dark mode is missing in transmission-gtk 4.0.1

[BobRock55]

What is the issue?

Updated to ver 4.0.1 (e1c6e1b) and now the dark mode is gone making this app to be the only one in white and hurting my eyes. Can it be set manually or wait for the fix?
Thanks

Which application of Transmission?

None

Which version of Transmission?

4.0.1 (e1c6e1b)

[ckerr]

Which application of Transmission?

None.

Web UI? Qt? Mac? GTK? What desktop are you using?

I don't understand what answers you want if you won't fill out the issue template.

[BobRock55]

Sorry, first time posting... Desktop Linux (Pop!_os ver. 22.04)

[GaryElshaw]

Were you meaning the web client (if so, which browser?), the GTK or Qt client?

[BobRock55]

No browser, stand alone app available at Linux shop repository (guess native Linux interface).

[nevack]

No browser, stand alone app available at Linux shop repository (guess native Linux interface).

Please, provide screenshot of about window.

[BobRock55]

Hope this helps.

[bbhtt]

What theme are you using? And is this Flatpak or from your OS repository? If it is Flatpak (it is built against GTK4) but the flatpaked version of PopOS GTK theme doesn't support GTK4 applications see pop-os/gtk-theme#553. If it is some other theme, make sure it supports GTK4 and has a dark style.

You can 'force' dark theme on it by using the environment variable GTK_THEME=Adwaita:dark or by changing the desktop theme to that in GNOME Tweaks.

[BobRock55]

Thank you for the detailed answer. I had dark mode until update this afternoon.
Changed to Adwaita:dark and is working fine (was Pop:dark before)

[ckerr]

I'm going to convert this to a discussion since it's clearly a real issue users should be able to search for and find discussion on, but it doesn't seem to be a bug in Transmission's code.

[bojan-stojanovic]

I think the problem is that Transmission 4 doesn't inherit global dark theme. If I set environment variable as mentioned before, it is true that Transmission will use dark theme, but it will break look of other gnome apps.

OS: Arch linux - Gnome 43
App: transmission-gtk (from repositories)

[bbhtt]

Yes it doesn't use libadwaita but uses GTK4.

Transmission will use dark theme, but it will break look of other gnome apps.

Set it in the launcher or desktop entry.

[rail01]

I use adw-gtk3 on GNOME 43.3 and Arch Linux using transmission-gtk 4.0.1-2 from the repo and get the same problem. Very annoying.
Opening the app with GTK_THEME=Adwaita:dark makes it look terrible and inconsistent, which is exactly the issue I aimed as fixing with making GTK3 apps look like Libadwaita.

[bbhtt]

That theme is for GTK3 applications only, since Transmission is GTK4 it doesn't get applied to it. Follow https://github.com/lassekongo83/adw-gtk3/blob/main/gtk4.md for a workaround.

It looks mostly ok with a few inconsistencies:

[rail01]

@bbhtt huh, I assumed the inconsistencies come from Transmission still using GTK3. It being GTK4 but not Libadwaita is frankly even worse :/

[vitaly-zdanevich]

No way it can be fixed in Transmission?

[ExecutorElassus]

How would you set the theme in a non-GNOME WM? I'm using fvwm. Setting GTK_THEME in my .bashrc doesn't seem to work for transmission.

[mikedld]

I'm using xsettingsd which works well for both GTK 3 and 4.

[kanehekili]

Having a similar problem with TransmissionQt on XFCE. The theme defines a GTK2 theme. Using Qt5-styleplugins. Environment set to

• QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME=gtk2
• QT_STYLE_OVERRIDE=gtk2

If TransmissionQT looses focus (GTK3 backdrop behaviour), the combo boxes look like this:

The bars turned from blue to green (which I don't mind -probably correct) but the combo boxes are broken. Other QT Apps on this system display them right.

System is a Manjaro 23.0.0 UltimaThule, Kernel is x86_64 Linux 6.1.31-2-MANJARO.

Note that the combo boxes are displayed correctly, if the app has the focus. It is only if they **don't ** have it. Checked with my theme (https://www.gnome-look.org/p/1424967/) as well as Adwaita-dark

[Derecho]

I've noticed the same issue of Transmission GTK suddenly not setting dark mode anymore after having had it in a previous version. As I don't run gnome nor do I have a replacement for handling xsettings, I was using ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini to set gtk-application-prefer-dark-theme = true.

From this topic I gather that Transmission is now built against gtk 4.0 rather than 3.0, so this file is no longer read and applied. The setting however is still valid in gtk 4.0: https://docs.gtk.org/gtk4/property.Settings.gtk-application-prefer-dark-theme.html

It suffices (for me) to simply create a ~/.config/gtk-4.0/settings.ini and fill it with the very same contents that I used for gtk3. (I created the dir and copied the file). Restarting Transmission made it show up dark again, as I was previously used to, resolving this issue.

[ExecutorElassus]

Derecho, can you post the content of your settings.ini file? I copied mine over from the gtk-3.0 directory, but don't see any change in transmission's theme.

[Derecho]

It's no more than this really:

[Settings]
gtk-application-prefer-dark-theme = true

[kanehekili]

Well, it's dark now, but searchbar looks like this:

[mathiascode]

This could be resolved by implementing the Freedesktop color-scheme preference. Example implementations:
https://github.com/nicotine-plus/nicotine-plus/blob/24aa29a7aff16cfc1afd346de49accd500eb3dc9/pynicotine/gtkgui/widgets/theme.py#L47-L94
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/evolution/-/blob/master/src/e-util/e-color-scheme-watcher.c

Alternatively, you can use libadwaita, which supports this out of the box. It's probably not the direction Transmission wants to go in, but you could make libadwaita optional and only enable it when using GNOME.

[kanehekili]

Update - without remembering to have changed anything, Transmission-qt displays correctly with qt5ct set to qtk2 and/or setting QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME=gtk2. Issue should be closed.

[AuditeMarlow]

Is this feature available for the Windows builds as well?

[kanehekili]

Nah, my XFCE desktop used GTK3/4 by default, your Windoze needs to import the QT6 libraries. Completely different setup. So there is no "translation from GTK to QT theme" in your environment.

[AuditeMarlow]

I more or less meant to ask if dark mode is on Windows builds at all?

[mikedld]

This was discussed a number of times in issues, most recently in #6469.

[Together34]

Setting "Legacy applications" to "Adwaita-Dark" in Gnome Tweaks has solved the issue in an acceptable manner for me, without causing any surprises so far in other apps.

• Ubtuntu 23.10
• GNOME Shell 45.2

Not sure what other info might be useful.

[GaryElshaw]

Please mask or delete any images containing copyrighted material.

[Together34]

Aye sir!

I hope this is acceptable, will fix in completely "safe way", if still poses risks/problems.

[haevalencia]

Hello, I recently installed fedora workstation 40 vanilla and transmission is the only app I use that does not change to dark mode automatically. From the things posted in this discussion, I used the gnome-tweak option of using adwaita-dark in legacy applications, but that breaks other apps by not changing the theme automatically. Could you describe the method to use libadwaita?
As a user I wouldn't expect much attention to something that only "apparently" is a gnome thing to work by default, but an integration option in the app's preferences would be appreciated to be able to handle it easily. Greetings.