Update: They have now fixed it.
In January 2017 it will be 4 years since a bug report was opened about Steam not closing to the tray on Linux. On Windows it works perfectly, but on Linux it has been left to gather dust like so many other issues.
Essentially, the way Steam is setup is that both the Minimize and Close buttons do the same thing: minimize the application. The close button should close it to the tray/indicator but it just minimizes it instead.
The issue is due to bugs that Valve discovered where the Steam application indicator didn’t work correctly, but indicators have worked really well for a long time now. I use plenty of applications that have them like itch, telegram, discord, dropbox and the list goes on. Steam does have a fully working indicator too, so there’s really no reason for Valve to continue to force the close button to minimize.
Why am I highlighting this now? It’s not really talked about anymore and some of you probably don’t even know you can force the expected behaviour by running Steam like so:
You can also edit shortcuts and so on to do it by default too.
Hopefully that little tidbit will help some of you out who also get annoyed by Steam’s behaviour.
A minor issue I admit, but still annoying.
Hopefully next year, this and many other lingering issues will be fixed. This is typical Valve style though, slow to react to change especially when it comes to Linux. That whole “Valve Time” thing really stinks sometimes.
I love Steam and what Valve have done for us, I just want a little more attention to the real niggling issues like this. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
In January 2017 it will be 4 years since a bug report was opened about Steam not closing to the tray on Linux. On Windows it works perfectly, but on Linux it has been left to gather dust like so many other issues.
Essentially, the way Steam is setup is that both the Minimize and Close buttons do the same thing: minimize the application. The close button should close it to the tray/indicator but it just minimizes it instead.
The issue is due to bugs that Valve discovered where the Steam application indicator didn’t work correctly, but indicators have worked really well for a long time now. I use plenty of applications that have them like itch, telegram, discord, dropbox and the list goes on. Steam does have a fully working indicator too, so there’s really no reason for Valve to continue to force the close button to minimize.
Why am I highlighting this now? It’s not really talked about anymore and some of you probably don’t even know you can force the expected behaviour by running Steam like so:
STEAM_FRAME_FORCE_CLOSE=1 steamYou can also edit shortcuts and so on to do it by default too.
Hopefully that little tidbit will help some of you out who also get annoyed by Steam’s behaviour.
A minor issue I admit, but still annoying.
Hopefully next year, this and many other lingering issues will be fixed. This is typical Valve style though, slow to react to change especially when it comes to Linux. That whole “Valve Time” thing really stinks sometimes.
I love Steam and what Valve have done for us, I just want a little more attention to the real niggling issues like this. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Another option that I like on steam is that I have on startup to start steam as silent mode
steam -silent
So no annoying popups like connecting to steam or show up my steam library or steam promotions on my screen :P
Last edited by wolfyrion on 30 Nov 2016 at 2:53 pm UTC
steam -silent
So no annoying popups like connecting to steam or show up my steam library or steam promotions on my screen :P
Last edited by wolfyrion on 30 Nov 2016 at 2:53 pm UTC
2 Likes, Who?
I'm more concerned with the fact that I don't even get a steam tray icon at all in i3-bar.
I still use the workaround and it still behaves as it should (the window just disappears, presumably to a tray icon which doesn't exist). So to get the window back to launch my games I just attempt to launch steam again.
Thankfully it doesn't try to start a second copy of steam, and it just pulls the window up. So I can function without a tray icon and not have to deal with the window just being minimized. But it would be nice to see the steam tray icon again.
I still use the workaround and it still behaves as it should (the window just disappears, presumably to a tray icon which doesn't exist). So to get the window back to launch my games I just attempt to launch steam again.
Thankfully it doesn't try to start a second copy of steam, and it just pulls the window up. So I can function without a tray icon and not have to deal with the window just being minimized. But it would be nice to see the steam tray icon again.
0 Likes
Just work it with
LC_ALL=C steam command from terminal it works like a charm.When you hit X button(close)it minimizes to tray.
To do this as a resident solution,just create a launcher of Steam with this command.
LC_ALL=C steam command from terminal it works like a charm.When you hit X button(close)it minimizes to tray.
To do this as a resident solution,just create a launcher of Steam with this command.
0 Likes
What the close button *should* do is exit Steam completely.
This. I'm on e16, I don't even have a system tray. Always annoyed me that it minimizes Steam instead, and then I have to maximize it again and quit Steam using its menu.
Also, I wish I could disable the annoying console popup to install/update system packages, because what Steam suggests there makes no sense on Debian Sid.
0 Likes
....
So no annoying popups like connecting to steam or show up my steam library or steam promotions on my screen :P
i guess my steam is bugged :D i never get steam promotion popups :D never seen them with native client, but i have seen then under wine.. i thought linux client doesnt have those hehe.. good bug.. i like it
0 Likes
I never even knew this was an issue. I generally hate it when things close to system tray anyways so I always leave things like that minimized when I'm not using it. I was more shocked that Steam has supported Linux for nearly 4 years now, which is amazing.
1 Likes, Who?
Thank for this! I had always wondered about it but never cared to look into it. On my laptop with Arch and Mate I had to create a script file. Will do this with my Arch KDE install after work.
0 Likes
"Closing to tray icon" is actually a bad practice according to desktop design guidelines. "System tray" is a notification area, and not a place for showing running applications. Situation when application is not shown on the task bar (or whatever UI element is used for showing all running applications) and is still running is not correct - it breaks general UI consistency.
There were several articles on this subject.
Last edited by Shmerl on 30 Nov 2016 at 5:33 pm UTC
There were several articles on this subject.
Last edited by Shmerl on 30 Nov 2016 at 5:33 pm UTC
1 Likes, Who?
I'm on Manjaro, mine works properly. :) It must just be an Ubuntu thing?
Same here, it's always gone to SysTray if I hit the X button. Maybe Manjaro already includes the workaround by default?
0 Likes
I'd like to note that I run Mint 18 on both my desktop and laptop, and it behaves differently on the two of them! On one of them, hitting close just minimizes to the taskbar. On the other, hitting close "closes" it to the tray. So I'm not sure anyone can be confident that "Mint" or "Ubuntu" or whatever does a particular behaviour just because it has been their personal experience. It seems more variable and idiosyncratic than that.
When it closes to the tray it's still not really closed; in effect it's just even more minimized. Click the icon and it doesn't launch from scratch, it just pops up, and as has been mentioned if you go to shut down the computer it takes forever as the computer hesitantly shuts Steam down for real.
So I'm not totally happy with even the minimize-to-tray behaviour; call me old fashioned, but when I hit the X on a graphical application it's because I want the bloody thing to shut down.
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 30 Nov 2016 at 6:31 pm UTC
When it closes to the tray it's still not really closed; in effect it's just even more minimized. Click the icon and it doesn't launch from scratch, it just pops up, and as has been mentioned if you go to shut down the computer it takes forever as the computer hesitantly shuts Steam down for real.
So I'm not totally happy with even the minimize-to-tray behaviour; call me old fashioned, but when I hit the X on a graphical application it's because I want the bloody thing to shut down.
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 30 Nov 2016 at 6:31 pm UTC
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psycho_driver 30 Nov 2016
Im confuzled; is the issue here that if you minimise steam you still get the window listed in the panel; but to get it to close that and show in the tray you need to press the close option?No, minimize does minimize it, but the close button also minimizes it, when it should close it to the tray/indicator.
I hadnt even classed this as a bug to be honest; in fact Skype for Linux Alpha has the same functionality, minimise does just that and leaves a "window" listed on thepanel, but with the relevant option selected pressing close will leae just the tray inicator.
Mine works as ajgp describes with compiz as my WM and cairo-dock providing my taskbar.
0 Likes
TheRiddick 30 Nov 2016
Running Manjaro KDE here and pretty sure mine closes to the system tray just fine without any major tweak.
0 Likes
Sorry I just released now, but this simply I don't care. What I care is for example to not have streaming over internet, or the classification of games that they do. Games,/ steamos + linux games/ mac games. I would rather prefer windows games/linux games/mac games/etc...
What if there is a linux exclusive game? It seems that "Games" it's all for windows games. It's confusing.
Last edited by jordicoma on 30 Nov 2016 at 9:46 pm UTC
What if there is a linux exclusive game? It seems that "Games" it's all for windows games. It's confusing.
Last edited by jordicoma on 30 Nov 2016 at 9:46 pm UTC
0 Likes
On my case it works as expected (on Manjaro KDE, I can already see a pattern here). The minimize and the close button does different thing, what I expect them to do. The same than they do on windows.
Last edited by edo on 1 Dec 2016 at 1:04 am UTC
Last edited by edo on 1 Dec 2016 at 1:04 am UTC
0 Likes
Mountain Man 1 Dec 2016
This seems like one of those things that should be so simple to fix -- Linux apps have been able to minimize to the tray without problems for over a decade -- but I guess Valve must have a reason for leaving this feature disabled, though I can't imagine what that reason might be.
At any rate, ever since I switched to Ubuntu MATE and started using Plank, this problem is effectively solved for me. Plank is an OSX inspired program dock where open programs are indicated by a single icon, so the Steam icon sits inconspicuously alongside my other pinned apps.
At any rate, ever since I switched to Ubuntu MATE and started using Plank, this problem is effectively solved for me. Plank is an OSX inspired program dock where open programs are indicated by a single icon, so the Steam icon sits inconspicuously alongside my other pinned apps.
0 Likes
Mountain Man 1 Dec 2016
[/quote]
But while we're on the subject of Steam issues, can we please have working full screen videos within the steam client?Fullscreen videos work fine for me.
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I actually really like the default *intended* (windows) behaviour, which is to close steam while leaving the tray icon and steam running in the background. I use steam a lot to remain in touch with distant friends, and I like to have the notifications and chat to see what they are up to.
When I want to close it, I just do Steam -> quit, which I find pretty intuitive.
The fact that steam stays in the task bar by default is annoying, they did this because they couldn't determine if there was a system tray at all, to avoid leaving steam running in the background.
This. I posted a few days ago to the related bug report on Github
I am still looking for workarounds. I am VERY pissed at cannonical for this, don't even get me started. I will try to summarise here: It turns out that their libappindicator does NOT implement the full appindicator specification, neither does Unity. They just implemented the part relevant to their visual guidelines, stuck a generic and misleading name on their library, and encouraged people to use it. That's how I see it. And they are explicitly REFUSING patches that aim to implement this.
Unity only provides context menu. I will continue to look for workarounds, but I can't promise anything.
When I want to close it, I just do Steam -> quit, which I find pretty intuitive.
The fact that steam stays in the task bar by default is annoying, they did this because they couldn't determine if there was a system tray at all, to avoid leaving steam running in the background.
Closes to tray on Mint 18.
But clicking on the icon doesn't display the window again, it opens the right-click menu and I have to click on Library. Annoying.
This. I posted a few days ago to the related bug report on Github
I am still looking for workarounds. I am VERY pissed at cannonical for this, don't even get me started. I will try to summarise here: It turns out that their libappindicator does NOT implement the full appindicator specification, neither does Unity. They just implemented the part relevant to their visual guidelines, stuck a generic and misleading name on their library, and encouraged people to use it. That's how I see it. And they are explicitly REFUSING patches that aim to implement this.
Unity only provides context menu. I will continue to look for workarounds, but I can't promise anything.
0 Likes
TheRiddick 1 Dec 2016
You must right click on icon and select library under KDE also, so I think that is a common issue.
0 Likes
"Closing to tray icon" is actually a bad practice according to desktop design guidelines. "System tray" is a notification area, and not a place for showing running applications. Situation when application is not shown on the task bar (or whatever UI element is used for showing all running applications) and is still running is not correct - it breaks general UI consistency.
There were several articles on this subject.
I disagree. I like my KAlarm, KMix, KShutdown et al running and showing tray icons without full-fledged windows.
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