LibreOffice has started displaying a donation nag

Bug #1949291 reported by Stephan Sokolow
8
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
LibreOffice
Fix Released
Wishlist
libreoffice (Ubuntu)
Triaged
Wishlist
Unassigned

Bug Description

I just opened up a spreadsheet (technically a CSV file, but who's counting), to discover LibreOffice displaying an eye-catching blue "Your donations support our worldwide community." banner just below the toolbars and about a toolbar and a half tall.

This irritating nag is apparently supposed to display every 90 to 180 days with no in-application means to disable it permanently, and there's apparently also a "Help us make LibreOffice even better!" banner that can appear too.

According to this blog post...

https://www.remembertheusers.com/2019/11/0580-libreoffice-nag-notices.html

...it is not responsive to configuration overrides within the user profile and the only apparent solution that doesn't require patching the source and rebuilding is to create a file containing the following markup in `$BASEDIR/share/registry` (`/usr/lib/libreoffice/share/registry` as installed by the Ubuntu package):

    <?xml version="1.0"?>
    <oor:data xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:oor="http://openoffice.org/2001/registry">
      <dependency file="main" />
      <oor:component-data xmlns:install="http://openoffice.org/2004/installation" oor:name="Setup" oor:package="org.openoffice">
        <node oor:name="Product">
          <prop oor:name="LastTimeGetInvolvedShown" oor:op="fuse" oor:finalized="true">
            <value>0</value>
          </prop>
          <prop oor:name="LastTimeDonateShown" oor:op="fuse" oor:finalized="true">
            <value>0</value>
          </prop>
        </node>
      </oor:component-data>
    </oor:data>

Regardless of how it's achieved, I think it's tasteless, irritating, and probably doesn't give a very good image to any office customers Ubuntu may have downstream for random employees to be receiving nag banners like that in IT-installed software.

Please consider patching it out or otherwise ensuring it never triggers in distro-provided builds of LibreOffice.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: libreoffice 1:6.4.7-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.11.0-37.41~20.04.2-generic 5.11.22
Uname: Linux 5.11.0-37-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.21
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
CurrentDesktop: KDE
Date: Sun Oct 31 04:32:03 2021
SourcePackage: libreoffice
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

Revision history for this message
In , Muhammet-kara-y (muhammet-kara-y) wrote :

Created attachment 158959
Screenshot with multiple notifications

Please see the screenshot to see how notifications bloat the interface. It was also reported that if the document was signed, there would be even more notifications.

Some suggestions to resolve the issue (from the LibreOffice Design channel):

1- "we need only one row with some drop-down list if there are more than one message there"

2- "Or prioritize & defer the low-prio notifications." For example, "Get Involved and Donate have no urgency. They can be deferred."

Revision history for this message
In , kompilainenn (79045-79045) wrote :

Else one from design channel:

we can show it all one by one with autohide

Revision history for this message
In , Rizmut (rizmut) wrote :

Just curious how it looks like with similar case in other office suite?

Revision history for this message
In , Heiko-tietze-g (heiko-tietze-g) wrote :

We can suppress WhatsNew and TotD when other TB are shown, if the other TB are cmming first. OTOH, is the issue really happening that often?

Revision history for this message
In , Muhammet-kara-y (muhammet-kara-y) wrote :

(In reply to Rizal Muttaqin from comment #2)
> Just curious how it looks like with similar case in other office suite?

No idea.

(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #3)
> We can suppress WhatsNew and TotD when other TB are shown, if the other TB
> are cmming first. OTOH, is the issue really happening that often?

I doubt that it happens frequently. Maybe this should be an 'enhancement'.

Revision history for this message
In , Heiko-tietze-g (heiko-tietze-g) wrote :

So let's do it.

Revision history for this message
In , Heiko-tietze-g (heiko-tietze-g) wrote :

(In reply to Roman Kuznetsov from comment #1)
> we can show it all one by one with autohide

Not a good idea in case of critical information. Keep also in mind that infobar may have interactions such as switching readonly into edit mode.

Let's just postpone the not so important infobars for donation and whatsnew (which is shown only once anyway) until the Ui is clean.

Revision history for this message
In , Thomas-lendo (thomas-lendo) wrote :

I would limit the quantity of blue infobars to one and every infobar should have an importance index. E.g.
1. Edit document note (most important, must be shown)
2. Release note (only visible when no other note above is shown)
3. Donate note (only visible when no other note above is shown)
4. Get involved note (only visible when no other note above is shown)

Is there somewhere a list of all possible infobars?

Revision history for this message
In , Heiko-tietze-g (heiko-tietze-g) wrote :

(In reply to Thomas Lendo from comment #7)
> I would limit the quantity of blue infobars to one and every infobar should
> have an importance index. E.g.

Infobars can be Info (blue), Warning (yellow), Error (red), and Success (green).

> Is there somewhere a list of all possible infobars?

You can dig into this list https://opengrok.libreoffice.org/search?project=core&full=infobar.hxx&defs=&refs=&path=&hist=&type=&si=full

Revision history for this message
In , Rizmut (rizmut) wrote :

LibO has pop-up baloon notification in top right for informing update. It could be utilized also IMHO for some infos like Release Notes, Get Involved or donation. it might be better to make the balloon pop up in a certain time. It has more rooms for more complex like ToTD but not too right-on-your-face either.

Revision history for this message
In , Heiko-tietze-g (heiko-tietze-g) wrote :

(In reply to Adolfo Jayme from comment #10)
> An easy way to lessen this issue is to make individual infobars thinner, and
> their icons 16 × 16 pixel instead of the current 24 × 24.

Which would contradict the idea of infobars namely pointing to some relevant information without interrupting the workflow.

Edit: Wrote "But I wonder if this one should be resolved WFM since Samuel implemented a solution. At least partly.", which is wrong. It's a better configurability done in https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/c/core/+/92638

Revision history for this message
Stephan Sokolow (ssokolow) wrote :
Changed in df-libreoffice:
importance: Unknown → Wishlist
status: Unknown → Confirmed
tags: added: rls-jj-incoming
Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

Ubuntu is an opensource operating system and not a commercial product, the banner is easy to dismis and the frequency isn't unreasonable, we are not going to change that over upstream

Changed in libreoffice (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Wishlist
status: New → Triaged
tags: added: rls-jj-notfixing
removed: rls-jj-incoming
Revision history for this message
Adolfo Jayme Barrientos (fitojb) wrote :

With my LibreOffice Design Team Member hat on, I think it’s fine if Debian and Ubuntu carry a distro patch like this to disable the infobar: https://cgit.freedesktop.org/libreoffice/core/commit/?h=distro/mimo/mimo-7-2&id=adc2ecfaa9da2f26fa6ac77114e7f912efd791f4

tags: added: rls-kk-incoming
Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

The bug isn't getting activity and we didn't get other report, it doesn't seem to annoy our users so we don't believe there is a reason to go against the upstream default behaviour there

tags: added: rls-kk-notfixing
removed: rls-kk-incoming
Revision history for this message
Adolfo Jayme Barrientos (fitojb) wrote :

Sebastien, I am tired of the bias developers tend to show. Bug trackers are notoriously difficult to use for normal users, let alone those who speak English. There is clearly annoyance if you got even one report.

--
Adolfo
<email address hidden>

Revision history for this message
In , Jeff Fortin Tam (kiddo) wrote :

With my marketing hat on:

I believe the solution is not to try to make infobars thinner or try to space out the nags, but rather to combine those calls-to-action into one infobar (that is deferred if needed, to not be shown at the same time as the read-only document infobar).

Infobars (at least in GTK) can have multiple action buttons, and the "Get involved" and "Donate" actions should be only one thing: "Contribute", pointing to a unified web landing page that takes care both of the "contribute by donating money" and "contribute by volunteering" scenarios. No need to make those separate messages.

As such, if you're going to nag every user on every new release, then my recommendation would be a single nag infobar like this:

> Welcome to LibreOffice XYZ! Discover what's new in this version, and help us future versions! [ Read the Release Notes] [ Contribute ] [X]

Clicking the buttons other than X would not close the infobar, that way they can click both buttons.

If you show three nags one after another (even on separate startups) instead, then you're just frustration-conditioning the user to close/dismiss anything shown there, and your nags lose their effectiveness.

Revision history for this message
In , regisperdreau (regis-perdreau) wrote :

Problem is this could/should be personalised according language/country/local community or specific users. High potential to create a white elephant, impossible to maintain. "But there's no such word as can't"
In the opposite point of view , I would propose to create another bar for local community marketing.

Revision history for this message
In , Eyalroz1 (eyalroz1) wrote :

(In reply to Thomas Lendo from comment #7)
> I would limit the quantity of blue infobars to one and every infobar should
> have an importance index.

I find this a good strategy - and have infobars which don't "make the cut" appear another time: The next time you open LO, or the next time after at least X days etc.

Revision history for this message
In , Libreoffice-commits (libreoffice-commits) wrote :

Heiko Tietze committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "master":

https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/607740654f2264e13469e4da1d020448217d7222

Resolves tdf#131550 - Suppress Donate/Involve infobar if another is visible

It will be available in 24.8.0.

The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
information about daily builds can be found at:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds

Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.

Revision history for this message
In , Heiko-tietze-g (heiko-tietze-g) wrote :

The patch hides the Donate and GetInvolved infobar if another one is visible.

(WhatsNew is going to be moved out of the infobar stack.)

Revision history for this message
In , Libreoffice-commits (libreoffice-commits) wrote :

Heiko Tietze committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "libreoffice-24-2":

https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/9b0ec6639e7218b93551fc680b0929a73ac1fd90

Resolves tdf#131550 - Suppress Donate/Involve infobar if another is visible

It will be available in 24.2.2.

The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
information about daily builds can be found at:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds

Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.

Revision history for this message
In , Libreoffice-commits (libreoffice-commits) wrote :

Heiko Tietze committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "libreoffice-7-6":

https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/8f3fb27880d6374f531cb012fe3b53179ecd4313

Resolves tdf#131550 - Suppress Donate/Involve infobar if another is visible

It will be available in 7.6.6.

The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
information about daily builds can be found at:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds

Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.

Revision history for this message
In , Stephane-guillou-i (stephane-guillou-i) wrote :

(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #16)
> The patch hides the Donate and GetInvolved infobar if another one is visible.
Heiko, are these delayed until the next opportunity, or are they just not shown at all?

Revision history for this message
In , Heiko-tietze-g (heiko-tietze-g) wrote :

(In reply to Stéphane Guillou (stragu) from comment #19)
> Heiko, are these delayed until the next opportunity, or are they just not
> shown at all?
Just delayed. GetInvolved will come first and Donate the next program start, if no other infobar is shown.

Revision history for this message
In , Stephane-guillou-i (stephane-guillou-i) wrote :

(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #20)
> (In reply to Stéphane Guillou (stragu) from comment #19)
> > Heiko, are these delayed until the next opportunity, or are they just not
> > shown at all?
> Just delayed. GetInvolved will come first and Donate the next program start,
> if no other infobar is shown.
Great, thank you for clarifying!

Changed in df-libreoffice:
status: Confirmed → Fix Released
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