Bug 164305 - Provide a more recognizeable process name and icon than "soffice.bin" to the operating system
Summary: Provide a more recognizeable process name and icon than "soffice.bin" to the ...
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: LibreOffice (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
Inherited From OOo
Hardware: All Linux (All)
: lowest enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords: needsDevAdvice
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2024-12-12 18:38 UTC by Jeff Fortin Tam
Modified: 2025-01-28 08:09 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
Screenshot: how LibreOffice shows up in the system monitor's processes list on Linux (54.58 KB, image/png)
2024-12-12 18:38 UTC, Jeff Fortin Tam
Details
Screenshot - among other applications (199.58 KB, image/png)
2024-12-15 13:43 UTC, Jeff Fortin Tam
Details

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Description Jeff Fortin Tam 2024-12-12 18:38:30 UTC
Created attachment 198092 [details]
Screenshot: how LibreOffice shows up in the system monitor's processes list on Linux

1. Open any LibreOffice application
2. Open gnome-system-monitor and try to find it in the Processes list

Actual Result:

It is only listed as "soffice.bin" (and "oosplash", even though the app has been launched and presumably doesn't need a splashcreen process to remain?), with no app icon. Additionally, if you are running the flatpak version, you will see the accompanying "bwrap" processes.

Expected result:

- Ideally, a per-app process name and icon (ex: LibreOffice-Calc with its icon)
- Otherwise, a global suite process name (ex: libreoffice, with the general icon)

Most other apps manage to do this, so presumably LibreOffice can, too.

-------------

Tested with:

Version: 24.8.3.2 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 48a6bac9e7e268aeb4c3483fcf825c94556d9f92
CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 6.11; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Flatpak
Calc: threaded
Comment 1 V Stuart Foote 2024-12-12 21:03:52 UTC
No imperative to do this, and as LibreOffice is a monolithic app each of the "modules" run as some instance of soffice.bin. Nothing to be gained by wrapping that into some other string.

-1
Comment 2 Roman Kuznetsov 2024-12-14 19:00:54 UTC
Please share a screenshot with other user space software in gnome-system-monitor, like Firefox, text editor, PDF viewer, etc.
Comment 3 Jeff Fortin Tam 2024-12-15 13:43:47 UTC
Created attachment 198118 [details]
Screenshot - among other applications

Thank you for your willingness to entertain the idea.

As requested, here is a screenshot showing other applications identifying themselves nicely, and setting their icon. Note that among those, only 3 of thome are flatpaks, the rest are system-installed native packages. As you can see, it's not a flatpak-specific thing, and it's been possible since time immemorial.
Comment 4 Roman Kuznetsov 2024-12-16 07:42:21 UTC
We can't change the process name but about icon for it we can think I hope
Comment 5 Heiko Tietze 2024-12-16 10:34:03 UTC
Kind of similar question in bug 164311. And aren't there worse applications listed among the processes?
Comment 6 Jeff Fortin Tam 2025-01-25 21:24:46 UTC
> Kind of similar question in bug 164311.

I don't see how this directly relates; I'm not asking to change the binaries' names or paths on the filesystem, I'm asking for the application to more helpfully nickname itself in the Linux processes list so that it's more recognizeable and humanized. If even Python apps can do it, why can't LibreOffice?

> aren't there worse applications listed among the processes?

I don't really think that "There are one or two other bad* apples among the ones listed in the screenshot" is a good reason for this app to avoid naming itself properly like the 20+ other apps that are clearly recognizeable in that screenshot. I'd rather want to encourage LibreOffice to lead by example like the other good apps.

---

*: I don't even know which ones you are referring to in my screenshot, other than maybe gjs and tracker-miner-fs-3... but Tracker is getting renamed precisely to make it easier for people looking at the processes list to figure out what they are: https://blogs.gnome.org/carlosg/2024/07/14/goodbye-tracker-hello-tinysparql-and-localsearch/
Comment 7 Heiko Tietze 2025-01-27 08:49:21 UTC
(In reply to Jeff Fortin Tam from comment #6)
> I'd rather want to encourage LibreOffice to lead by example
> like the other good apps.

oosplash => LibreOffice Start Screen
soffice.bin => LibreOffice 

But if you start from Calc, for example, the entry is "soffice.bin --calc" and remains as this even after closing Calc and starting Writer.

But I agree with your point: a more user-friendly name would be nice. Feel free to reopen.
Comment 8 Jeff Fortin Tam 2025-01-27 16:12:54 UTC
> But if you start from Calc, for example, the entry is "soffice.bin --calc"
> and remains as this even after closing Calc and starting Writer.

I understand that everything is a central dispatcher application with parameters, instead of individual applications; to be clear, I think it would be fine for the app to nickname its process "libreoffice" no matter which "app" component is running; at least it would be somewhat recognizeable in line with the project's brand :)
Comment 9 Heiko Tietze 2025-01-28 08:09:43 UTC
Hossein, this might be an easyhack - or a wontfix due to effort ;-)