Feature #11205

Try using KeePassX without system tray icons

Added by sajolida 2016-03-09 09:59:50 . Updated 2018-01-12 11:22:36 .

Status:
Resolved
Priority:
Normal
Assignee:
Category:
Target version:
Tails_3.5
Start date:
2016-03-09
Due date:
% Done:

20%

Feature Branch:
Type of work:
Test
Blueprint:

Starter:
Affected tool:
Password Manager
Deliverable for:

Description

The system tray icon of KeePassX can be disabled from Extras → Settings… → Show system tray icon. Since topIcons are giving us a hard time (Bug #10576) let’s try without the system tray icon. Until now I was relying on the system tray icon a lot sometimes to perform autotype in pinentry. Let’s see how it goes without it.

Subtasks

Related issues

Blocks Tails - Bug #12062: Replace KeePassX status icon with a GNOME Shell extension Rejected 2016-12-22
Blocks Tails - Feature #11934: Have org.Tails.OpenPGPApplet send signals when the type of what's in the clipboard changes Confirmed 2016-11-16

History

#1 Updated by segfault 2016-03-09 23:12:49

I tried it for the day and must say I didn’t like it. I always have many windows open, so it takes a second or two to find the minimized KeePassX. GNOME shell classic doesn’t allow reordering the taskbar, so I can’t just move it to the left. Also, since I have many windows open, I like it that KeePassX doesn’t use any of my precious taskbar space with the “Minimize to tray instead of taskbar” option.

#2 Updated by sajolida 2016-03-11 12:32:02

  • Status changed from Confirmed to Resolved
  • Assignee deleted (sajolida)

Thanks for the feedback! I tried it as well and didn’t find it that annoying. But indeed all the points that you are raising are valid.

The conclusion of this ticket is then:

“It works but it’s more comfortable with the tray icon.”

#3 Updated by intrigeri 2016-08-28 02:37:41

I’ve just been demo’ed by anonym that for efficient KeePassX usage, nothing beats a global keyboard shortcut. And then we disposing with the systray icon harms this use case less.

#4 Updated by intrigeri 2017-02-15 09:44:06

intrigeri wrote:
> I’ve just been demo’ed by anonym that for efficient KeePassX usage, nothing beats a global keyboard shortcut. And then we disposing with the systray icon harms this use case less.

volenta replied elsewhere: “This doesn’t work for pasting passphrases into pinentry, as said in Feature #11205”. I don’t understand what you’re referring to: on this ticket I see info about “pinentry with the systray icon” (explicitly), “pinentry without the systray icon” (implicitly), but nothing about the global keyboard shortcut vs. pinentry. Can you please clarify?

#5 Updated by volenta 2017-02-20 15:04:19

ark, I’m not sure it is very interesting to continue talking about as this ticket is closed.

But to answer your question, I was referring to that sentence you quote, because I thought you said “hey who cares of the removal of keepassx’ systray icon, there is that global keyboard shortcut that fixes all issues”. But I realise I was wrong.

Anyway, I don’t think I have much more to say, except that I have been using Keepassx in Tails for 3 days without the systray icon and it’s actually not that bad. Only thing is “finding the minimized keepassx” but it’s ok to loose 1 sec for me (but yeah, the window disappears and come back on the right of the bar after every autocompletion so I got confused a few times!).

Oh, also, I use the “virtual screen”, or whatever they are called, a lot, and when keepassx is in another window and pinenty shows up, I’m stuck to press “cancel”, find the keepassx window, move it back to the same screen where icedove is, and open the email again. Solution : tell keepassx window to be on every screen.

#6 Updated by intrigeri 2017-03-20 14:33:50

  • Status changed from Resolved to In Progress
  • Assignee set to sajolida
  • Target version set to Tails_3.0
  • % Done changed from 0 to 20
  • QA Check set to Info Needed
  • Affected tool set to Password Manager

I’ve just noticed that on 3.0~beta3, the systray icon is disabled by default (that’s the upstream config and we never forked it for KeePassX 2.x). Interestingly, nobody complained so far, so either they got used to this new behavior, or they found new ways to optimize their workflow, or they made their own persistent keepassx2.ini that customized this setting and didn’t bother requesting it being the default. In any case, this makes me doubt this topic is as touchy as I initially thought: everyone who’s been using 3.0~betaN seems to be able to live with the lack of a systray icon by default.

Anyway, I’ve just checked this again and I could identify two main cases:

  • users with a light usage of KeePassX: if the systray icon is not displayed by default, they should not complain too much about losing 1-2 seconds to find the KeePassX window (it’s no different than the UX we provide to switch to any other application)
  • users with a heavy usage of KeePassX (the people who have commented on this ticket so far are obviously in this category): it’s obvious that these people care a lot about efficiency, and don’t want to waste any time when they need info from KeePassX. Fair enough, even if the fastest option I have in mind (press the Window key to open the overview, type “ke”, Enter; takes me 0.5 seconds without any training) doesn’t seem to have been taken into account. Well, then, in terms of efficiency, the global keyboard shortcut seems to be a very plausible competing alternative to the systray icon. But so far the only tests that were done were ignoring this option, and were about confirming that having a systray icon is better than having to manually find a possibly minimized KeePassX window.

So, can you folks please evaluate the global keyboard shortcut option? I could enable one (I’ve arbitrary picked Alt-Shift-P) in 3.0~beta3 by adding:

GlobalAutoTypeKey=80
GlobalAutoTypeModifiers=167772160

… to the [General] section of keepassx2.ini. Would it help you evaluate this option, if I added one such shortcut in 3.0~beta4? Any better pick than Alt-Shift-P?

#7 Updated by intrigeri 2017-03-20 15:22:06

  • blocks Bug #12062: Replace KeePassX status icon with a GNOME Shell extension added

#8 Updated by intrigeri 2017-03-20 15:26:07

volenta, can you please clarify what doesn’t work with KeePassX’ global keyboard shortcut vs. pinentry?

#9 Updated by intrigeri 2017-03-20 15:30:56

  • blocks Feature #11934: Have org.Tails.OpenPGPApplet send signals when the type of what's in the clipboard changes added

#10 Updated by intrigeri 2017-05-20 06:37:16

intrigeri wrote:
> I’ve just noticed that on 3.0~beta3, the systray icon is disabled by default (that’s the upstream config and we never forked it for KeePassX 2.x). Interestingly, nobody complained so far, so either they got used to this new behavior, or they found new ways to optimize their workflow, or they made their own persistent keepassx2.ini that customized this setting and didn’t bother requesting it being the default. In any case, this makes me doubt this topic is as touchy as I initially thought: everyone who’s been using 3.0~betaN seems to be able to live with the lack of a systray icon by default.

3.0~beta4 behaves the same, so it’s now been the case since 2 months. If I get no answer to my questions by the end of the month I will keep things as they are in 3.0~betaN and will close this ticket as resolved. But if you prefer it’s still time for me to add a global keyboard shortcut. Just let me know :)

#11 Updated by sajolida 2017-05-22 21:42:12

  • Status changed from In Progress to Resolved
  • Assignee deleted (sajolida)
  • QA Check deleted (Info Needed)

Sorry I missed this ticket so far. I didn’t feel bothered myself because, as long as we have the window list, I can get back to KeePassX as quickly as with the system tray icon.

Regarding the global keyboard shortcut, that would be a solution only for people reaching reading the doc or reaching for help. So I think we can start without any and then, if this issue makes more noise we can maybe add one later (or document how to add one).

#12 Updated by intrigeri 2017-05-23 06:09:38

Thanks!

#13 Updated by mercedes508 2018-01-12 10:47:25

  • Status changed from Resolved to Confirmed
  • Assignee set to sajolida
  • Target version changed from Tails_3.0 to Tails_3.5

Maybe you should check this new ticket (Bug #15156), because not having an icon seems to be inconvenient somehow.

#14 Updated by intrigeri 2018-01-12 11:21:46

  • Status changed from Confirmed to Resolved
  • Assignee deleted (sajolida)

I think this got reopened based on a flawed bug reproduction process, itself caused by lack of doc in our release notes for Tails 2.3 (Bug #15156#note-6).

#15 Updated by intrigeri 2018-01-12 11:22:36

(And even if this was not the case, nobody else complained in 8 months so I don’t think we’re in the “if this issue makes more noise” situation.)