Ubuntu – Can some programs found in Ubuntu 18.04 be installed in other desktop environments

accessibilitygnome

Ubuntu 18.04 has programs such as Zoom (in Universal Access) and Night Light (in Displays). However, when I run Zoom, I see that gnome-shell is the responsible process in top.

Running Zoom shows gnome-shell as the process

And there aren't .desktop files in /usr/share/applications corresponding to Zoom or Night Light.

Is it correct to assume that these programs are integral to gnome-shell the way Adwaita is built-in and are not available to be used in other desktop environments with sudo apt install?

Best Answer

TL;DR - yes, these Zoom and Night Light are only for GNOME.

As far as I can see from htop and other clues as

# find Zoom
$ grep -r Zoom /usr/share/applications/
/usr/share/applications/gnome-universal-access-panel.desktop:Keywords=Keyboard;Mouse;a11y;Accessibility;Contrast;Zoom;Screen;Reader;text;font;size;AccessX;Sticky;Keys;Slow;Bounce;Mouse;Double;click;Delay;Assist;Repeat;Blink;
/usr/share/applications/gnome-keyboard-panel.desktop:Keywords=Shortcut;Workspace;Window;Resize;Zoom;Contrast;Input;Source;Lock;Volume;

# find Night
$ grep -r Night /usr/share/applications/
/usr/share/applications/gnome-display-panel.desktop:Keywords=Panel;Projector;xrandr;Screen;Resolution;Refresh;Monitor;Night;Light;Blue;redshift;color;sunset;sunrise;

Their Exec fields are the following:

# Zoom
$ cat /usr/share/applications/gnome-universal-access-panel.desktop | grep Exec
Exec=gnome-control-center universal-access

# Night
$ cat /usr/share/applications/gnome-display-panel.desktop | grep Exec
Exec=gnome-control-center display

# Both
$ cat /usr/share/applications/gnome-keyboard-panel.desktop | grep Exec
Exec=gnome-control-center keyboard

They are shown only in:

# Zoom
$ cat /usr/share/applications/gnome-universal-access-panel.desktop | grep Show
OnlyShowIn=GNOME;Unity;

# Night
$ cat /usr/share/applications/gnome-display-panel.desktop | grep Show
OnlyShowIn=GNOME;Unity;

# Both
$ cat /usr/share/applications/gnome-keyboard-panel.desktop | grep Show
OnlyShowIn=GNOME;Unity;

above means only GNOME and Unity.

The top icon toggles GNOME specific configuation keys - for example Zoom toggles

/org/gnome/desktop/a11y/applications/screen-magnifier-enabled

between true and false. And this setting is expected to be applicable only to GNOME.

And Night Light toggles the GNOME-only configuration key:

/org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/color/night-light-enabled

So we can see that these Zoom and Night Light are related only to GNOME and Unity desktops.

Other desktop may have (or have not) alternatives for them. Night Light may be replaced with RedShift, accessibility tools are usually presented in desktops (for example MATE has mate-at-properties).

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