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> In other words, if you want something in background, make it systemd user service, so the user can use standardized tools to enable/disable/start/stop it. Th

> In other words, if you want something in background, make it systemd user service, so the user can use standardized tools to enable/disable/start/stop it. That would be sufficient if the "standardized tools" provided a similar UI and user feedback for those background tasks. Sure right now I can already have my file synchronization tool run in the background with a systemd service and manually use `journalctl` or `GNOME Logs` to monitor its state, but that's a far inferior user experience than simply having an icon in the corner of my screen which immediately tells me the state of the file synchronization and also allows me to quickly alter its settings. So as long as those standard background tasks are so tedious to monitor and interact with, I'll keep using the "nonsense" status tray icons.

vetinari 4y ago
Chicken and egg problem. Most of these services do not want to be managed generically, they want to force themselves on the user. Some sync services need to keep their brand on the screen, after all. Specifically syncing services do not need to hang in notification area, when it is needed to monitor or reconfigure them, it is trivial to launch the controlling app (see syncthing). Apps like vlc or remmina should bother with systray support at all (they both do, and have it enabled by default).
- wander_homer 4y ago
  > Specifically syncing services do not need to hang in notification area, when it is needed to monitor or reconfigure them, it is trivial to launch the controlling app (see syncthing). I want them there, so that's more than enough reason why they need to be there on my systems. No one forces you to have them on your system. And this has nothing to do with branding nor is it useless noise, because the icon provides valuable information to me. I don't want to have to use `http://localhost:8384/ http://localhost:8384/` or `journalctl` every time I want to know: * Are there some issues which prevent syncing? * Is a sync in progress (which means I might not want to suspend/poweroff my machine just now)? * Is syncing paused or idle? By your logic we should also get rid of status elements like the clock, network, volume, ... because all those information can be monitored and configured with in their respective applications and system settings.

vetinari 4y ago

Chicken and egg problem. Most of these services do not want to be managed generically, they want to force themselves on the user. Some sync services need to keep their brand on the screen, after all. Specifically syncing services do not need to hang in notification area, when it is needed to monitor or reconfigure them, it is trivial to launch the controlling app (see syncthing). Apps like vlc or remmina should bother with systray support at all (they both do, and have it enabled by default).

wander_homer 4y ago
> Specifically syncing services do not need to hang in notification area, when it is needed to monitor or reconfigure them, it is trivial to launch the controlling app (see syncthing). I want them there, so that's more than enough reason why they need to be there on my systems. No one forces you to have them on your system. And this has nothing to do with branding nor is it useless noise, because the icon provides valuable information to me. I don't want to have to use `http://localhost:8384/ http://localhost:8384/` or `journalctl` every time I want to know: * Are there some issues which prevent syncing? * Is a sync in progress (which means I might not want to suspend/poweroff my machine just now)? * Is syncing paused or idle? By your logic we should also get rid of status elements like the clock, network, volume, ... because all those information can be monitored and configured with in their respective applications and system settings.