Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: Linux icon grouping issue impacting windows including PWAs

[Dan Murphy]

+pwa-dev for visibility.

I see this code here that is used to create the .desktop file. This function is called in multiple placesin the linux shortcut integration.

What should that `StartupWMClass` field be? I don't see any user discussion on the bug. What do you recommend to fix it?

On Tue, Oct 21, 2025 at 2:44 PM Alex Russell <alexr...@microsoft.com> wrote:

Thanks for adding me. I'm hearing about this from external folks, and the usability impact is pretty bad. Do we have a view as to the priority for a fix? Do we know if it will be hard or easy?

Best,

Alex

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From: Kristin Lee (EDGE) <krist...@microsoft.com>
Sent: 21 October 2025 12:01
To: Alexander Kyereboah <akyer...@microsoft.com>; Dan Murphy <dmu...@google.com>
Cc: Rob Paveza <Rob.P...@microsoft.com>; Limin Zhu (Edge) <li...@microsoft.com>; Alex Russell <alexr...@microsoft.com>
Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: Linux icon grouping issue impacting windows including PWAs

 

Adding @Alex Russell and sharing the new bug link (to one with Default Access):

[Linux] Browser windows group into one icon regardless of profile or standalone window [453958057] - Chromium

Kristin Lee

She/Her/Hers
Software Engineer @ Edge

Ada C16 Alum
krist...@microsoft.com

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From: Alexander Kyereboah <akyer...@microsoft.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 2, 2025 1:53 PM
To: Dan Murphy <dmu...@google.com>
Cc: Kristin Lee (EDGE) <krist...@microsoft.com>; Rob Paveza <Rob.P...@microsoft.com>; Limin Zhu (Edge) <li...@microsoft.com>
Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: Linux icon grouping issue impacting windows including PWAs

Some users pointed out that the StartupWMClass is incorrect for these new browser windows, causing them to all be grouped under the same application. Manually setting the StartupWMClass apparently fixes it, so it could be that changing how we are creating the class for Linux is the fix, but we haven't invested time to root cause and confirm on our side. 

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From: Dan Murphy <dmu...@google.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 2, 2025 1:45 PM
To: Alexander Kyereboah <akyer...@microsoft.com>
Cc: Kristin Lee (EDGE) <krist...@microsoft.com>; Rob Paveza <Rob.P...@microsoft.com>; Limin Zhu (Edge) <li...@microsoft.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: Linux icon grouping issue impacting windows including PWAs

You don't often get email from dmu...@google.com. Learn why this is important

Interesting. huh. Do we know how to fix it? 

On Thu, Oct 2, 2025 at 11:08 AM Alexander Kyereboah <akyer...@microsoft.com> wrote:

Sending this to Dan's google email as well in case it slipped through the cracks (and cc'ing Limin).

Please let me know if there's a good contact to redirect or assign this bug to!

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From: Alexander Kyereboah <akyer...@microsoft.com>
Sent: Friday, September 26, 2025 2:43 PM
To: Daniel Murphy <dmu...@chromium.org>; Kristin Lee (EDGE) <krist...@microsoft.com>
Cc: Rob Paveza <Rob.P...@microsoft.com>
Subject: Linux icon grouping issue impacting windows including PWAs

Hi Dan!

We've been getting a lot of reports in Edge about an issue where in Linux, all instances of Chromium are grouping into the same owning application, even in cases where they are supposed to be standalone. This means that PWAs are also grouping. We've noticed that it reproduces in Chrome as well, and I've made a tracking bug with repro steps, images, and videos here: [Linux] Browser windows group into one icon regardless of profile or standalone window [447533829] - Issue Tracker

I don't think it's just a PWA issue since it affects different browser profiles as well but wanted to bring it to your attention in case you wanted to redirect it somewhere, since it does also affect PWAs.

Let us know if you need any additional details from us!

Thanks,

Alex and Kristin 

 

[Dan Murphy]

Circling back - @Alexander Kyereboah  -  if you have a repro and you know the fix, you are already multiple steps ahead of me trying to figure this out. Would you be able to poke at the code there to fix it?

On Thu, Oct 23, 2025 at 3:18 PM Alex Russell <alexr...@microsoft.com> wrote:

So this might be as simple as fixing some escaping code? That's great news! Thank you so much for digging in, Alex.

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From: Alexander Kyereboah <akyer...@microsoft.com>
Sent: 23 October 2025 14:56
To: Dan Murphy <dmu...@google.com>; Alex Russell <alexr...@microsoft.com>; pwa-dev <pwa...@chromium.org>

Cc: Kristin Lee (EDGE) <krist...@microsoft.com>; Rob Paveza <Rob.P...@microsoft.com>; Limin Zhu (Edge) <li...@microsoft.com>
Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: Linux icon grouping issue impacting windows including PWAs

 

There's a reported Edge Github Issue that has a lot more discussion around this: Edge PWAs no longer use separate window class - all group under main Edge icon (Wayland / GNOME) · Issue #706 · flathub/com.microsoft.Edge

The reporter initially mentions that it's only repro'ing on Edge but later mentions that they are having to use a workaround for Edge and Chrome. I also repro'ed on Chrome a couple of days ago (attached in the CRBug), so I think the thread is relevant to the Chromium implementation. 

From the discussion, the issue could be that there is a missing underscore in the .desktop file name and adding it back is functioning it as a workaround. 

The relevant code for that would be here, but in that function we replace all underscores as illegal characters.

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From: Dan Murphy <dmu...@google.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2025 3:23 PM
To: Alex Russell <alexr...@microsoft.com>; pwa-dev <pwa...@chromium.org>
Cc: Kristin Lee (EDGE) <krist...@microsoft.com>; Alexander Kyereboah <akyer...@microsoft.com>; Rob Paveza <Rob.P...@microsoft.com>; Limin Zhu (Edge) <li...@microsoft.com>