TiddlyDesktopRS - a new TiddlyWiki Desktop (RS) experience - Alpha / Beta

, , , ,
#101

I tried this with v0.1.58 and no luck I’m afraid. I wonder if it’s either distro- or GPU specific (in my case Fedora 43 KDE and AMD respectively).

Output of vulkaninfo --summary 
==========
VULKANINFO
==========

Vulkan Instance Version: 1.4.328


Instance Extensions: count = 25
-------------------------------
VK_EXT_acquire_drm_display             : extension revision 1
VK_EXT_acquire_xlib_display            : extension revision 1
VK_EXT_debug_report                    : extension revision 10
VK_EXT_debug_utils                     : extension revision 2
VK_EXT_direct_mode_display             : extension revision 1
VK_EXT_display_surface_counter         : extension revision 1
VK_EXT_headless_surface                : extension revision 1
VK_EXT_layer_settings                  : extension revision 2
VK_EXT_surface_maintenance1            : extension revision 1
VK_EXT_swapchain_colorspace            : extension revision 5
VK_KHR_device_group_creation           : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_display                         : extension revision 23
VK_KHR_external_fence_capabilities     : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_external_memory_capabilities    : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_external_semaphore_capabilities : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_get_display_properties2         : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_get_physical_device_properties2 : extension revision 2
VK_KHR_get_surface_capabilities2       : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_portability_enumeration         : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_surface                         : extension revision 25
VK_KHR_surface_protected_capabilities  : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_wayland_surface                 : extension revision 6
VK_KHR_xcb_surface                     : extension revision 6
VK_KHR_xlib_surface                    : extension revision 6
VK_LUNARG_direct_driver_loading        : extension revision 1

Instance Layers: count = 1
--------------------------
VK_LAYER_MESA_device_select Linux device selection layer 1.4.303  version 1

Devices:
========
GPU0:
        apiVersion         = 1.4.318
        driverVersion      = 25.2.7
        vendorID           = 0x1002
        deviceID           = 0x73ef
        deviceType         = PHYSICAL_DEVICE_TYPE_DISCRETE_GPU
        deviceName         = AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT (RADV NAVI23)
        driverID           = DRIVER_ID_MESA_RADV
        driverName         = radv
        driverInfo         = Mesa 25.2.7
        conformanceVersion = 1.4.0.0
        deviceUUID         = 00000000-0800-0000-0000-000000000000
        driverUUID         = 414d442d-4d45-5341-2d44-525600000000
GPU1:
        apiVersion         = 1.4.318
        driverVersion      = 25.2.7
        vendorID           = 0x10005
        deviceID           = 0x0000
        deviceType         = PHYSICAL_DEVICE_TYPE_CPU
        deviceName         = llvmpipe (LLVM 21.1.5, 256 bits)
        driverID           = DRIVER_ID_MESA_LLVMPIPE
        driverName         = llvmpipe
        driverInfo         = Mesa 25.2.7 (LLVM 21.1.5)
        conformanceVersion = 1.3.1.1
        deviceUUID         = 6d657361-3235-2e32-2e37-000000000000
        driverUUID         = 6c6c766d-7069-7065-5555-494400000000

On the bright side, the favicon issue I had reported is fixed!

#102

Hi @yan - do you use X11 or Wayland?

#103

I use Wayland. From KDE System info:

Operating System: Fedora Linux 43
KDE Plasma Version: 6.5.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.22.0
Qt Version: 6.10.1
Kernel Version: 6.18.5-200.fc43.x86_64 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 24 × AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 12-Core Processor
Memory: 16 GiB of RAM (15.5 GiB usable)
Graphics Processor: AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT
Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
Product Name: B550M DS3H

#104

What does your terminal output show if you run the app directly?

#105

Running it and opening my wiki:

$ tiddlywiki-rs

[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: If you experience display issues (black artifacts, rendering problems), try:
[TiddlyDesktop]   WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 tiddlydesktop-rs
[TiddlyDesktop]   WEBKIT_DISABLE_COMPOSITING_MODE=1 tiddlydesktop-rs
[TiddlyDesktop]   TIDDLYDESKTOP_DISABLE_GPU=1 tiddlydesktop-rs  (disables all GPU acceleration)
Main wiki path: "/home/yan/.local/share/com.burningtreec.tiddlydesktop-rs/tiddlydesktop.html"
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: setup_drag_handlers called for window 'main'
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: On main thread, setting up directly for 'main'
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Setting up GTK drag handlers for 'main'
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Setting up drag handlers on widget type: GtkApplicationWindow for window 'main'
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: GTK3 drag-drop handlers connected on window
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Also setting up handlers on WebKit widget: WebKitWebView
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: WebKit drag handlers set up
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Setting up outgoing drag handlers
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Outgoing drag handlers connected

(tiddlydesktop-rs:9303): libayatana-appindicator-WARNING **: 17:18:35.880: libayatana-appindicator is deprecated. Please use libayatana-appindicator-glib in newly written code.
[TiddlyDesktop] JS: Main wiki - external attachments disabled
[TiddlyDesktop] Favicon: Strategy 1 - checking pattern '"title":"$:/favicon.ico"' at index 2636426
[TiddlyDesktop] Favicon: extracted tiddler JSON (6404 bytes)
[TiddlyDesktop] Favicon: SUCCESS - type=image/png, base64_len=6288
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: setup_drag_handlers called for window 'wiki-REDACTED-html'
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Not on main thread, scheduling for 'wiki-REDACTED-html'
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Running setup on main thread for 'wiki-REDACTED-html'
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Setting up GTK drag handlers for 'wiki-REDACTED-html'
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Setting up drag handlers on widget type: GtkApplicationWindow for window 'wiki-REDACTED-html'
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: GTK3 drag-drop handlers connected on window
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Also setting up handlers on WebKit widget: WebKitWebView
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: WebKit drag handlers set up
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Setting up outgoing drag handlers
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Outgoing drag handlers connected
[TiddlyDesktop] JS: [internal_drag] Tauri window-specific listen set up for: wiki-REDACTED-html
[TiddlyDesktop] JS: [internal_drag] Setting up Tauri event listeners for native drag events
[TiddlyDesktop] JS: [internal_drag] Tauri event listeners for native drag events set up successfully
[TiddlyDesktop] JS: Setting up drag-drop listeners for: /redacted/path/to/folder/REDACTED.html window: wiki-REDACTED-html (window-specific)
#106

Hi @yan - sorry I lost track! What exactly is not working? The drag&drop? There will be a whole new drag&drop implementation soon…

#107

It is that the performance in Linux (Fedora 43 KDE) is extremely low, making it poor and choppy – compared with TiddlyDesktop-RS for Windows 10 on the same exact hardware.

I’m not sure why. With graphics acceleration disabled, it is even slower but in a different way.

For completeness it was the issue I have described so far in this topic across these posts: #60, #73, #74, #101, #103 and #105.

2 Likes
#108

Hi @yan

could you try the following?

GDK_BACKEND=x11 ./tiddlydesktop-rs
#109

Sure! Again using the RPM, this time version v0.1.6.1, here is the output up to loading my wiki, and then closing it again.

$ GDK_BACKEND=x11 tiddlydesktop-rs

[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: If you experience display issues (black artifacts, rendering problems), try:
[TiddlyDesktop]   WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 tiddlydesktop-rs
[TiddlyDesktop]   WEBKIT_DISABLE_COMPOSITING_MODE=1 tiddlydesktop-rs
[TiddlyDesktop]   TIDDLYDESKTOP_DISABLE_GPU=1 tiddlydesktop-rs  (disables all GPU acceleration)
[IPC] Server listening on port 45678
Main wiki path: "/home/yan/.local/share/com.burningtreec.tiddlydesktop-rs/tiddlydesktop.html"
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: setup_drag_handlers called for window 'main'
[TiddlyDesktop] Native DnD: Detected Wayland display server
[TiddlyDesktop] Wayland: Initializing native DnD protocol handler
[TiddlyDesktop] Wayland: Found wl_seat v10
[TiddlyDesktop] Wayland: Found wl_data_device_manager v3
[TiddlyDesktop] Wayland: Seat capabilities: Value(Capability(Pointer | Keyboard))
[TiddlyDesktop] Wayland: Created data device for seat
[TiddlyDesktop] Wayland: Native DnD protocol handler initialized
[TiddlyDesktop] Wayland: Background event loop started
[TiddlyDesktop] Native DnD: Wayland backend initialized
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Native DnD protocol initialized
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Set GTK drag threshold to 4 pixels
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: On main thread, setting up directly for 'main'
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Setting up GTK drag handlers for 'main'
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Setting up drag handlers on widget type: GtkApplicationWindow for window 'main'
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: GTK3 drag-drop handlers connected on window
[TiddlyDesktop] Wayland: Starting event loop thread
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Found WebKit widget: WebKitWebView
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Registered WebKit widget 94654857944000 for 'main' for drag dest toggling
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Letting WebKit remain drag source (preserves caret)
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: WebKit drag handlers set up
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Setting up outgoing drag handlers (WebKit-compatible)
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Outgoing drag handlers connected (WebKit-compatible)
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Registered GDK window 94654854103648 for 'main' (1x1)

(tiddlydesktop-rs:84977): Gdk-CRITICAL **: 15:27:33.140: gdk_wayland_window_get_wl_surface: assertion 'GDK_IS_WAYLAND_WINDOW (window)' failed
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Could not get Wayland surface for 'main'
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Set up pointer tracking for window 'main'

(tiddlydesktop-rs:84977): Gtk-WARNING **: 15:27:33.140: gtk_window_set_titlebar() called on a realized window

(tiddlydesktop-rs:84977): libayatana-appindicator-WARNING **: 15:27:33.218: libayatana-appindicator is deprecated. Please use libayatana-appindicator-glib in newly written code.
[TiddlyDesktop] JS: Main wiki - external attachments disabled
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Pointer entered window 'main' (mode: Normal)
[TiddlyDesktop] Favicon: Strategy 1 - checking pattern '"title":"$:/favicon.ico"' at index 2636791
[TiddlyDesktop] Favicon: extracted tiddler JSON (6404 bytes)
[TiddlyDesktop] Favicon: SUCCESS - type=image/png, base64_len=6288
[TiddlyDesktop] Spawning wiki process: /usr/bin/tiddlydesktop-rs --wiki /path/to/folder/REDACTED.html
[TiddlyDesktop] Wiki process spawned with PID: 85307
[TiddlyDesktop] Wiki mode: "/path/to/folder/REDACTED.html", tiddler: None
[IPC Client] Connected and registered: wiki=/path/to/folder/REDACTED.html, pid=85307
[TiddlyDesktop] Connected to IPC server
[IPC] New connection from 127.0.0.1:44012
[IPC] Register: wiki=/path/to/folder/REDACTED.html, pid=85307, tiddler_window=false
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Pointer left window 'main' (mode: Normal, detail: NonlinearVirtual)
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: setup_drag_handlers called for window 'wiki-REDACTED-html'
[TiddlyDesktop] Native DnD: Detected Wayland display server
[TiddlyDesktop] Wayland: Initializing native DnD protocol handler
[TiddlyDesktop] Wayland: Found wl_seat v10
[TiddlyDesktop] Wayland: Found wl_data_device_manager v3
[TiddlyDesktop] Wayland: Seat capabilities: Value(Capability(Pointer | Keyboard))
[TiddlyDesktop] Wayland: Created data device for seat
[TiddlyDesktop] Wayland: Native DnD protocol handler initialized
[TiddlyDesktop] Wayland: Background event loop started
[TiddlyDesktop] Native DnD: Wayland backend initialized
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Native DnD protocol initialized
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Set GTK drag threshold to 4 pixels
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: On main thread, setting up directly for 'wiki-REDACTED-html'
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Setting up GTK drag handlers for 'wiki-REDACTED-html'
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Setting up drag handlers on widget type: GtkApplicationWindow for window 'wiki-REDACTED-html'
[TiddlyDesktop] Wayland: Starting event loop thread
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: GTK3 drag-drop handlers connected on window
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Found WebKit widget: WebKitWebView
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Registered WebKit widget 93931042161568 for 'wiki-REDACTED-html' for drag dest toggling
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Letting WebKit remain drag source (preserves caret)
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: WebKit drag handlers set up
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Setting up outgoing drag handlers (WebKit-compatible)
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Outgoing drag handlers connected (WebKit-compatible)
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Registered GDK window 93931034442128 for 'wiki-REDACTED-html' (1x1)

(tiddlydesktop-rs:85307): Gdk-CRITICAL **: 15:27:36.609: gdk_wayland_window_get_wl_surface: assertion 'GDK_IS_WAYLAND_WINDOW (window)' failed
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Could not get Wayland surface for 'wiki-REDACTED-html'
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Set up pointer tracking for window 'wiki-REDACTED-html'

(tiddlydesktop-rs:85307): Gtk-WARNING **: 15:27:36.610: gtk_window_set_titlebar() called on a realized window
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Pointer entered window 'main' (mode: Normal)
[TiddlyDesktop] Wiki window created: wiki-REDACTED-html
[TiddlyDesktop] IPC listener thread started
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Pointer left window 'main' (mode: Normal, detail: NonlinearVirtual)
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Pointer entered window 'wiki-REDACTED-html' (mode: Normal)
[TiddlyDesktop] JS: Setting up drag-drop listeners for: /path/to/folder/REDACTED.html window: wiki-REDACTED-html (window-specific)
[TiddlyDesktop] JS: [drag] Tauri listen ready for: wiki-REDACTED-html
[TiddlyDesktop] JS: [drag] Setting up GTK event handlers
[TiddlyDesktop] JS: [drag] GTK event handlers ready
[IPC] UpdateFavicon request: wiki=/path/to/folder/REDACTED.html
[IPC] Update favicon request: wiki=/path/to/folder/REDACTED.html
[IPC] Connection closed from 127.0.0.1:44012
[IPC] Cleaned up client: wiki=/path/to/folder/REDACTED.html, pid=85307
[TiddlyDesktop] Wiki process (PID 85307) exited with status: exit status: 0
[TiddlyDesktop] Removed wiki process from tracking: /path/to/folder/REDACTED.html
[TiddlyDesktop] Linux: Pointer entered window 'main' (mode: Normal)

The performance is only slightly better.

The window was strangely small, not resizeable (also lacking min/maximise buttons). There are various strange bugs with this (e.g. holding down left click while the wiki loads to satisfy my compulsion to highlight causes a crash to desktop).

#110

@yan … wait a little bit this version has a bug on Linux

#111

The Drag-and-Drop Odyssey: A Tale of Persistence and Patches

The Problem

It started simple enough: users couldn’t drag text into input fields in TiddlyDesktopRS. A basic feature that works in every browser, every text editor, every application since the 1980s. How hard could it be?

Very hard, as it turned out.

The First Attempts: Blaming WebKitGTK

We initially suspected WebKitGTK on Linux. After all, WebKitGTK has its quirks. We disabled Tauri’s drag-drop handler. We wrote custom GTK signal handlers. We intercepted connect_drag_drop, connect_drag_data_received, and connect_drag_leave. We checked drag_get_source_widget() to distinguish internal from external drops.

Nothing worked consistently.

We quit. We came back. We quit again.

The Epiphany Moment (Literally)

Then came the breakthrough: testing with Epiphany, the GNOME browser that uses vanilla WebKitGTK. We dragged a file from Nautilus into an input field in a TiddlyWiki opened in Epiphany.

It worked. The filepath appeared in the input.

This changed everything. It wasn’t WebKitGTK’s fault. Something in our stack was intercepting and swallowing the drops before WebKit could handle them natively.

The Synthetic Event Detour

“What if we manually insert the dropped text?” we wondered. We could intercept the drop, extract the data, find the focused element, and programmatically insert the text.

“NO,” came the response. “We work with real events, OK?”

Fair enough. Synthetic events are a hack. They don’t trigger the same event cascade. They feel wrong. We needed the real thing.

Descent into WRY

The culprit was WRY, Tauri’s WebView abstraction layer. Deep in ~/.cargo/registry/src/, we found the dragon’s lair:

Linux (webkitgtk/drag_drop.rs):

webview.connect_drag_drop(move |_, ctx, x, y, time| {
    // ... emit Tauri event ...
    ctx.drop_finish(true, time);
    return true;  // <-- THE CULPRIT
});

Returning true means “I handled this, don’t let anyone else process it.” WebKit never saw the drop.

macOS (wkwebview/drag_drop.rs):

if !listener(DragDropEvent::Drop { paths, position }) {
    unsafe { objc2::msg_send![super(this), performDragOperation: drag_info] }
} else {
    Bool::YES  // <-- Only calls native if listener returns false
}

Windows (webview2/mod.rs):

RevokeDragDrop(hwnd);  // <-- REMOVES WebView2's native handler entirely
RegisterDragDrop(hwnd, &custom_target);  // Installs WRY's handler

Three platforms, three different architectures, one shared problem: WRY was stealing drops from the native webview.

The Patches

We didn’t fork WRY. We didn’t wait for an upstream fix. We patched.

Linux fix: Return false after emitting the Tauri event, letting WebKit also handle the drop natively. Check source_widget to detect internal drops and skip our handler entirely.

macOS fix: Always call super after emitting the event. Both the JavaScript layer and the native webview get to process the drop.

Windows fix: The nuclear option. Don’t install WRY’s custom IDropTarget at all. WebView2’s native handling works fine. The Tauri drag-drop events won’t fire, but JavaScript’s native drop event still works.

The Philosophy

There’s a lesson here about abstraction layers. WRY tried to provide a unified drag-drop API across platforms. Noble goal. But in doing so, it blocked the native behavior that users expect. Sometimes the abstraction needs to get out of the way.

We considered:

  • Forking WRY (too much maintenance burden)
  • Submitting upstream PRs (too slow for our needs)
  • Living with broken drag-drop (unacceptable)

Patching the cargo cache and automating it in CI was the pragmatic middle ground.

The Automation

The patches live in src-tauri/patches/wry+0.53.5.patch. The CI workflow runs cargo fetch, finds the WRY source directory, and applies the patches before building. On Linux and macOS, we use patch -p1. On Windows, git apply.

It’s not beautiful. It will break when WRY updates. But it works, and it ships.

Lessons Learned

  1. Test with vanilla components. Epiphany revealed the truth that hours of debugging couldn’t.

  2. "Real events" matter. Synthetic workarounds are technical debt with interest.

  3. Read the framework source. The answer was always in drag_drop.rs.

  4. Patches are valid solutions. Not everything needs to be upstreamed immediately.

  5. Platform differences are real. Linux, macOS, and Windows needed completely different fixes.

The End?

Drag-and-drop works now. Text flows into inputs. Files drop where they should. The TiddlyWiki editor accepts content from the outside world.

Until the next WRY update breaks everything again.

Such is the way of software.

Written after mass coffee consumption and mass frustration, January 2026

4 Likes
#112

Hi @BurningTreeC - congrats on solving the issue!

One small thing I’m noticing as I test is that when there’s not a drop zone (if I miss it slightly), things go right to import, while the browser doesn’t do that. The cursor also indicates as such.

Here’s a browser (desired behavior):

Animation

Here’s what it’s doing in TDRS

Animation

#113

BurningTreeC, great work and great speed speed of motion!

What are the Linux distributions where people have the smoothest experience with TiddlyDesktopRS so far?
I am using Linux Mint, and responsiveness is quite a bit lower to compare with browser experience. I also manged to make the whole OS unresponsive a couple times by scrolling through a long list of titles of shadow tiddlers listed on the sidebar (tried WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 tiddlydesktop-rs; WEBKIT_DISABLE_COMPOSITING_MODE=1 tiddlydesktop-rs; TIDDLYDESKTOP_DISABLE_GPU=1 tiddlydesktop-rs, but the level of responsiveness was not increased by that). Also, the scrollbars of the story-river and the sidebar overlap.

The idea of TiddlyDesktop-RS Commands Plugin is great. I have tried it a little bit and I see that this could be quite useful!

Thank you for your massive work!

#114

TiddlyDesktop-RS System Dependencies

This document lists the system dependencies required for TiddlyDesktop-RS on Linux. Missing dependencies can cause performance issues, rendering problems, or missing features.

Runtime Dependencies

Debian / Ubuntu / Linux Mint

sudo apt install \
  libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0 \
  libgtk-3-0 \
  libglib2.0-0 \
  libayatana-appindicator3-1 \
  gstreamer1.0-plugins-base \
  gstreamer1.0-plugins-good \
  libva2 \
  libva-drm2 \
  libva-x11-2 \
  mesa-va-drivers \
  mesa-utils \
  libegl1 \
  libgl1

Optional for better media support:

sudo apt install \
  gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad \
  gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly \
  gstreamer1.0-libav

Fedora / RHEL / CentOS

sudo dnf install \
  webkit2gtk4.1 \
  gtk3 \
  glib2 \
  libayatana-appindicator-gtk3 \
  gstreamer1-plugins-base \
  gstreamer1-plugins-good \
  mesa-dri-drivers \
  mesa-va-drivers \
  libva \
  libva-utils \
  mesa-libEGL \
  mesa-libGL

Optional for better media support:

sudo dnf install \
  gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free \
  gstreamer1-plugins-ugly-free \
  gstreamer1-libav

Arch Linux / Manjaro

sudo pacman -S \
  webkit2gtk-4.1 \
  gtk3 \
  glib2 \
  libayatana-appindicator \
  gst-plugins-base \
  gst-plugins-good \
  mesa \
  libva-mesa-driver \
  libva

Optional for better media support:

sudo pacman -S \
  gst-plugins-bad \
  gst-plugins-ugly \
  gst-libav

openSUSE

sudo zypper install \
  libwebkit2gtk-4_1-0 \
  gtk3 \
  glib2 \
  libayatana-appindicator3-1 \
  gstreamer-plugins-base \
  gstreamer-plugins-good \
  Mesa-dri \
  Mesa-libva \
  libva2

KDE Plasma Specific

GTK applications on KDE benefit from proper GTK integration:

Kubuntu / KDE Neon

sudo apt install kde-config-gtk-style gtk3-nocsd

Fedora KDE Spin

sudo dnf install kde-gtk-config

Arch / Manjaro KDE

sudo pacman -S kde-gtk-config

Node.js (for Wiki Folders)

Wiki folder support requires Node.js 18 or later. Single-file wikis work without Node.js.

Via Package Manager

Debian/Ubuntu (may have older version):

sudo apt install nodejs npm

Fedora:

sudo dnf install nodejs npm

Arch:

sudo pacman -S nodejs npm

Via NodeSource (Recommended for Latest Version)

# Node.js 20.x LTS
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install nodejs

Via nvm (Node Version Manager)

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.0/install.sh | bash
source ~/.bashrc
nvm install 20
nvm use 20

Build Dependencies

Only needed if building from source.

Debian / Ubuntu / Linux Mint

sudo apt install \
  build-essential \
  curl \
  wget \
  file \
  libssl-dev \
  libgtk-3-dev \
  libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev \
  libayatana-appindicator3-dev \
  librsvg2-dev \
  libglib2.0-dev \
  libcairo2-dev \
  libpango1.0-dev \
  libgdk-pixbuf-2.0-dev \
  libsoup-3.0-dev \
  libjavascriptcoregtk-4.1-dev

Fedora

sudo dnf install \
  gcc \
  gcc-c++ \
  openssl-devel \
  gtk3-devel \
  webkit2gtk4.1-devel \
  libayatana-appindicator-gtk3-devel \
  librsvg2-devel \
  glib2-devel \
  cairo-devel \
  pango-devel \
  gdk-pixbuf2-devel \
  libsoup3-devel \
  javascriptcoregtk4.1-devel

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -S \
  base-devel \
  openssl \
  gtk3 \
  webkit2gtk-4.1 \
  libayatana-appindicator \
  librsvg \
  glib2 \
  cairo \
  pango \
  gdk-pixbuf2 \
  libsoup3

Troubleshooting Dependencies

Check WebKitGTK Version

pkg-config --modversion webkit2gtk-4.1

Version 2.40+ is recommended for best performance.

Check VA-API (Hardware Video Acceleration)

vainfo

If this command fails, install vainfo / libva-utils and ensure your GPU drivers support VA-API.

Check OpenGL

glxinfo | grep "OpenGL renderer"

Should show your GPU name. If it shows “llvmpipe” or “softpipe”, hardware acceleration is not working.

Check GStreamer

gst-inspect-1.0 --version

Missing Library Errors

If you see errors like error while loading shared libraries: libXXX.so:

  1. Search for the package containing the library:

    • Debian/Ubuntu: apt-file search libXXX.so
    • Fedora: dnf provides '*/libXXX.so*'
    • Arch: pkgfile libXXX.so

  2. Install the package found

Environment Variables for Performance

See the main README.md for environment variables to tune performance:

Variable Effect
TIDDLYDESKTOP_DISABLE_GPU=1 Disable all GPU acceleration
WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 Disable DMA-buf renderer
WEBKIT_DISABLE_COMPOSITING_MODE=1 Disable compositing mode
GDK_BACKEND=x11 Force X11 on Wayland
GTK_USE_PORTAL=0 Disable GTK portal integration
1 Like
#115

Issue when more monitors in use:

The Application starts always on that screen where the explorer window with tiddlydesktop-rs.exe is located.

Moving the started App to another monitor and launch the wiki

  • wiki opens not on same monitor
  • wiki has always a default screen size
  • setings will not be kept to the next start
#116

Hi @StS thanks for reporting

This is not yet implemented, you’re right

#117

In Fedora, I get an an interesting bit of output…

$ pkg-config --modversion webkit2gtk-4.1

Package webkit2gtk-4.1 was not found in the pkg-config search path.
Perhaps you should add the directory containing `webkit2gtk-4.1.pc'
to the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable
Package 'webkit2gtk-4.1' not found

Alas, I’m in the same boat as vylt above, continuing to see poor performance on Linux. All the libraries are there though and the OpenGL drivers are definitely loaded.

#118

This was a really fun and enjoyable read by the way! :grin: You’re a tremendous writer. Hopefully it’s the last you will hear of it.

I think it’d be worth sending it on to the Tauri team, not necessarily as a patch but at least as a real-world issue. They can then come up with a more strategic solution, as they have many users to consider.

It would be also fantastic if this and the other long pieces you have written (e.g. on dependencies, application structure), were placed in the repository.

1 Like
#119

Indeed, hereby I suggest bundling all these technical posts with releases. It won’t hurt having a doc/ directory with all the stuff in each of them. For example, while README.md has some technical details, it seems to be out of sync with this thread. Just above there’s a post with build dependencies. This info is missing in the main README.md on Github.

#120

Sorry @vuk - updates are coming faster than documentation…