrets
Interfaces=org.freedesktop.impl.portal.Secret
UseIn=gnome

/usr/share/xdg-desktop-portal/portals/gtk.portal

[portal]
DBusName=org.freedesktop.impl.portal.desktop.gtk
Interfaces=org.freedesktop.impl.portal.FileChooser;org.freedesktop.impl.portal.AppChooser;org.freedesktop.impl.portal.Print;org.freedesktop.impl.portal.Notification;org.freedesktop.impl.portal.Inhibit;org.freedesktop.impl.portal.Access;org.freedesktop.impl.portal.Account;org.freedesktop.impl.portal.Email;org.freedesktop.impl.portal.DynamicLauncher;org.freedesktop.impl.portal.Settings;
UseIn=gnome

/usr/share/xdg-desktop-portal/portals/wlr.portal

[portal]
DBusName=org.freedesktop.impl.portal.desktop.wlr
Interfaces=org.freedesktop.impl.portal.Screenshot;org.freedesktop.impl.portal.ScreenCast;
UseIn=wlroots;sway;Wayfire;river;phosh;Hyprland;

Any debugging tips or hints for where I should look next would be much appreciated. Thanks.

2

Removed gnome, installation

3

Welcome to :fedora:

In the case you do not get timely responses here, You can find some help on Sway on these support channels.

Support chat for Sway WM

https://web.libera.chat/gamja/?channels=#sway

File a bug, issue tracker

4

Solved here.

The fundamental issue is that if you don’t run a login manager, then when you log in, systemd will start the xdg-desktop-portal-gtk service which relies on having a display server running, but the display server will only run after calling sway post-login.

Therefore, xdg-desktop-portal-gtk (which picks the file chooser) will crash.
The bandaid solution is to place exec /usr/libexec/xdg-desktop-portal-gtk at the bottom of the sway config file, which will run the file chooser daemon upon starting the display server.

But ideally, either xdg-desktop-portal-gtk should never be called before the display server starts or run and handle the situation when no display server is running yet.

5

Added portals

6

Very niche, but thanks for the update !