Various Gnome applications no longer have Dark Mode [SOLVED]

DefLeper · 2026-06-20 21:22:57

Hello, I am running Cinnamon 6.6.8 on Arch Linux and most Gnome Apps are launching and functioning perfectly except some no longer have dark mode available, in spite of this being set to the preferred mode by the cinnamon's theme settings.

I'll provide them here:

gnome-text-editor
gnome-calculator
gnome-calendar
gnome-extentions
gnome-help
gnome-characters
gnome-disk-usage
gnome-file-roller
gnome-clocks
gnome-weather
gnome-system-monitor
nautilus

No one has said anything about this so I think this must my fault somehow. The error I'm seeing the most in journalctl is:

 The resource style-hc-dark.css is deprecated and shouldn't be used anymore. Use style.css with media queries instead. 
dbus reply error: [ "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NameHasNoOwner" ] "Could not activate remote peer 'org.freedesktop.portal.Desktop': startup job failed"

...was this something I did? I messed around with themes about two years ago and it went so smoothly I don't remember exactly what I might have changed. I'll provide information promptly to make the issue more clear.

Last edited by DefLeper (2026-06-23 09:07:59)

seth · 2026-06-21 08:22:32

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=314001
You're gonna follow down that rabbit hole to remember to in future please first search before posting
But I promise a pot of gold at the end.

DefLeper · 2026-06-23 05:38:03

Well, thanks Seth. I was genuinely planning to follow the links down to find the solution.

But instead I spent today trying out Plasma, and it has many great features. It was a tough call. I chose to permanently switch and so removed some unused Gnome packages. Then I go back here to begin figuring out the mistake I made through your post and... everything works? Dark mode is back on. Not sure how the solution was achieved but I can't really test it out now.

To anyone with a similar problem, I only say I did this: downloaded plasma-desktop, plasma-nm, plasma-pa, and bluedevil. I then disabled KDEWallet by the config file method that can be easily found online in the the Steamdeck community.

I also removed many non-essential gnome packages. I'll need to learn how to look up my prior pacman commands to figure out which ones may have been the problem. I'll post them here.

I'll still check out the links, since they seem like they can at least help me understand things better.

Last edited by DefLeper (2026-06-23 05:39:25)

DefLeper · 2026-06-23 05:44:56

Here is my relevant /var/log/pacman:

[2026-06-22T01:38:04-0700] [ALPM] removed gnome-weather (50.0-1)
[2026-06-22T01:38:04-0700] [ALPM] removed gnome-text-editor (50.1-1)
[2026-06-22T01:38:04-0700] [ALPM] removed libspelling (0.4.10-1)
[2026-06-22T01:38:04-0700] [ALPM] removed gnome-music (1:49.1-2)
[2026-06-22T01:38:04-0700] [ALPM] removed gnome-contacts (50.0-1)
[2026-06-22T01:38:04-0700] [ALPM] removed folks (0.15.12-1)
[2026-06-22T01:38:04-0700] [ALPM] removed gnome-online-accounts (3.58.1-1)
[2026-06-22T01:38:04-0700] [ALPM] removed gnome-connections (50.0-1)
[2026-06-22T01:38:04-0700] [ALPM] removed spice-gtk (0.42-5)
[2026-06-22T01:38:04-0700] [ALPM] removed usbredir (0.15.0-1)
[2026-06-22T01:38:04-0700] [ALPM] removed spice-protocol (0.14.5-1)
[2026-06-22T01:38:04-0700] [ALPM] removed phodav (3.0-4)
[2026-06-22T01:38:04-0700] [ALPM] removed libcacard (2.8.1-1)
[2026-06-22T01:38:04-0700] [ALPM] removed gtk-vnc (1.5.0-1)

DefLeper · 2026-06-23 06:00:13

Upon closer inspection, I've definitely removed something important. Various things are slightly off. Different fonts, different sizes of certain symbols, my terminal emulator doesn't have a window decoration, the gnome-calendar now had a higher contrast between in its grid but no longer dims prior days/events. So nothing important yet, but its concerning that something bigger will have a problem. I don't think the problem is exactly solved I've found some new one. Definitely still my fault.

Last edited by DefLeper (2026-06-23 06:01:04)

seth · 2026-06-23 06:11:16

The original problem relates to xdg-desktop-portal depending on the graphical-session user target, though that has just been patched out downstream.
Plasma has its own configs and will typically apply them to gtk clients as well.

DefLeper · 2026-06-23 06:20:12

Lol wow that's funny timing, I had no idea!

I still removed something that effecting my gnome-applications and some of my widgets. But this my own mistake, I'm sure its very obvious but I still have to figure it out.

Regardless, it sounds like this is no longer an issue for any use case, I think its best I mark this as "Solved" while I try try to unbork whatever I borked. Also, should I still go down that thread? I don't mind doing so, but would it help me understand the gnome system better?

seth · 2026-06-23 07:04:05

I still removed something that effecting my gnome-applications and some of my widgets.

Do things still look different on cinnamon?
nb. that completely unrelated (except the universe is conspiring against us) there was also a radical change in fontconfig that might lead to undesirable resolution of the generic fonts (sans/serif/monospace)

DefLeper · 2026-06-23 07:28:37

Thanks for always replying seth, I think I'm just really stupid though. I am intending to just suffer through it and find the problem. But to be more clear:

I currently have 2 desktop environments I am switching between, Cinnamon using Gnome, and KDE's plasma wayland

Plasma is perfect but its different and it annoys me. Its widgets have NO PROBLEMS.
I made a grave error in my post as I said Widget, I had already switched back to Cinnamon (to do you right and try the thread hopping to fix the gnome problem) and there the a single DESKLET was having a font issue.

In short, I had already switched back to Cinnamon, and yes things do look different. I don't think its the universe against anyone, I think its just me against me, but I'll figure it out.

Currently, I reinstalled every gnome package I removed and then completely reinstalled gnome just to be safe. Nothing changed. I rebooted and signed into Plasma again, to see if the gnome apps were still having the same problems, and they are. The Plasma Widgets are great, no problems with font.

DefLeper · 2026-06-23 09:07:43

As a lesser update, the Cinnamon Desklet "Disk Space" offers font selection totally independent of the default font, and the user can manually select what exactly they want. It's very nice! I simply missed this because the other desklet I use relies on the default font. There are no problems with the desktop fonts.

I am also unsure why, but all gnome applications have their correct darkmode themes back. They no longer have the same extreme contrast and the calendar application at least is back to dimming all prior days and events. I... don't know why. Enough installing reinstalling and rebooting and it was solved. I still have both gnome and plasma installed currently.

The only mystery remaining left was why only one of my terminal emulators is without a window decorator. This was fixed because the app Terminator offers a setting to "hide window borders" and this includes the window decorator. I don't remember turning this off, and it's strange that it wasn't effecting the plasma desktop environment's display of terminator app, but changing this internal application setting to true fixed this last piece.

Bleh, this is the worst newbie corner post. It's just all my fault at some point. No software problems!

Last edited by DefLeper (2026-06-23 09:10:14)

Arch Linux

#1 2026-06-20 21:22:57

Various Gnome applications no longer have Dark Mode [SOLVED]

#2 2026-06-21 08:22:32

Re: Various Gnome applications no longer have Dark Mode [SOLVED]

#3 2026-06-23 05:38:03

Re: Various Gnome applications no longer have Dark Mode [SOLVED]

#4 2026-06-23 05:44:56

Re: Various Gnome applications no longer have Dark Mode [SOLVED]

#5 2026-06-23 06:00:13

Re: Various Gnome applications no longer have Dark Mode [SOLVED]

#6 2026-06-23 06:11:16

Re: Various Gnome applications no longer have Dark Mode [SOLVED]

#7 2026-06-23 06:20:12

Re: Various Gnome applications no longer have Dark Mode [SOLVED]

#8 2026-06-23 07:04:05

Re: Various Gnome applications no longer have Dark Mode [SOLVED]

#9 2026-06-23 07:28:37

Re: Various Gnome applications no longer have Dark Mode [SOLVED]

#10 2026-06-23 09:07:43

Re: Various Gnome applications no longer have Dark Mode [SOLVED]

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