[KDE] FreeFileSync interface mystery

[Tom_ZeCat]

I've used a backup/file copy utility named FreeFileSync, which I recommend. However, with the latest version, I've encountered a mystery with its interface. I don't feel like I desperately need to change it, but I would like to understand it. Up through version 11.5, I always manually installed it. I would just download its archive file and extract it to the hard drive in a directory named "manualinstalls", then put its icon manually into Kubuntu's "edit applications" thing. Once it was in there, I would also send its icon to the panel for easy quick access, since I use it all the time. Here's how version 11.5 looks on my Dell desktop PC:


If I'm not mistaken, that's the regular KDE interface for an app, right?

So then I decided to upgrade to the latest version, version 11.9. Looks like they've changed their archived file to include some kind of installer. No biggie, but I couldn't get it to work. Instead of troubleshooting that installer, I elected to install version 11.9 via Flatpak, a system I've had good luck with when installing other applications. The install went fine, but the interface now looks different:



As you can see, the buttons are now more boxy, more like an old-style Windows 2000 install. This screen shot is from choosing it via the K/start button and choosing the app. If I choose it from the panel widget, it's the same:



Now, here's the strange thing. If I run FreeFileSync from the desktop icon, it's back to the interface that we saw in version 11.5:



Of course, this isn't a disaster or anything. I won't die if I run it one way and get the more boxy interface, and it runs fine either way. Plus, if I really preferred the more flat and slightly more modern interface, I could always just run it from the desktop icon.

My main purpose of posting this is to understand why. Why does FreeFileSync's interface change depending on how I run it? Also, am I correct that the more flat-looking interface is the KDE one while the more boxy one is GTK? Or is the difference from something else?

In System Settings ==> Application Style, I've chosen "Breeze." In System Settings ==> Window Decorations, I've chosen air-oxygen, which I believe is a downloaded one if I remember right. It's a version of Oxygen that includes the "always keep above" choice built-in. Picked that one after I did my install.

Like I say, the boxy interface isn't any kind of deal breaker. I'm just seeking to understand what's going on. If anyone knows, I would be glad to hear from you. Thanks.

[claydoh]

Flatpaks are self-contained , sandboxed binaries including any UI interface libraries they might need, as opposed to those provided by the particular OS/desktop.
The flatpak does not seem to be using the correct Gtk theme, or rather is not using the one you are using, likely the KDE-friendly Breeze-gtk one.

You probably need to manually install the flatpak for the theme:

flatpak install org.gtk.Gtk3theme.Breeze

BUT (now that I have had my morning mug of Pepsi Zero Cherry):

Now as to why one icon launching it looks different form another my first guess is that you actually have two different instances installed, one the flatpak, the other a 'normal' one. Perhaps the installer for the newer version actually worked?
or, the 'working' icon is running the flatpak using whatever command-line foo is needed to use your system Gtk3 theme. You should be able to look at this from right-clicking on each icon and comparing things.
I'd say ditch the panel icon, and re-add it from the working menu item or dragging the desktop icon to it, and see if a new one works.


More boring details:https://docs.flatpak.org/en/latest/d...n.html#theming
Essentially, the system should normally detect things and set up the correct theme flatpak when an application is installed

[Tom_ZeCat]

Flatpaks are self-contained , sandboxed binaries including any UI interface libraries they might need, as opposed to those provided by the particular OS/desktop.
The flatpak does not seem to be using the correct Gtk theme, or rather is not using the one you are using, likely the KDE-friendly Breeze-gtk one.

You probably need to manually install the flatpak for the theme:

flatpak install org.gtk.Gtk3theme.Breeze

BUT (now that I have had my morning mug of Pepsi Zero Cherry):

Now as to why one icon launching it looks different form another my first guess is that you actually have two different instances installed, one the flatpak, the other a 'normal' one. Perhaps the installer for the newer version actually worked?
or, the 'working' icon is running the flatpak using whatever command-line foo is needed to use your system Gtk3 theme. You should be able to look at this from right-clicking on each icon and comparing things.
I'd say ditch the panel icon, and re-add it from the working menu item or dragging the desktop icon to it, and see if a new one works.

More boring details:https://docs.flatpak.org/en/latest/d...n.html#theming
Essentially, the system should normally detect things and set up the correct theme flatpak when an application is installed

Thanks for your help. Turns out you're exactly right. There are two installs of FreeFileSync. The install from their new installer thing actually did work. I thought it didn't because it seemed to time out in the konsole. But what it really did is to fully install it and put an icon on the desktop, but not in the K-menu system.

It's interesting. The regular install did the command run as follows:

"/opt/FreeFileSync/FreeFileSync" %F

The Flatpak one did it like this:

/usr/bin/flatpak run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=FreeFileSync --file-forwarding org.freefilesync.FreeFileSync @@ %F @@

Look how much more complicated the Flatpak one is! But they both work.

I tried your command to install Breeze into the Flatpak system, but it refuses, saying that Breeze is already there. No big deal. I decided to go with the regular install as my main one. I just manually edited the icon into the K-menu system. Then I used that one to replace the system tray icon. I'll go with this install since I slightly prefer the interface. However, I am keeping the Flatpak install at least for now just to see how they both do. One minor disadvantage to the old manual install way I used to do it was that I had to keep manually downloading and extracting it into my manual install area. Not a huge deal. Now that FreeFileSync has you download it with an installer, it will be interesting to see if it now auto updates with the Discover update system.

I'm pretty sure the Flatpak install will auto update with Discover. If it does it, and the other one doesn't, that might be reason enough to just to with the Flatpak one instead. I could probably figure out how to get Breeze to work into its interface -- or just live with the one it has. It works, after all. I'm not super anal about making sure all my applications have perfect KDE interfaces. I run a few Java-based apps that have their own funky (and kind of ugly) interfaces. I live with it because they do what I want.

So I'm hanging onto both installs at least for now. I've made it so I can only run the Flatpak one from the K-menu system, and I've renamed it FreeFileSync/Flatpak. I'm not hurting for hard drive space, and I don't even keep my work files on the PC. They're on external media. So we'll see what happens. It will be interesting to see what goes down when FreeFileSync comes out with their next version. I'm almost certain the Flatpak install will auto-update, and I think the regular one MIGHT, but I'm not certain.

I really appreciate your help. It's cool that there are other people nerdy enough to be interested in this stuff like I am.