signal-desktop on Linux should not open in full screen

[mrshll1001]

Using a supported version?

• I have searched searched open and closed issues for duplicates.
• I am using Signal-Desktop as provided by the Signal team, not a 3rd-party package.

Overall summary

signal-deskop on Linux consistently opens in full screen mode and there does not appear to be a preference toggle to disable this behaviour.

This creates issues and disruption with window management for some workflows, especially where signal-desktop is not open constantly and is re-opened when needed.

In general, I believe that is is preferable for applications not to demand full screen access at all and to leave this to the user to decide whether they want the application to be full screen via their window manager.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open signal-desktop on Linux

Expected result

signal-desktop should not open in full-screen

Actual result

signal-desktop opens in full screen mode, blocking out all of the other windows which the user may be using.

Screenshots

I attach a screencast of the behaviour. In the screencast I open several windows positioned around the screen and then execute signal-desktop, which opens in full screen and masks the rest of the windows.

Signal version

7.46.0

Operating system

Linux (Debian)

Version of Signal on your phone

No response

Link to debug log

No response

[ayumi-signal]

Hi there, apologies this is happening. The app checks for fullscreen state and restores it when relaunching. Based on the video, maybe the app mistakenly thinks it's fullscreen within the little tile.

1. What window manager are you using?
2. As a workaround, you can update the ephemeral config file to set fullscreen to be false. Please check ~/.config/Signal/ephemeral.json.

As a side note, I appreciate the video to help diagnose issues, but want to note it's publicly viewable so you may wish to edit it out. We can also accept this type of debug info at support@signal.org (for example, you could create an issue, then send the video to support and link them to the issue).

[mrshll1001]

Thanks there, I will edit out the video! Also thank you for the workaround, that is very useful!!!

I am using i3 4.22 (2023-01-02) from the Debian (Devuan) repos.