Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?

AppLee

@jezek said in Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?:

I'm looking forward for discusion.

I'm not against discussion. But in this case we're discussing over a fully functional feature.
We can always enhance it, tweak it and so on for eternity there will always be people arguing it's too this, not enough that...
The core feature is to be able to run an app and it works.

If someone takes upon themselves to implement something different and arguably better then discussion can happen to consider integrating this PR. Until then I don't see the point of arguing because it's not a priority as the feature already works for everyone.

Se it's all about priorities. If you let yourself be distracted by things like that in a project then nothing is done and the project does not move forward.

So yes in this case the best answer is find someone with a good idea, technical knowledge, time and motivation. Come up with something to merge and then we can talk about something real.
Until then every idea is good, has its pros and cons, but it won't help Ubuntu Touch as a project.

Disclaimer: don't get me wrong, I would love a better customizable solution, but I don't mind as long as it works and as long as I see progress in the PinePhone, on stability, performances, power management and so on...
I find it more important.

kugiigi

@jezek The behavior of the launcher, wherein it is always visible when no app is open, was implemented mainly for discoverablity purpose. So that users can directly open their pinned apps from the launcher without doing any additional swipe or tap. And because the current desktop is just a wallpaper right now, there's really no functionality that is being affected by the launcher being there aside from visual function of the wallpaper. Perhaps in the future when something functional is implemented in the "desktop", this behavior can be revisited. Right now, it's more of a preference to hide it or not. I won't mind adding a tap to hide it though. Just a matter of someone to implement it it

Anyway, I think we're drifting off a bit from the OP's concern. I think it's more of that the launcher takes horizontal space from the app drawer and he doesn't use the launcher anyway, so he'd rather have that space for the app drawer.

chdslv

I had the chance to have the older version of UT, where you swipe from bottom to get to the App Drawer, so there wasn't a need to swipe from the left -- no launcher. Two things are needed in a mobile phone, a way to get to apps menu and look at all the open apps. Maybe, one needs a space for a favourites apps dock, but it could be a part of the app menu, and if it has to be a column, then its background should be without a background colour, and stay away completely unasked. If it has to stay seen, the with no background colour, it would be just icons arranged vertically. By the way, the Ubuntu icon should match the other icons. Well, this is up to discussion, maybe even the developers would have shot at it. Good day!

kugiigi

@chdslv What UT version is that? I don't remember UT ever working like that. Even the demo UI, which looked like Unity 7, has the launcher on the left and the app scopes can be opened from the left as well.

flohack

@jezek we had it hidden and then users complained to us they dont know how to open it, and how to start Apps. No matter what we do, there will be unhappiness. We have learned to live with it - I agree an option could be done, but we have by far more pressing problems than this cosmetic one.

chdslv

@Flohack said in Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?:

No matter what we do, there will be unhappiness. We have learned to live with it

It is not a matter of unhappiness. If anyone is using UT/UBPorts, it is because it brings happiness. So, if anyone is suggesting something, it is not "complaining."

dobey

@chdslv said in Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?:

I had the chance to have the older version of UT, where you swipe from bottom to get to the App Drawer, so there wasn't a need to swipe from the left -- no launcher

Ubuntu Touch has never worked this way. Here's a demo from CES 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwL77K2cb8o

The system was a little closer to looking like Unity7 then, but it was still not with the same behavior as Android, and the Launcher was still there. However, the "dash" could never be closed.

And no, we won't be returning the design to that.

Keneda

Swipping from bottom was to open installed scopes on Canonical uTouch, not installed apps.

GizmoChicken

@chdslv said in Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?:

@Flohack said in Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?:

No matter what we do, there will be unhappiness. We have learned to live with it

It is not a matter of unhappiness. If anyone is using UT/UBPorts, it is because it brings happiness. So, if anyone is suggesting something, it is not "complaining."

I'm not, in any way, attempting to belittle your request. And while I don't particularly support what you want (personally, I like the launcher), I applaud your initiative to request what you feel would be an improvement. Seriously, I do.

But as @Flohack, explained, at present, "[UBports] have by far more pressing problems than this cosmetic one."

For example, among numerous other projects, UBports is currently:

upgrading to Qt 5.12;
moving from upstart to systemd; and
preparing for a rebase from 16.04 to 20.04.

So, with the above in mind, how about deferring your request until those more "pressing problems" have been resolved?

Keneda

@GizmoChicken said in Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?:

So, with the above in mind, how about deferring your request until those more "pressing problems" have been resolved?

I don't feel this topic is a "i want that now dude" kind of topic...

I feel if someoe can give him a "hack" to do this, like "the launcher size to 0" mentionned earlier, that would be enough for him.

"Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?" is not a request, it's a question.

If nobody have a clue and so the answer is "no", so be it.

But if some kind of tweak can make the deal, he will be enjoyed by that.

jezek

I feel if someoe can give him a "hack" to do this, like "the launcher size to 0" mentionned earlier, that would be enough for him.

I will not give him a hack, cause this issue doesn't bug me (and I'm lazy and don't have time until it concerns me ). I'll give him an advice. There should be a qml file for the launcher somewhere. Use find and grep commands to locate the file. Backup, edit, experiment, hack, play with the file (if something goes terribly wrong, you can always reinstall). Read, try to understand what's going on. Insert log statements and read logs to see what's going on. After finding a satisfying hack, publish, or try to make it not looking as an hack and make an pull request.

Don't make excuses that you can't code or you can't do it because it is hard and you are dumb. If you can read and write, you can program. Just like with other skills, you have to do it and practice to master it.

"Is there a possibility to completely disable/uninstall the Launcher?" is not a request, it's a question.

Yes, there is the possibility. There is always a possibility to something software related. But it involves experimenting and lots of time and failing (even if you're knowing what you're doing). If I would do it by myself I would probably just try to keep the launcher hidden. It can hide, there is already some code for it, it should be only a mater of changing some condition.

That's all what I have to say. Good luck.

chdslv

As @Keneda understood, it was a question, not a request. It is a question to those young and enterprising people here. If someone can find a solution, I'd quite happily implement it. If not, the question is dropped.

Its time for me to go away and enjoy life, as the rest of it is not much to the time I was present on this planet Earth.

Keneda

@jezek

WOW!

jezek

Sorry, I couldn't let it go... this is what I found out... It took me 15 minutes including writing this reply.

Let's find all files in /usr that contains case insensitive word "launcher"

$ find /usr/ -iname '*launcher*'
/usr/bin/cautious-launcher
/usr/bin/unity-webapps-qml-launcher
/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/ubuntu-system-settings/private/Ubuntu/SystemSettings/Launcher
/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/ubuntu-system-settings/private/Ubuntu/SystemSettings/Launcher/libUbuntuLauncherPanel.so
/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/ubuntu-system-settings/liblauncher-plugin.so
/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/unity8/qml/Greeter/Unity/Launcher
/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/unity8/qml/Greeter/Unity/Launcher/libUnityLauncherAS-qml.so
/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/unity8/qml/Unity/Launcher
/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/unity8/qml/Unity/Launcher/libUnityLauncher-qml.so
/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/libertine/launcher
/usr/share/ubuntu/settings/system/launcher.settings
/usr/share/ubuntu/settings/system/qml-plugins/reset/ResetLauncherHome.qml
/usr/share/ubuntu/settings/system/qml-plugins/launcher
/usr/share/unity/themes/launcher_background_middle.png
/usr/share/unity/themes/launcher_background_top.png
/usr/share/unity/themes/launcher_background_bottom.png
/usr/share/unity/themes/launcher_reflection.png
/usr/share/applications/unitywebappsqmllauncher.desktop
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher/LauncherDelegate.qml
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher/FoldingLauncherDelegate.qml
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher/Launcher.qml
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher/FoldingLauncherDelegate.qmlc
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher/Launcher.qmlc
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher/LauncherPanel.qmlc
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher/LauncherPanel.qml
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher/LauncherDelegate.qmlc
/usr/share/icons/suru/apps/scalable/preferences-desktop-launcher-symbolic.svg

Hmm... the /usr/share/unity8/Launcher folder looks promising...
After reading, what's in the /usr/share/unity8/Launcher/Launcher.qml, there is a parameter that looks promising:

28 
29     property bool autohideEnabled: false
30     property bool lockedVisible: false

I mean the autohideEnabled... Let's see, where it's used...

$ grep -nr autohideEnabled /usr/share/unity8/Launcher/
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher/Launcher.qml:29:    property bool autohideEnabled: false
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher/Launcher.qml:411:                if (root.autohideEnabled && !root.lockedVisible) {
/usr/share/unity8/Launcher/Launcher.qml:607:                autohideEnabled: true

Only in three positions... maybe if it was always true, the launcher would stay hidden... try to edit the line 29 (you'll need to remount the / as rw) and restart unity8 via UbuntuTouchTweakTool...

...

This is all the effort I'm willing to invest into this thread for now. Maybe it will help. Happy hacking.

EDIT: maybe the autohideEnabled is not he way to go, maybe it does someting else, I haven't tried...