Questions on Debian Packaging Defaults for ActivityWatch + awatcher Bundle

[philippedev101]

Hi,

i'm working on a Debian package for Ubuntu 24.04 that bundles activitywatch (core, rust server, qt), awatcher (rust), and focused-window-dbus. My goal is a good out-of-the-box experience. I have a few questions about how aw-qt and aw-server-rust handle defaults, which impacts packaging. I used the latest commit for all packages.

1. API Browser Link: When i click "Open API browser" in aw-qt, it goes to http://localhost:5600/api, which gives a 404. The server log says "No matching routes for GET /api text/html." Specific endpoints like /api/0/info work fine. Is the /api link in aw-qt configurable, or is there an expectation that /api itself should serve something?

2. Tray Icon Path: aw-qt shows a clickable area in the system tray, but no visible icon. My package installs icons to /usr/share/icons/hicolor/ and the .desktop file specifies Icon=activitywatch. strace suggests aw-qt might be looking for icon files in paths relative to where it was run (like icons:logo.png or media/application_exit.png) instead of just using the system theme. Where does aw-qt expect to find its tray icon?

3. Desktop Launcher Icon Size: The launcher icon for aw-qt appears very small. I'm installing SVG and various PNG sizes (512, 128, and planning to add 256, 64, 48 from SVG). The ActivityWatch project has its own .deb build. Do you have advice on how you get full-sized launcher icons to display reliably from your .desktop file?

4. aw-qt.toml Configuration Path: aw-qt seems to only look for ~/.config/activitywatch/aw-qt/aw-qt.toml. If it's not there, it uses internal defaults (which try to start Python watchers that fail on Wayland) and creates a new user config. It doesn't seem to use a system-wide default like /etc/xdg/activitywatch/aw-qt/aw-qt.toml as a fallback. This makes it hard to ship a package where aw-qt uses our preferred settings (e.g., to start aw-awatcher instead of the Python watchers) without user action after install. Does aw-qt check any other system-wide paths for aw-qt.toml if the user's file is missing? Or is the current behavior intended?

5. Systemd Service for aw-server-rust: My package runs aw-server-rust as a systemd user service (activitywatch-server.service), which users enable. Do you have any recommendations or concerns about this approach for the server? Is a systemd service generally a good idea for aw-server-rust?

Thanks for any help or pointers on these.

[github-actions]

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[ErikBjare]

Sorry I completely missed this very thoughtful question.

Do you still need help with these? Happy to provide pointers.

I can quickly say that

(1) API browser not available with aw-server-rust
(2) I think icons get bundled into a QtResource? or handled in the pyinstaller .spec? you'll need to check aw-qt source
(3) sorry no, it has just worked for me with the pngs (SVG requires a non-standard font Varela Round)
(4) that seems like it should be fixed
(5) That's fine, and makes sense that users can choose to enable it as a service, but I think most should just use aw-qt, since its needed for watchers anyway (needs DISPLAY for window watchers under X11 etc).

[TimeToBuildBob]

Hi @philippedev101,

I investigated the icon handling that Erik mentioned. Here's what I found by examining the source:

Tray Icon Path Details (Question 2)

The tray icon issue you're experiencing is because aw-qt uses relative paths from the script location, not system theme icons.

How aw-qt Loads Icons

From aw-qt/trayicon.py (lines 205-216):

scriptdir = Path(__file__).parent

# Adds search path relative to script location
QtCore.QDir.addSearchPath("icons", str(scriptdir.parent / "media/logo/"))

# Then loads icons with:
icon = QIcon("icons:logo.png")  # Uses the custom search path

PyInstaller Bundling

From aw-qt/aw-qt.spec (line 22):

datas=[('resources/aw-qt.desktop', '.'), ('media', 'media')]

The entire media directory is bundled relative to the executable, which is why PyInstaller builds work.

Why Your Approach Doesn't Work

Installing icons to /usr/share/icons/hicolor/ (standard FHS location) works for:

• ✓ Desktop launchers (reads from .desktop file's Icon=activitywatch)
• ✗ Tray icon code (expects media/logo/ relative to script)

The strace output you saw (icons:logo.png, media/application_exit.png) confirms aw-qt is looking for relative paths, not system theme icons.

Solutions for Debian Packaging

Option 1: Install media files relative to script (recommended)

# If aw-qt installed to /usr/bin/aw-qt
# Install media to /usr/share/activitywatch/media/
# Then patch or symlink so relative path works

Option 2: Patch trayicon.py
Add system-wide search path:

# After line 216 in trayicon.py, add:
QtCore.QDir.addSearchPath("icons", "/usr/share/activitywatch/media/logo/")

Option 3: Wrapper script
Create wrapper that ensures correct paths before launching aw-qt.

Upstream Consideration

This relative path dependency makes system-wide installation challenging. Consider opening an issue upstream to support XDG base directories ($XDG_DATA_DIRS) for system-wide installations.

Hope this helps with your packaging! Let me know if you need clarification on any of these approaches.

[philippedev101]

Hello!

thanks for the pointers. I wanted to make a deb with the rust server component and everything working so it can be easily installed on ubuntu for personal use. I was considering releasing the deb build scripts once i had everything working. At the moment i can't attend to this side project, but your comments are not wasted as i think the issues are still there to deal with.

[ErikBjare]

No worries, thanks for doing the work! Happy to review the deb build scripts you did write, even if they are not ready for prime time :)