openvpn3-indicator shows no logs or errors when there is no tray icon support in GNOME

[kr-cbrown]

RHEL 9.4
OpenVPN 3 v3.10.1

Installed app via copr repository, using default RHEL gnome.
Trying to run the app, including using verbose or debug mode, produces no output.

I can see the process running, but there is no visual indicator or way to interact with it.

[dsommers]

Just a note to @grzegorz-gutowski, OpenVPN 3 v3.10.1 is the Core library version which is only shipped in OpenVPN 3 Linux v23

My gut feeling is that there's a tray-icon support extension missing in the desktop environment. Maybe try to add such an extension like the "Tray Icons: Reloaded" or similar ones (there are more of them). Since you're on RHEL, I suspect you're using a GNOME desktop.

[kr-cbrown]

Actually, I found another extension that was disabled for some reason: "AppIndicator and KStatusNotifierItem Support"
When I re-enabled it, the indicator appeared.
This extension is built-in to RHEL, so it should work if it stays enabled.

[grzegorz-gutowski]

I think it would be good to somehow detect this situation and report it to user.

[jerome-fosse]

Hello I have the same issue here.
I'm using arch linux with Gnome 47 and openvpn3 v23. I Installed openvpn3 and openvpn3-indicator from AUR repository.
When I launch openvpn3-indicator, the icon does not appear in the status bar but when I start my session with the terminal, I have the notifications so openvpn3 seems to run and I can see the process.
I can't see any error when I start openvpn3 from the terminal with -d or the -v flag and I have other applications showing icons in the status bar like slack or HP Printer Manager.
Any idea ?

[jerome-fosse]

All right. I should have read carefully what @kr-cbrown wrote. I installed the "AppIndicator and KStatusNotifierItem Support" extension and activated it and now I have the icon. Before this, I was using the "Status Icons" extension which is part of the gnome-shell-extension project. Both extensions serve the same purpose, but there is something different between the two. I don't know what. I suggest you take a look because "Status Icons" is an "official" Gnome extension and is installed by default. It might be a good idea to have "Status Icons" supported. Thanks

[grzegorz-gutowski]

OK. I did some digging, and it seems that trying to reliably fix this mess is too much for me (and way beyond scope of this project).
If anybody finds some other project that attempts that, I would be happy to use it.
I'll still try to find a way to detect if some AppIndicators are running and report if they aren't.

[dsommers]

I haven't had time digging into all details ... but perhaps there are some clues to be extracted from the chrome-gnome-shell package? That provides the glue between the GNOME Shell and the GNOME browser extensions to install, list and manage extensions via a browser. That "glue code" is mostly Python code.

https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-browser-connector