Dropbox will no longer support systray icon from 2025/05/27

johnraff · 2025-05-01 07:38:52

Some time in late April, Dropbox has been putting up this notification:

(Sorry, it's an image because that popup doesn't support copy/paste.)

It looks as if the traditional system tray icon will stop working on that date. Any BunsenLabs users who are running Dropbox will probably have these options:

1) Switch from tint2 to xfce4-panel, and install xfce4-indicator-plugin. Since xfce4-panel will become default on BunsenLabs Carbon anyway, that might be the path of least resistance.

2) Forget about the tray icon and control Dropbox via the CLI interface. Maybe someone will put in the time to develop a custom systemtray-icon frontend to the CLI.

3) Switch from Dropbox to some other cloud service.

Some reading:
https://help.dropbox.com/installs/dropb … -for-linux
https://help.dropbox.com/installs/syste … ing-system
https://help.dropbox.com/installs/linux … on-Dropbox

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=445201
https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions … o_just_to/
https://joshtronic.com/2025/04/20/dropb … ing-gnome/
https://github.com/linuxmint/linuxmint/issues/783

I expect we'll know more in due course...

EDIT: anyway this looks like an appropriate time to drop the BunsenLabs Dropbox support. Even if we continue to ship the installer script it can be there for advanced users only, and will probably need editing before use.

Last edited by johnraff (2025-05-18 03:10:44)

micko01 · 2025-05-01 10:16:43

The whole status-icon/appindicator/sni/libayatana saga is a mess on linux. IMHO freedesktop needs to take control and apply some sort of standard. The old gtk-status-icon used to work well across DE's but those days are long gone (deprecated in gtk-3.14 IRRC - but still usable with a few hacks in more recent versions of gtk3. I know, I made/maintained one)

JasonMehmel · 2025-05-02 23:38:56

For option one, is there already a good guide for switching over to xfce4-panel?

I see some stuff in the bl-generated autostart as commented-out options that include the xfce4-panel options... is it as simple as just allowing those options and commenting out the tint2 command?

DeepDayze · 2025-05-03 02:57:57

micko01 wrote:

The whole status-icon/appindicator/sni/libayatana saga is a mess on linux. IMHO freedesktop needs to take control and apply some sort of standard. The old gtk-status-icon used to work well across DE's but those days are long gone (deprecated in gtk-3.14 IRRC - but still usable with a few hacks in more recent versions of gtk3. I know, I made/maintained one)

Is it possible to adapt your little app to handle Dropbox icon? This way at least a little longer the DropBox icon can still work...

micko01 · 2025-05-04 08:03:17

DeepDayze wrote:

micko01 wrote:
The whole status-icon/appindicator/sni/libayatana saga is a mess on linux. IMHO freedesktop needs to take control and apply some sort of standard. The old gtk-status-icon used to work well across DE's but those days are long gone (deprecated in gtk-3.14 IRRC - but still usable with a few hacks in more recent versions of gtk3. I know, I made/maintained one)
Is it possible to adapt your little app to handle Dropbox icon? This way at least a little longer the DropBox icon can still work...

Sure, possible, but not a priority of mine. I've never used dropbox and am not really about to start any time soon.

There is yad --notification which with some neat scripting could possibly fill the niche. AFAIK it uses the gtk3 gtk-status-icon api, which is very similar to the gtk2 gtk-status-icon so could even be adapted to older systems.

DeepDayze · 2025-05-05 00:06:09

micko01 wrote:

DeepDayze wrote:
micko01 wrote:
The whole status-icon/appindicator/sni/libayatana saga is a mess on linux. IMHO freedesktop needs to take control and apply some sort of standard. The old gtk-status-icon used to work well across DE's but those days are long gone (deprecated in gtk-3.14 IRRC - but still usable with a few hacks in more recent versions of gtk3. I know, I made/maintained one)
Is it possible to adapt your little app to handle Dropbox icon? This way at least a little longer the DropBox icon can still work...
Sure, possible, but not a priority of mine. I've never used dropbox and am not really about to start any time soon.
There is yad --notification which with some neat scripting could possibly fill the niche. AFAIK it uses the gtk3 gtk-status-icon api, which is very similar to the gtk2 gtk-status-icon so could even be adapted to older systems.

Fair enough and great to know there's a workaround for that.

brontosaurusrex · 2025-05-05 15:09:46

I'am assuming in near future tint2 (executors) is not interesting anymore?
https://github.com/o9000/tint2/blob/mas … d#executor

DeepDayze · 2025-05-05 23:51:13

brontosaurusrex wrote:

I'am assuming in near future tint2 (executors) is not interesting anymore?
https://github.com/o9000/tint2/blob/mas … d#executor

A Tint2 executor should work for this use case, but sadly Tint2 may be falling by the wayside at some point.

Last edited by DeepDayze (2025-05-05 23:52:06)

walter · 2025-05-12 15:35:26

I came to take look also about this. It looks to me the most easy way is to just ignore it. Dropbox starts using autostart script. And as I understand should still run. Only without an icon.

And with the next distro release it should come back.

Not using Dropbox a lot anyway.

I have found this alternative; https://shadow.tech/gb/drive/offers/

Less easy for sharing synchronized directory's with other people. But you get 20gb for free and that is a lot more then Dropbox. And so far I know their Linux GUI client will still work.

manyroads · 2025-05-17 11:58:35

FWIW If you use maestral (a dropbox client) rather than the native dropbox-client yo will obtain faster, lower memory use, dropbox client and a functioning systray icon...

johnraff · 2025-05-18 03:23:13

@manyroads thanks for that hint.

Anyway, this looks like an appropriate time to drop the built-in BunsenLabs Dropbox support. Even if we continue to ship the installer script in bunsen-utilities it can be there for advanced users only, and will almost certainly need editing before use.

DeepDayze · 2025-05-18 16:01:05

johnraff wrote:

@manyroads thanks for that hint.
Anyway, this looks like an appropriate time to drop the built-in BunsenLabs Dropbox support. Even if we continue to ship the installer script in bunsen-utilities it can be there for advanced users only, and will almost certainly need editing before use.

You could drop the Dropbox support and as a bonus get to keep Tint2 around a bit longer.

johnraff · 2025-05-19 04:49:03

^Tint2 will be dropped in Carbon, not because of Dropbox but because of Wayland. We want to keep to a minimum the desktop components where we have to support separate apps for X11 and Wayland. (Of course openbox vs labwc is one such case.)

But tint2 will stay in Boron of course.

DeepDayze · 2025-05-20 00:10:24

johnraff wrote:

^Tint2 will be dropped in Carbon, not because of Dropbox but because of Wayland. We want to keep to a minimum the desktop components where we have to support separate apps for X11 and Wayland. (Of course openbox vs labwc is one such case.)
But tint2 will stay in Boron of course.

Ahh that's right. Forgot that tint2 won't work in Wayland.

JasonMehmel · 2025-05-20 04:34:52

Carbon is going to be working from Trixie, correct? I was trying out Polybar as a tint2 replacement, but the version with systray is only available in Trixie!

JasonMehmel · 2025-05-20 05:06:28

Oh, and I'm not sure if this would be a solution, but while googling for ideas I came across a possible Tint3?

https://jmc-88.github.io/tint3/

johnraff · 2025-05-20 06:39:44

JasonMehmel wrote:

Carbon is going to be working from Trixie, correct?

Carbon is based on Trixie, yes, as Boron is on Bookworm.

johnraff · 2025-05-20 06:45:24

JasonMehmel wrote:

Oh, and I'm not sure if this would be a solution, but while googling for ideas I came across a possible Tint3?
https://jmc-88.github.io/tint3/

Interesting!
We want to use regular Debian packages as far as possible, but tint3 certainly looks worth trying for people who just don't like xfce4-panel. Maybe we could put a build in our carbon-backports repo (although it wouldn't be a backport). Or introduce a carbon-experimental repo?

brontosaurusrex · 2025-05-20 10:55:34

^ It doesn't seem to mention wayland compatibility (tint3 i mean)?

johnraff · 2025-05-21 00:50:55

^ ^^ True, no mention of "wayland" anywhere in the issues, and the last commit was in 2022. Maybe not to hold our breath over this one.

#1 2025-05-01 07:38:52

Dropbox will no longer support systray icon from 2025/05/27

#2 2025-05-01 10:16:43

Re: Dropbox will no longer support systray icon from 2025/05/27

#3 2025-05-02 23:38:56

Re: Dropbox will no longer support systray icon from 2025/05/27

#4 2025-05-03 02:57:57

Re: Dropbox will no longer support systray icon from 2025/05/27

#5 2025-05-04 08:03:17

Re: Dropbox will no longer support systray icon from 2025/05/27

#6 2025-05-05 00:06:09

Re: Dropbox will no longer support systray icon from 2025/05/27

#7 2025-05-05 15:09:46

Re: Dropbox will no longer support systray icon from 2025/05/27

#8 2025-05-05 23:51:13

Re: Dropbox will no longer support systray icon from 2025/05/27

#9 2025-05-12 15:35:26

Re: Dropbox will no longer support systray icon from 2025/05/27

#10 2025-05-17 11:58:35

Re: Dropbox will no longer support systray icon from 2025/05/27

#11 2025-05-18 03:23:13

Re: Dropbox will no longer support systray icon from 2025/05/27

#12 2025-05-18 16:01:05

Re: Dropbox will no longer support systray icon from 2025/05/27

#13 2025-05-19 04:49:03

Re: Dropbox will no longer support systray icon from 2025/05/27

#14 2025-05-20 00:10:24

Re: Dropbox will no longer support systray icon from 2025/05/27

#15 2025-05-20 04:34:52

Re: Dropbox will no longer support systray icon from 2025/05/27

#16 2025-05-20 05:06:28

Re: Dropbox will no longer support systray icon from 2025/05/27

#17 2025-05-20 06:39:44

Re: Dropbox will no longer support systray icon from 2025/05/27

#18 2025-05-20 06:45:24

Re: Dropbox will no longer support systray icon from 2025/05/27

#19 2025-05-20 10:55:34

Re: Dropbox will no longer support systray icon from 2025/05/27

#20 2025-05-21 00:50:55

Re: Dropbox will no longer support systray icon from 2025/05/27

Board footer