After update to 1.28 Sticky Notes stopped working

[kotoyants]

Expected behaviour

New note windows when double-clicking icon or using menu

Actual behaviour

Nothing happens, error in journal

stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_window_set_decorated: assertion 'GTK_IS_WINDOW (window)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_window_set_skip_taskbar_hint: assertion 'GTK_IS_WINDOW (window)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_window_set_skip_pager_hint: assertion 'GTK_IS_WINDOW (window)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_widget_add_events: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_widget_add_events: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_text_view_get_buffer: assertion 'GTK_IS_TEXT_VIEW (text_view)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_widget_add_events: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_widget_add_events: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_widget_add_events: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_widget_set_direction: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_window_stick: assertion 'GTK_IS_WINDOW (window)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_window_resize: assertion 'GTK_IS_WINDOW (window)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_image_set_from_icon_name: assertion 'GTK_IS_IMAGE (image)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_image_set_pixel_size: assertion 'GTK_IS_IMAGE (image)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_image_set_from_icon_name: assertion 'GTK_IS_IMAGE (image)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_image_set_pixel_size: assertion 'GTK_IS_IMAGE (image)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_image_set_from_icon_name: assertion 'GTK_IS_IMAGE (image)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_image_set_pixel_size: assertion 'GTK_IS_IMAGE (image)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_widget_show: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_widget_show: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_widget_show: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_window_set_title: assertion 'GTK_IS_WINDOW (window)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_label_set_text: assertion 'GTK_IS_LABEL (label)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_widget_override_background_color: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_widget_override_background_color: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_widget_override_background_color: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_widget_override_background_color: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_widget_override_background_color: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_widget_override_background_color: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_widget_override_color: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_widget_override_color: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_widget_override_font: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_widget_override_font: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_text_view_set_editable: assertion 'GTK_IS_TEXT_VIEW (text_view)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_text_view_set_cursor_visible: assertion 'GTK_IS_TEXT_VIEW (text_view)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_image_set_from_icon_name: assertion 'GTK_IS_IMAGE (image)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_widget_set_tooltip_text: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_image_set_pixel_size: assertion 'GTK_IS_IMAGE (image)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_check_menu_item_set_active: assertion 'GTK_IS_CHECK_MENU_ITEM (check_menu_item)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_widget_realize: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: g_object_ref: assertion 'G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: invalid (NULL) pointer instance
stickynotes-app[227298]: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: invalid (NULL) pointer instance
stickynotes-app[227298]: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: invalid (NULL) pointer instance
stickynotes-app[227298]: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: invalid (NULL) pointer instance
stickynotes-app[227298]: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: invalid (NULL) pointer instance
stickynotes-app[227298]: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: invalid (NULL) pointer instance
stickynotes-app[227298]: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: invalid (NULL) pointer instance
stickynotes-app[227298]: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: invalid (NULL) pointer instance
stickynotes-app[227298]: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: invalid (NULL) pointer instance
stickynotes-app[227298]: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: invalid (NULL) pointer instance
stickynotes-app[227298]: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: invalid (NULL) pointer instance
stickynotes-app[227298]: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: invalid (NULL) pointer instance
stickynotes-app[227298]: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: invalid (NULL) pointer instance
stickynotes-app[227298]: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: invalid (NULL) pointer instance
stickynotes-app[227298]: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: invalid (NULL) pointer instance
stickynotes-app[227298]: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: invalid (NULL) pointer instance
stickynotes-app[227298]: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: invalid (NULL) pointer instance
stickynotes-app[227298]: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: invalid (NULL) pointer instance
stickynotes-app[227298]: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_text_view_get_buffer: assertion 'GTK_IS_TEXT_VIEW (text_view)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: invalid (NULL) pointer instance
stickynotes-app[227298]: g_signal_connect_data: assertion 'G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE (instance)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_window_present_with_time: assertion 'GTK_IS_WINDOW (window)' failed
stickynotes-app[227298]: gtk_window_stick: assertion 'GTK_IS_WINDOW (window)' failed```

#### Steps to reproduce the behaviour
Update mate-applets to 1.28

#### MATE general version
1.28

#### Package version
1.28

#### Linux Distribution
Arch Linux

[lukefromdc]

Do you have mate-applets build in-process (can be used in wayland) or out of process? If in-process you might have found a bug in the new part of the code that does not show up on Debian Unstable (on which I wrote that code.) Looks like you are getting a failure to create the window for a note or a failure to create the overall structure, or an attempt to read from it before its all the way set up.

[kotoyants]

I am not sure about mate-applets build in-process or out process, how to check it?
I can found applet process using ps:
none 227298 780 0 17:53 ? 00:00:02 \_ /usr/lib/mate-applets/stickynotes-applet

[lukefromdc]

Look in the package you installed mate-applets from. If you have libmate-stickynotes.so mate-applets was built in-process and can be used in both x11 and wayland (the reason for this option). If you have an executable named just stickynotes-applet you have mate-applets built out of process.

[kotoyants]

Can't find any .so files in package

pacman -Qlp mate-applets-1.28.0-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst|grep stickynotes|grep -v -e '/usr/share/locale' -e '/usr/share/icons' -e '/usr/share/help'
mate-applets /usr/lib/mate-applets/stickynotes-applet
mate-applets /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/org.mate.stickynotes.gschema.xml
mate-applets /usr/share/mate-applets/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/stickynotes-stock-close.png
mate-applets /usr/share/mate-applets/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/stickynotes-stock-locked.png
mate-applets /usr/share/mate-applets/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/stickynotes-stock-resize-se.png
mate-applets /usr/share/mate-applets/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/stickynotes-stock-resize-sw.png
mate-applets /usr/share/mate-applets/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps/stickynotes-stock-unlocked.png

[lukefromdc]

That means you have mate-applets built out of process, and that this may be a reappearance of a prior issue that gave similar errors with stickynotes

[tari01]

I can confirm the above on Manjaro MATE, just updated to 1.28. I have several sticky notes on the desktop and the applet in my panel. None of these show up as the applet crashes just as the panel is loaded.

[lukefromdc]

Same issue at

#664 (comment)
includes this report at the bottom:
PS: replacing GtkSourceBuffer with GtkTextBuffer and GtkSourceView with GtkTextView in sticky-notes-note.ui and removing the max_undo_levels property makes the applet work again.

[kotoyants]

I have made this changes and recompiled applet. Notes appeared but does not work properly. Icons are missing, hide notes option does not work, etc
Will this bug be resolved in near future?

[lukefromdc]

I will not be able to fix this myself, and at the moment a lot of team members are busy elsewhere. We don't have any paid staffers whatsoever.

We had a similar issue with 1.26 at #664 (comment) (noted above) and that has NOT been fixed either.

Might be a GtkSourceView issue on this one (was for sure on the other one with
stickynotes.c:122 builder=0x667190 res=0 error=(6,.:7:1 Invalid object type 'GtkSourceBuffer')
Unfortunately, I know very little about working with and debugging GtkSourceView. Someone more familiar with the applet will need to work on it.
I was wondering if
8c06942 played any role in this, but it's not in 1.26 only 1.28 so if it's the same crash with the same errors it is not likely to be the offender.

[lukefromdc]

This should be at least partially fixed by
#671
which was actually necessary because if someone with mate-applets build in-process added stickynotes to their panel, the crash would take the panel down and prevent it from relaunching by crashing again on startup. The only way out was to find and remove the applet from the panel config by dconf-editor or run mate-panel --reset and trash the rest of a user's configuration. Fixing this was an emergency.

I don't know that applet well and do not use it. To bring back anything that is now missing, I will need help. I cannot fully maintain all of MATE solo.

[JamesR98]

I was unable to hide sticky notes and I was able to solve it by setting:

/org/mate/stickynotes/click-hide
from true (default) to false. This seems to be a bug as the description says "If this option is disabled, the note is not hidden when the icon is clicked."

Version:
mate-applets-1.28.0-2.fc41.x86_64 (latest on Fedora 41).

Also thank you @lukefromdc for all your efforts.

[lukefromdc]

I'll have to see if the logic for hiding notes got reversed somehow

[lukefromdc]

Looks like the logic to show/hide notes is found in stickynotes_applet_callbacks.c at line 35 with

static void
stickynote_show_notes (gboolean visible)
{
    StickyNote *note;
    GList *l;

    if (stickynotes->visible == visible) return;

    if (g_settings_get_boolean (stickynotes->settings, "click-hide") && !visible)
        return;

    stickynotes->visible = visible;

    for (l = stickynotes->notes; l; l = l->next) {
        note = l->data;
        stickynote_set_visible (note, visible);
    }
}

[lukefromdc]

I notice that setting each note visible does NOT take place if stickynotes->visible is already set to visible so if this value is somehow being set without actually showing the notes it would do exactly this, but presumably you'd have to turn hiding notes on and back off unless there is a problem elsewhere

[JamesR98]

I'll have to see if the logic for hiding notes got reversed somehow

I should have stated I just updated to 1.28 today from 1.26 (with a lot of already existing sticky notes). Looking at it the click-hide key was only added in between:
Commit: efc5f4f
Pull: #628
Issue: #627

Going back to what the user said:

"An easy solution for this is adding an option in the config to make the icon always show the notes instead of toggling them."

I think the proper way would be to treat it like a window in Window List, if the sticky notes collectively have focus then minimize them, if not then focus them. How to determine if they are collectively on top of all other windows I'm not sure.

As the option is currently implemented... it's not my project but it seems somewhat pointless? I can see the benefit of having the sticky notes behave like the window list applet (it would be a more consistent user interface) but the only benefit I can see to how it is now is that it saves an extra click for users who do not personally use the icon to toggle the hidden state (which is how it's been for over 20 years now...).

Edit: I just realized should be in #650, apologies.