Bridge graphical glitch on Fedora KDE wayland

[marcdus]

Expected Behavior

Seeing the bridge client correctly.

Current Behavior

It launches, including a working window and status bar icon, but with a graphical glitch.

(note that the displayed content is whatever was displayed before launching the app. In this case it's the KDE startup logo)

The CLI interface works as expected and I can send/receive Mails with Thunderbird.

Launching the GUI via command line gives the following output (redacted for anonymity):

(base) my_user@fedora:~$ protonmail-bridge 
Failed to initialize sentry
INFO[Sep 18 12:56:40.395] bridge-gui starting
INFO[Sep 18 12:56:40.395] Using Qt 6.4.3
INFO[Sep 18 12:56:40.397] lock file created /home/my_user/.cache/protonmail/bridge-v3/bridge-v3-gui.lock
INFO[Sep 18 12:56:40.397] bridge-gui executable: /usr/lib/protonmail/bridge/bridge-gui
INFO[Sep 18 12:56:40.397] Command-line invocation: --session-id XXXXXXXX_XXXXXXXXX --launcher /usr/lib/protonmail/bridge/proton-bridge
INFO[Sep 18 12:56:40.397] New Sentry reporter - id: wrkiXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/XXXXXXXX=.
DEBU[Sep 18 12:56:40.399] Bridge executable path: /usr/lib/protonmail/bridge/bridge
INFO[Sep 18 12:56:40.399] Launching bridge process with command "/usr/lib/protonmail/bridge/bridge" --grpc --parent-pid 9956 --launcher /usr/lib/protonmail/bridge/proton-bridge --session-id XXXXXXXX_XXXXXXXXX
INFO[Sep 18 12:56:40.399] Retrieving gRPC service configuration from '/home/my_user/.config/protonmail/bridge-v3/grpcServerConfig.json'
ERRO[Sep 18 12:56:40.468] Unable to open cache file                     error="open /home/my_user/.cache/protonmail/bridge-v3/notifications/notification_cache: no such file or directory" pkg=notification-store
INFO[Sep 18 12:56:40.640] Connecting to gRPC service
INFO[Sep 18 12:56:40.641] Connection to gRPC server at unix:///tmp/bridge8981. attempt #1
INFO[Sep 18 12:56:40.644] Successfully connected to gRPC server.
INFO[Sep 18 12:56:40.644] Client config file was saved to '/home/my_user/.config/protonmail/bridge-v3/grpcClientConfig_0.json'
DEBU[Sep 18 12:56:40.644] checkTokens()
INFO[Sep 18 12:56:40.644] gRPC token was validated
INFO[Sep 18 12:56:40.644] Connected to backend via gRPC service.
DEBU[Sep 18 12:56:40.644] version()
DEBU[Sep 18 12:56:40.644] EventStreamReader started
DEBU[Sep 18 12:56:40.648] goos()
DEBU[Sep 18 12:56:40.648] logsPath()
DEBU[Sep 18 12:56:40.648] licensePath()
DEBU[Sep 18 12:56:40.649] mailServerSettings()
DEBU[Sep 18 12:56:40.649] getUserList()

Steps to Reproduce

1. Download proton bridge rpm package
2. Install using KDE Discover app
3. Launch proton bridge

Version Information

proton bridge version 3.12.0-1 (RPM package)

Context (Environment)

Using:

• Fedora Linux 40
• KDE Plasma 6.1.4 w/ wayland
• Signed Nvidia driver version 560.35.03

[Zindswini]

I have been experiencing this issue on the Flatpak for a couple of weeks.
Same environment and software versions.

[d-air1]

Tested this with plasma 6.2 beta and the problem is the same, but also a bit different. Instead of a glitched graphical window. I instead get a qml error popup window. Like other commenters have stated though the backend works fine and I can still send and receive mail. I just can't open the window.

Environment.
Arch
KDE Plasma 6.1.90 (6.2 beta) w/ wayland
Nvidia driver version 560.35.03 (nvidia-open driver) the newly recommend default for newer cards. Graphics card is an nvidia rtx 3080

[thereillywriter]

This issue is also affecting me on Arch Linux with KDE Plasma 6.2 under Wayland. The Bridge backend works just fine, but when I try to open the GUI window I get a "qml error" popup window.

Unlike the other users I have an AMD GPU.

[Zindswini]

Still occurring on Fedora 41. No QML error popup, just a window that fails to draw as in the original report.

Plasma 6.2.3
Qt 6.8.0
Nvidia Driver 565.57.01

[mnoomnoo]

This happens for me on Fedora 41. I get no QML popup, just a window that fails to render anything.

KDE Plasma Version: 6.2.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.8.0
Qt Version: 6.8.1
Nvidia Driver: 565.77

[Zindswini]

Workaround!

After getting frustrated, I (successfully) tried to debug the issue some more. I'm using the Flatpak, and I think it was my changes to the global defaults which brought up this issue.

I was able to get it working by:

• Disabling GPU Acceleration
  OR
• Disabling Wayland (Forcing XWayland)

It seems like the issue in the original post (empty window with no error) might be an Nvidia + Wayland + Hardware Acceleration bug.

[mnoomnoo]

Workaround!

After getting frustrated, I (successfully) tried to debug the issue some more. I'm using the Flatpak, and I think it was my changes to the global defaults which brought up this issue.

I was able to get it working by:

* Disabling GPU Acceleration
  OR

* Disabling Wayland (Forcing XWayland)

It seems like the issue in the original post (empty window with no error) might be an Nvidia + Wayland + Hardware Acceleration bug.

How did you disable GPU acceleration? I searched the docs and the code base but didn't see any command line options for disabling acceleration.

[Zindswini]

@mnoomnoo I set the "GPU acceleration" toggle in Flatseal to off.

I'm not sure how to do the same for a non-Flatpak installation, but there is likely a wrapper or environment variable you can use to force QT to use software rendering.

I would recommend seeing if you can get it working like I did using Flatpak just so we can confirm the behavior.

Maybe a dev or someone with QT experience could chime in?

[mnoomnoo]

@mnoomnoo I set the "GPU acceleration" toggle in Flatseal to off.

I'm not sure how to do the same for a non-Flatpak installation, but there is likely a wrapper or environment variable you can use to force QT to use software rendering.

I would recommend seeing if you can get it working like I did using Flatpak just so we can confirm the behavior.

Maybe a dev or someone with QT experience could chime in?

I'll try Flatseal with the Flatpak version to verify if that option works on my system. I did manage to build the master-branch version of the proton-bridge and its window is rendered without issues. I did edit the DeployLinux.cmake file to make it build. I changed the install(DIRECTORY "${QT_DIR}/qml" "${QT_DIR}/plugins" DESTINATION "${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}") to : install(DIRECTORY "${QT_INSTALL_QML}" "${QT_INSTALL_PLUGINS}" DESTINATION "${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}")
and changed the libicui18n, libicuuc, and libicudata to version 74 (what's current on my Fedora41 system)

[marcdus]

@Zindswini's suggestion of disabling GPU acceleration worked for me when using the unofficial flatpak version.

For KDE, you can change the permissions without flatseal. In Settings under Application Permissions, Flatpak Permissions I unticked the box Direct graphic rendering of the proton bridge app.

Not knowing anything about packaging on linux; would support for just a Flatpak version not be simpler for the devs anyhow? The unoffical one works perfectly, bar the missing wayland application icon (the more important tray icon renders as expected).