Issue with Qtractor (PPA) and Debian GNOME.

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Hi,
I followed the PPA recommendation from this forum (https://www.rncbc.org/drupal/index.php/node/2891), and so far, I haven't had any issues with Qtractor on Debian or MX Linux. However, I had always used KDE previously—whether with the standard Debian kernel or one of the Liquorix variants. As the title suggests, a problem arises on Debian and MX when installing GNOME from the Debian or MX repositories. I initially tried only MX and thought the issue might be related to installing GNOME on top of XFCE. Afterward, I tried a Debian netinstall with the standard kernel, GNOME, and Qtractor (via PPAs), but Qtractor won't launch—regardless of whether I'm using Wayland or X11. There are no issues with Arch + GNOME, even though it runs exclusively on Wayland. KDE remains trouble-free as well, whether on Arch or Debian, and regardless of whether X11 or Wayland is used. The other problematic combination is Arch+LXQt + Labwc + Qtractor (crashes, freezes), but that isn't the issue I'm dealing with right now. When I start Qtractor in the terminal I get the following messages:
"qtractor
Gtk message: 14:34:54.491: Failed to load module "canberra-gtk-module"

(qtractor:5150): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 14:34:54.527: cannot register existing type 'GtkWidget'

(qtractor:5150): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 14:34:54.527: cannot add class private field to invalid type ''

(qtractor:5150): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 14:34:54.529: cannot add private field to invalid (non-instantiatable) type ''

(qtractor:5150): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 14:34:54.529: g_type_add_interface_static: assertion 'G_TYPE_IS_INSTANTIATABLE (instance_type)' failed

(qtractor:5150): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 14:34:54.529: cannot register existing type 'GtkBuildable'

(qtractor:5150): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 14:34:54.529: g_type_interface_add_prerequisite: assertion 'G_TYPE_IS_INTERFACE (interface_type)' failed

(qtractor:5150): GLib-CRITICAL **: 14:34:54.529: g_once_init_leave: assertion 'result != 0' failed

(qtractor:5150): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 14:34:54.529: g_type_add_interface_static: assertion 'G_TYPE_IS_INSTANTIATABLE (instance_type)' failed

(qtractor:5150): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 14:34:54.529: gtk_widget_get_style_context: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed

(qtractor:5150): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 14:34:54.529: gtk_style_context_lookup_color: assertion 'GTK_IS_STYLE_CONTEXT (context)' failed

(qtractor:5150): Gtk-CRITICAL **: 14:34:54.529: gtk_style_context_get_background_color: assertion 'GTK_IS_STYLE_CONTEXT (context)' failed

(qtractor:5150): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 14:34:54.529: cannot register existing type 'GtkWidget'

(qtractor:5150): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 14:34:54.529: cannot add class private field to invalid type ''

(qtractor:5150): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 14:34:54.529: cannot add private field to invalid (non-instantiatable) type ''

(qtractor:5150): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: 14:34:54.529: g_type_add_interface_static: assertion 'G_TYPE_IS_INSTANTIATABLE (instance_type)' failed"

I hope this is easy to fix?
I also had an error message with canberra-gtk3-module and reinstalled it. Unfortunately, that didn't help.

Many thanks in advance!

Permalink

Try with:

https://sourceforge.net/p/qtractor/wiki/How%20To%20-%2011%20Prevent%20Color%20Picker%20Freezing%20Qtractor/

PS:
I prefer XFCE because it allows you to send windows to the background (and generally I prefer the classic approach, though that is a matter of taste). In Qtractor, this is useful for ensuring that the sequencer always stays behind other windows.

PS 2:
Theoretically, just running
export QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME=qt6ct

shouldn't work reliably—it would only be temporary. You would normally need to add it to a configuration file (I don't recall which one right now). But apparently—or at least in my case—it works. It must be something qt6ct handles automatically.

Permalink

To summarize:

Install qt6ct (I believe it is compiled for Qt6 on Noble).
Reboot.

The problem should be resolved.

If not, get a qtractor desktop file:
https://github.com/rncbc/qtractor/blob/main/src/appdata/org.rncbc.qtractor.desktop

Edit the Exec line like this:
Exec=env QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME=qt6ct qtractor -platform xcb %f

And save it to:
~/.local/share/applications/

That will launch qtractor correctly.

Note:
If you created shortcuts elsewhere—such as on desktop panels or the desktop itself—you will need to delete them and replace them with the new one; at least in XFCE—I’m not sure if GNOME automates that.

Permalink

Edit the Exec line like this:
Exec=env QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME=qt6ct qtractor -platform xcb %f

mind you, the particle -platform xcb is not really necessary: qtractor always runs on xcb adapter anyway

otherwise no plugin GUI would show up as it should, no matter it runs under a X11 or wayland session ;)

br.

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