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Add Wayland-compatible active workspace detection - #9

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seb4stien merged 13 commits into
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feat/native-wayland
Sep 8, 2026
Merged

Add Wayland-compatible active workspace detection#9
seb4stien merged 13 commits into
mainfrom
feat/native-wayland

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@seb4stien seb4stien commented Sep 2, 2026

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Summary

et.workspaces.get_active_workspace_index() shelled out to wmctrl, which relies on the X11 EWMH window-manager protocol and no longer reliably reports the active workspace under GNOME's Wayland session (the default since Ubuntu 26.04).

There's no safe built-in D-Bus API for this on stock GNOME Shell:

  • org.gnome.Shell.Eval can run arbitrary JS but is gated by unsafe_mode, off by default.
  • org.gnome.Shell.Introspect.GetWindows exposes per-window info but no workspace index field.
  • Third-party window-based extensions (e.g. "Window Calls") can only infer the active workspace from a focused window, which fails for empty workspaces — a normal state for et's task workspaces.

What changed

  • New companion GNOME Shell extension, gnome-extension/et@seb4stien.github.com/, exposing GetActiveWorkspaceIndex() over D-Bus (/org/gnome/Shell/Extensions/Et), backed by global.workspace_manager — gives parity with wmctrl -d, including on empty workspaces. Intentionally generic so it can later absorb Tracker's time-tracking role too.
  • scripts/install-gnome-shell-extension.sh symlinks + enables the extension; wired into just install-requirements. Also added the standard [private] default Justfile recipe.
  • src/et/workspaces.py: detects the session type (XDG_SESSION_TYPE/WAYLAND_DISPLAY) and dispatches get_active_workspace_index() to the new D-Bus call on Wayland, keeping the existing wmctrl -d path unchanged on X11.
  • switch_to_workspace/move_active_window_to_workspace are intentionally left on wmctrl for now (still X11-only; noted as a follow-up).
  • README/CHANGELOG updated with the new Wayland requirement and rationale.
  • Unit tests for session detection and both dispatch/error paths; integration test simulating a Wayland session.

Testing

  • uv run pytest — 443 passed
  • uv run ruff check . — clean
  • uv run mypy src — clean
  • Attempted live verification against a real running GNOME Shell 46.3.1/Wayland session in the dev sandbox; confirmed Eval is disabled as expected, but the sandbox's org.gnome.Shell.Extensions D-Bus service isn't wired to the live compositor there, so full end-to-end confirmation needs a real desktop session (log out/in after running the install script).

Co-authored-by: Copilot 223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com

seb4stien and others added 13 commits September 2, 2026 18:48
@seb4stien
Add Wayland-compatible active workspace detection
86bca57 
wmctrl relies on the X11 EWMH window-manager protocol and no longer
reliably reports the active workspace under GNOME's Wayland session
(the default since Ubuntu 26.04). There is no safe built-in D-Bus API
for this: org.gnome.Shell.Eval is gated by unsafe_mode (off by
default), and org.gnome.Shell.Introspect.GetWindows exposes no
workspace field, while third-party window-based extensions can't
detect an empty active workspace.

Ship a small companion GNOME Shell extension
(gnome-extension/et@seb4stien.github.com) that exposes
GetActiveWorkspaceIndex() over D-Bus, backed by
global.workspace_manager, giving parity with `wmctrl -d` including on
empty workspaces. It's intentionally generic so it can later absorb
Tracker's time-tracking role too.

- scripts/install-gnome-shell-extension.sh symlinks and enables the
  extension; wired into `just install-requirements`. Also add the
  standard `[private] default` Justfile recipe.
- workspaces.py: detect the session type (XDG_SESSION_TYPE /
  WAYLAND_DISPLAY) and dispatch get_active_workspace_index() to the new
  D-Bus call on Wayland, keeping the existing wmctrl -d path on X11.
  switch_to_workspace/move_active_window_to_workspace are unchanged
  (still wmctrl-only; follow-up noted in the plan).
- Update README/CHANGELOG with the new requirement.
- Add unit tests for session detection and both dispatch/error paths,
  and an integration test simulating a Wayland session.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
@seb4stien
Fix install script failing on first-time extension enable
93aa879 
A running GNOME Shell only scans
~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions for new UUIDs at startup, so
`gnome-extensions enable` (which talks to the live shell process)
fails with "Extension ... does not exist" for a brand-new extension
until the shell restarts/relogs in — even though the directory and
metadata.json are perfectly valid. Confirmed this against a live
GNOME Shell 46.3.1/Wayland session: already-known extensions (e.g.
Tracker) resolve fine via the same D-Bus call, but ours didn't until
after being registered as enabled directly.

scripts/install-gnome-shell-extension.sh now falls back to writing
the same `org.gnome.shell enabled-extensions` gsettings key `enable`
would set when the live call fails, so the extension starts enabled
the next time GNOME Shell (re)loads, and always exits 0 with a clear
next-step message instead of aborting hard on a misleading error.
Idempotent (no duplicate UUID) whichever path is taken.

Also clarifies this behavior in the README.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
@seb4stien
Copy gnome-shell extension by default instead of symlinking
c6491e4 
Symlinking races with GNOME Shell's one-time startup scan of the
extensions directory: if the checkout is re-provisioned on a timeline
independent of the GNOME session, a symlink whose target doesn't yet
exist at scan time gets silently skipped until an unrelated restart.
Copying avoids the race; --dev/--symlink opts back in for iterating
on extension.js. Also distinguish "never scanned" from "scanned but
errored" via a GetExtensionInfo D-Bus query.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
@seb4stien
Add extension-owned workspace timers
984ea27 
Replace the legacy tracker integration with persistent GNOME Shell counters, display preferences, isolated manual testing, and automated GNOME 46/50 coverage.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
@seb4stien
Audit and harden project behavior
15288f1 
Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
@seb4stien
Bump version to 1.0.0-rc.1
f2607de 
Prepare feat/native-wayland as a release candidate for v1.0.0: retitle
the CHANGELOG's Unreleased section to [1.0.0-rc.1] and bump
pyproject.toml/uv.lock accordingly.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
@seb4stien
test: mock save_config in task-failure tests to avoid clobbering real…
d03f312 
… config

test_create_task_workspace_wraps_extension_error and
test_complete_task_wraps_extension_error_freeing_slot exercised failure
paths that call the real et.task.save_config before the mocked extension
call raises. Without ET_CONFIG_DIR overridden, this wrote fake test data
over the user's real ~/.config/et/config.yaml. Add the missing
@patch("et.task.save_config") to both tests.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
@seb4stien
Remove uncessary message
3236497
@seb4stien
Add et config wizard, restructure docs, and rewrite Getting started
09572df 
- Add "et config" interactive wizard to populate ~/.config/et/config.yaml
  (Jira block + workspaces add/edit/remove loop, with credential check
  and retry/keep/discard on failure). New workspace entries default to
  static type and skip the Jira ref prompt when static.
- Rename jira._check_credentials to public check_credentials for reuse.
- Split README.md: extract developer workflow into CONTRIBUTING.md and
  design/architecture rationale into docs/ARCHITECTURE.md.
- Add a "Getting started" section to README with a step-by-step
  onboarding flow using explicit apt install commands (instead of
  `just install-requirements`, which also pulls in dev/test tooling),
  installing uv via its official installer, running the extension
  install script directly, and a final `uv tool install .` step.
- Remove wmctrl/X11 references from README (support to be deprecated).

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
@seb4stien
Trim verbose Tasks/Git README sections to example lists
e39e209 
Replace the long per-command prose paragraphs under "Tasks" and "Git"
with a single intro line plus the already-informative example command
list (comments document what each does), pointing to --help for full
details. Cuts README.md from 449 to 317 lines with no loss of substance,
since --help already documents each subcommand in full.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
@seb4stien
Further trim README duplication
294a757 
Remove the now-redundant standalone "Installation"/"Usage" sections
(covered by "Getting started"), the extension --dev/--symlink aside
(covered in CONTRIBUTING.md/ARCHITECTURE.md), and shorten the
Configuration/Workspaces intros, since `et config`/`et --help`/`et ws
--help` already document that ground. Rename subsection headers for
consistency ("Workspaces features", "Jira features", "Git features").

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
@seb4stien
Add section title
4acb9f8
@seb4stien
Fix shellcheck SC2329 CI failure in cleanup() traps
a436926 
Newer shellcheck versions (as used by CI, 0.11.0) added SC2329
("function is never invoked") as a separate check from SC2317. The
existing `# shellcheck disable=SC2317` comments on the `cleanup()`
functions invoked only via `trap cleanup EXIT` no longer suffice, so
CI's "Verify scripts" step started failing. Add SC2329 to the same
disable directives.

Verified with shellcheck 0.11.0 (matching CI): scripts/*.sh
scripts/lib/*.sh now pass with exit code 0.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
@seb4stien
seb4stien merged commit 503f462 into main Sep 8, 2026
3 checks passed
@seb4stien
seb4stien deleted the feat/native-wayland branch September 8, 2026 14:21
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