GNOME 48: Cannot open/switch apps using the launcher

[j1nxie]

After updating to GNOME 48, alongside updating both pop-launcher and pop-shell to their latest git versions, I don't seem to be able to open/switch apps using the launcher. When enabling logs for pop-shell and checking journalctl, here is what I get when I attempt to hit Enter to open/switch apps:

Mar 27 10:50:47 adachi gnome-shell[269225]: pop-shell: [ERROR] failed to create SearchOption: TypeError: this.scroller.get_vscroll_bar is not a function
Mar 27 10:50:47 adachi gnome-shell[269225]: pop-shell: [ERROR] failed to create SearchOption: TypeError: this.scroller.get_vscroll_bar is not a function
Mar 27 10:50:47 adachi gnome-shell[269225]: pop-shell: [ERROR] failed to create SearchOption: TypeError: this.scroller.get_vscroll_bar is not a function
Mar 27 10:50:48 adachi gnome-shell[269225]: pop-shell: [ERROR] failed to create SearchOption: TypeError: this.scroller.get_vscroll_bar is not a function
Mar 27 10:50:48 adachi gnome-shell[269225]: pop-shell: [ERROR] failed to create SearchOption: TypeError: this.scroller.get_vscroll_bar is not a function
Mar 27 10:50:48 adachi gnome-shell[269225]: pop-shell: [ERROR] failed to create SearchOption: TypeError: this.scroller.get_vscroll_bar is not a function
Mar 27 10:50:48 adachi gnome-shell[269225]: pop-shell: [ERROR] failed to create SearchOption: TypeError: this.scroller.get_vscroll_bar is not a function
Mar 27 10:50:48 adachi gnome-shell[269225]: pop-shell: [ERROR] failed to create SearchOption: TypeError: this.scroller.get_vscroll_bar is not a function
Mar 27 10:50:48 adachi gnome-shell[269225]: pop-shell: [ERROR] failed to create SearchOption: TypeError: this.scroller.get_vscroll_bar is not a function
Mar 27 10:50:48 adachi gnome-shell[269225]: pop-shell: [ERROR] failed to create SearchOption: TypeError: this.scroller.get_vscroll_bar is not a function
Mar 27 10:50:48 adachi gnome-shell[269225]: pop-shell: [ERROR] failed to create SearchOption: TypeError: this.scroller.get_vscroll_bar is not a function
Mar 27 10:50:48 adachi gnome-shell[269225]: pop-shell: [INFO] stopping pop-launcher services

[csszialta]

I was actually just looking into this as well! I noticed the same errors in journalctl and ended up grepping the function call and found it in /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/pop-shell@system76.com/search.js in my system. I commented out the following lines

shell/src/search.ts

Lines 376 to 381 in b3fc425

	const vscroll = (this.scroller as any).get_vscroll_bar();
	if ((this.scroller as any).vscrollbar_visible) {
	vscroll.show();
	} else {
	vscroll.hide();
	}

since they just seem to make a vertical scrollbar visible. After restarting, my launcher was working again.

I looked into why this was happening and discovered that the function call was removed in the library recently as part of cleanups for Gnome 48: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/commit/794f0bcc75dbca4090f17e0f3a1f0c08840ef871#fb34343b30180ae68460b95e6ce5e969e3997534.

I haven't had a chance to take a closer look on how to restore the original functionality to work with Gnome 48 (tbh, I never noticed a vertical scrollbar before, but I've only been using pop-shell for a few weeks).

As far as I understand, this repo is no longer being kept up to date with newer Gnome releases, so I'm not sure what the process is for establishing a Gnome 48+ branch for fixes like this.

[j1nxie]

I haven't had a chance to take a closer look on how to restore the original functionality to work with Gnome 48 (tbh, I never noticed a vertical scrollbar before, but I've only been using pop-shell for a few weeks).

Honestly, neither have I - despite using pop-shell and the integrated launcher frontend for a good bit of my time!

As far as I understand, this repo is no longer being kept up to date with newer Gnome releases, so I'm not sure what the process is for establishing a Gnome 48+ branch for fixes like this.

I still see commits that are adding GNOME 48 support to the metadata as well as code fixes so I guess there might be a chance of it happening? Not too sure myself - I'm not particularly knowledgeable in developing GNOME extensions as well as what's happening.

[spatels]

This patch gets the app launcher working again for opening/switching apps in GNOME 48

diff --git a/src/search.ts b/src/search.ts
index 0d7a45f..f93775a 100644
--- a/src/search.ts
+++ b/src/search.ts
@@ -373,12 +373,8 @@ export class Search {
 
         this.list.show();
 
-        const vscroll = (this.scroller as any).get_vscroll_bar();
-        if ((this.scroller as any).vscrollbar_visible) {
-            vscroll.show();
-        } else {
-            vscroll.hide();
-        }
+        // Show vertical scrollbar only when needed, hide horizontal always
+        this.scroller.set_policy(St.PolicyType.NEVER, St.PolicyType.AUTOMATIC);
 
         if (id === 0) {
             GLib.idle_add(GLib.PRIORITY_DEFAULT, () => {

I hope it helps :)

[dagimg-dot]

•    // Show vertical scrollbar only when needed, hide horizontal always
  

•    this.scroller.set_policy(St.PolicyType.NEVER, St.PolicyType.AUTOMATIC);
  

Property set_policy does not exist on type "Widget"

[spatels]

Hello @dagimg-dot, thank you for trying out the patch. I'm unable to reproduce the error you're describing. set_policy is a method specific to St.ScrollView, which, while it does inherit from St.Widget, isn't a direct method of the Widget class.

For detailed information, please refer to the documentation here: https://gnome.pages.gitlab.gnome.org/gnome-shell/st/method.ScrollView.set_policy.html

It's possible, though I'm only speculating, that the error might be related to this.scroller not being an St.ScrollView instance in your case, or perhaps a scope or environment-related issue.

[edward-tecky]

This patch gets the app launcher working again for opening/switching apps in GNOME 48

diff --git a/src/search.ts b/src/search.ts
index 0d7a45f..f93775a 100644
--- a/src/search.ts
+++ b/src/search.ts
@@ -373,12 +373,8 @@ export class Search {
 
         this.list.show();
 
-        const vscroll = (this.scroller as any).get_vscroll_bar();
-        if ((this.scroller as any).vscrollbar_visible) {
-            vscroll.show();
-        } else {
-            vscroll.hide();
-        }
+        // Show vertical scrollbar only when needed, hide horizontal always
+        this.scroller.set_policy(St.PolicyType.NEVER, St.PolicyType.AUTOMATIC);
 
         if (id === 0) {
             GLib.idle_add(GLib.PRIORITY_DEFAULT, () => {

I hope it helps :)

I've been using the dnf-packaged on Fedora 42 (pop-launcher.x86_64 1.2.3^git20250129.0e01b09-1.fc42). Can confirm that pop-launcher on Gnome 48 resumes launching apps after making these changes.

Thank you for your help! It's aesthetically essential to my setup with Pop Shell.

[elisesouche]

•    // Show vertical scrollbar only when needed, hide horizontal always
  

•    this.scroller.set_policy(St.PolicyType.NEVER, St.PolicyType.AUTOMATIC);
  

Property set_policy does not exist on type "Widget"

@dagimg-dot I had this same issue. I used the following patch:

diff --git a/src/search.ts b/src/search.ts
index 0d7a45f..f93775a 100644
--- a/src/search.ts
+++ b/src/search.ts
@@ -373,12 +373,8 @@ export class Search {
 
         this.list.show();
 
-        const vscroll = (this.scroller as any).get_vscroll_bar();
-        if ((this.scroller as any).vscrollbar_visible) {
-            vscroll.show();
-        } else {
-            vscroll.hide();
-        }
+        // Show vertical scrollbar only when needed, hide horizontal always
+        (this.scroller as any).set_policy(St.PolicyType.NEVER, St.PolicyType.AUTOMATIC);
 
         if (id === 0) {
             GLib.idle_add(GLib.PRIORITY_DEFAULT, () => {

(Simply casting the scroller to any, to silence the typechecker (I guess? I don't know TypeScript 😅 )

It works for me with the latest version of Pop Shell in Nixpkgs (version nixos-unstable 25.11.20250619.08f2208)

[mg515]

I know this has been fixed (I can see it working on my personal arch/Gnome48 setup).
However, the launcher seems broken on my workstation. Fedora42/Gnome48 and shell installed from latest master_noble.

Can anyone tell me how to debug this better, where can I see the logs?

[dagimg-dot]

I know this has been fixed (I can see it working on my personal arch/Gnome48 setup).
However, the launcher seems broken on my workstation. Fedora42/Gnome48 and shell installed from latest master_noble.

Can anyone tell me how to debug this better, where can I see the logs?

Have you tried https://github.com/vicinaehq/vicinae