Noctalia unconditionally changes the GTK theme to adw-gtk3(-dark), even if it's not installed

[npgx]

Description

It seems commit 6ddf078 switched some code around in Scripts/python/src/theming/gtk-refresh.py which causes noctalia to unconditionally switch the system gtk theme to either adw-gtk3 or adw-gtk3-dark.
However, I do not have the "adw-gtk-theme" package (which should be the correct one providing those themes).
This results in gtk switching to the default light mode theme (only reason I noticed).
I also checked my whole system (via fd/find) and there is no directory called adw-gtk, adw-gtk3, adw-gtk3-dark, so it truly doesn't exist on my system.

Is this an issue on noctalia's part or on CachyOS/Arch's packaging of noctalia?

NOTE: Obviously, installing adw-gtk-theme "fixes" the issue.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Update to 4.3.3
2. Open any GTK application or check gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme (which returns 'adw-gtk3-dark')

Expected Behavior

Either not to change the theme or check if adw-gtk3-dark exists

Screenshots

Not relevant

Environment

• Distro: CachyOS
• Compositor: Hyprland
• Noctalia-shell Version: 4.3.3
• Monitor resolution: 2560x1440

Additional Context

Updated through arch-update (cachyos-update), so the update process shouldn't be the problem (i.e. missing dependencies)

[mjskraju]

I think I ran into this issue after updating to 4.4.0 today. After the update, my applications switched to light theme. Installing the 'adw-gtk-theme' package from CachyOS / Arch repos resolved the issue.

My first noctalia shell installation (version 3.0.4) was done following manual installation method. Ever since then I've been using the below command to update successfully.

mkdir -p ~/.config/quickshell/noctalia-shell && curl -sL https://github.com/noctalia-dev/noctalia-shell/releases/latest/download/noctalia-latest.tar.gz | tar -xz --strip-components=1 -C ~/.config/quickshell/noctalia-shell

Environment

• Distro: CachyOS
• Compositor: Niri
• Noctalia-shell Version: 4.4.0

[Ly-sec]

Hey @npgx I just pushed a fix for it, mind testing :) ?

[npgx]

@Ly-sec sure, I'll get to my PC in an hour or so.

[npgx]

@Ly-sec
As a sanity check I went through 4.4.0:

1. Updated to 4.4.0
2. Removed adw-gtk-theme
3. Manually set gtk-theme (gsettings) to "Adwaita" -> (gtk apps use correct dark mode theme)
4. Reboot
5. Theme is set to 'adw-gtk3-dark' (as expected)
6. Set theme to Adwaita
7. Use paru to install noctalia-shell-git (resulting in version 4.4.1-git, commit 1447a49, in About, after systemctl restart)
8. Reboot (restarting the service probably was enough, and the theme didn't change, but rebooted just to be sure)
9. Theme is still 'Adwaita' 🎉

[npgx]

As a bonus, installing adw-gtk-theme (and rebooting) does change it to adw-gtk3-dark, and changing to light mode changes it to adw-gtk3 (without reboot, as expected).
Removing adw-gtk-theme doesn't change it back to Adwaita, but that's also expected.

[Ly-sec]

So reading through that, everything seems to be as expected :)?

As a bonus, installing adw-gtk-theme (and rebooting) does change it to adw-gtk3-dark, and changing to light mode changes it to adw-gtk3 (without reboot, as expected). Removing adw-gtk-theme doesn't change it back to Adwaita, but that's also expected.