Whatsdesk

snap
1

Anybody succeded in using whatsdesk with Ubuntu 18.10 ???

I tried to use it but it does absolutlely nothing and give no error messages.

I I try to run it under root with sudo, I get error messages that it can create symbolic links under $HOME/snap/whatsdesk/14/snap/whatsdesk/14/…

I have manually created the links, but it won’t start anyway.
But now it gives this message : No protocol specified

I’m rather newbie in snaps… so I’m stuck here.

Anybody has any clues ?

Regards,
BT

2

I suspect that you’re running in a wayland session? If not, can you run snap version and paste the output here?

The whatsdesk snap does not plug the wayland interface so it won’t be able to run unless it is adapted to start via XWayland.

For reference, it starts normally for me on Ubuntu 18.10 in an X11 session.

3

Yes I’m on wayland.

bernard@gnomathique:~$ inxi -G
Graphics: Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] BeaverCreek [Radeon HD 6520G] driver: radeon v: kernel
Display: wayland server: X.Org 1.20.1 driver: radeon resolution: 1366x768~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: AMD SUMO (DRM 2.50.0 / 4.18.0-13-generic LLVM 7.0.0) v: 3.3 Mesa 18.2.2
bernard@gnomathique:~$ snap version
snap 2.36.3
snapd 2.36.3
series 16
ubuntu 18.10
kernel 4.18.0-13-generic

I also discovered that I can run on web at https://web.whatsapp.com
This is simpler and doesn’t need any apps.

Thanks for your answer.

       Regards,
                   Bernard
4

I do prefer the app over the website. It worked flawlessly for months but a few days ago it would not start. I reinstalled it and it started again. Today I boot up my computer and again it does not start.

$ whatsdesk
/bin/bash: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)
/bin/bash: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)
{ version: '0.2.16',
  configs: { general: { closeExit: false, skipTaskbar: false } } }
{ version: '0.2.16',
  configs: { general: { closeExit: false, skipTaskbar: false } } }
Trace/breakpoint trap (core dumped)

and

$ snap version
snap    2.36.3
snapd   2.36.3
series  16
ubuntu  18.10
kernel  4.18.0-13-generic

Is there any other information I can give you regarding this?

5

I know this thread is old, but since i just installed 20.04, i needed to reinstall whatsdesk and this issue still isn’t fixed. I submitted PR for it awhile ago, but who knows. Anyways.

I fixed it by creating my own .desktop file that adds the DISABLE_WAYLAND env.

$ cat ~/.local/share/applications/whatsdesk.desktop 
[Desktop Entry]
Name=whatsdesk
Comment=Wayland Disabled. Unofficial whatsapp client for linux 
Exec=env DISABLE_WAYLAND=1 whatsdesk
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Icon=/snap/whatsdesk/current/meta/gui/icon.png
StartupWMClass=whatsdesk
Categories=Network;

This is probably a bit brittle, but on the other hand, it doesn’t look like the snap is changing any time soon. :confused:

6

I installed it and linked, used it occasionally, but now it wants me to start over, coming up with the QR code again instead of remembering my login. I would follow the instructions but they do not match the current iPhone WhatsApp! Plus it is pigging out on my CPUs doing nothing! It seems a bit flawed! Meta!

7

Finally got it linked, but it refused to find new correspondent via phone number, yet they sent a qr code for that number and it worked on the cell phone! Meta! Programmers not using it? Selling via security paranoia on TV and online, when all apps use ssh https encryption!