Bug 491272 - Write Daemon/Local System Message Service does not show notifications sent using wall(1) or write(1)
Summary: Write Daemon/Local System Message Service does not show notifications sent us...
Status: CONFIRMED
Alias: None
Product: kwrited
Classification: Frameworks and Libraries
Component: general (show other bugs)
Version: 5.27.11
Platform: Debian testing Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Plasma Bugs List
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2024-08-04 18:29 UTC by Colin S
Modified: 2024-08-07 18:04 UTC (History)
5 users (show)

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Latest Commit:
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Description Colin S 2024-08-04 18:29:35 UTC
SUMMARY
Messages sent with wall(1) or write(1) never appear in the desktop environment (nor in Konsole sessions, for that matter, so this may not just be a Write Daemon issue).

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Open Konsole
2. Type `echo 'Hello' |wall`

OBSERVED RESULT
Nothing happens.

EXPECTED RESULT
A desktop notification should appear that says 'Hello'. Otherwise, if Write Daemon cannot initialise successfully for some reason, it should probably detect that and report it.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Operating System: Debian GNU/Linux 12
KDE Plasma Version: 5.27.11
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.115.0
Qt Version: 5.15.13
Kernel Version: 6.9.10-amd64 (64-bit)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
I have confirmed that the Write Daemon service is enabled and running in Background Services, and that the Local System Message Service in Notifications is configured to “Show a message in a popup” for “The daemon received a new message sent with wall(1) or write(1)” event.

Messages sent with wall/write *do* appear as expected in a plain tty (e.g. Ctrl+Alt+F5). Additionally, when the system shuts down, the wall/write messages are also visible in that tty.

kwrited is built and packaged as a module rather than as an executable in Debian. I saw a comment in the CMakeLists.txt file that suggests that libutempter needs to be available; that package (libutempter0) was not installed on my system, so I installed it and restarted the Write Daemon service, and still did not receive notifications.

There are no errors or warnings that I can see in logs that might suggest why this is not working.

Running `w` shows one login with tty1 for `/usr/bin/startplasma-wayland`, and one login with no tty for `/usr/lib/systemd/systemd --user`. There are never additional logins for Konsole terminals and nothing about kwrited, but I do not know if this is expected or not.

I am running KWin using Wayland.
Comment 1 Nate Graham 2024-08-05 21:27:58 UTC
Can reproduce with current git master.

I have a vague, indistinct memory that this was removed in the recent past during a cleanup on the assumption that it was a niche feature nobody would miss. I can't find the commit that did it, though. CCing some people who might have better memory than me.

Or maybe I'm wrong and it just broke!
Comment 2 David Redondo 2024-08-06 07:43:55 UTC
No this was certainly brainstormed but it's still there and released with plasma 6 
https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwrited

It also still works for me on plasma 6
Comment 3 Nate Graham 2024-08-06 19:29:24 UTC
huh, it's broken for me. How to debug this?
Comment 4 Nate Graham 2024-08-06 19:29:47 UTC
kwrited is listed as a loaded kded module
Comment 5 David Redondo 2024-08-07 07:02:47 UTC
I have no clue, I just wrote "wall hello" in konsole and got the notification. I would start by adding  qdebugs?
Comment 6 David Redondo 2024-08-07 07:04:04 UTC
Worth a shot, try removing 

    "X-KDE-Kded-load-on-demand": true

from the json metadata.
Comment 7 Nate Graham 2024-08-07 18:04:48 UTC
Well that did something. Now `echo 'Hello' |wall` produces a horrible beeping sound, whereas previously it did nothing.