File dialogs bypass xdg-desktop-portal on Linux (GTK3 dialog hardcoded by Wails v2) #132

On Linux, Aether's file and folder dialogs (Select Wallpaper, Choose Wallpaper Folder, Choose Export Directory, Import) always show GTK3's built-in file chooser. They never go through xdg-desktop-portal, so the file picker the user has configured for their desktop is ignored.

Why it happens

The five dialogs in app.go use wailsrt.OpenFileDialog / wailsrt.OpenDirectoryDialog. In Wails v2.16.0 these are implemented with gtk_file_chooser_dialog_new (v2/internal/frontend/desktop/linux/window.c, line 768), which draws the dialog in-process and never talks to the portal. Setting GTK_USE_PORTAL=1 or GDK_DEBUG=portals has no effect, because those only apply to GtkFileChooserNative / GtkFileDialog.

How I confirmed it

1. Point the portal's FileChooser at a different backend, for example xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser (yazi) via ~/.config/xdg-desktop-portal/hyprland-portals.conf:

   [preferred]
   default=hyprland;gtk
   org.freedesktop.impl.portal.FileChooser=termfilechooser
   

2. Restart xdg-desktop-portal. Browsers, Electron apps and GTK4 apps now show the configured picker.
3. Start Aether (4.30.0, Omarchy package) with GTK_USE_PORTAL=1 GDK_DEBUG=portals, and open Editor → pick a wallpaper.

Expected: the configured portal picker opens.
Actual: GTK3's GtkFileChooserDialog opens. dbus-monitor --session "interface='org.freedesktop.portal.FileChooser'" shows no OpenFile call at all while the dialog is open.

Possible fix

Call org.freedesktop.portal.FileChooser.OpenFile over D-Bus (godbus is already in the module graph through Wails) and fall back to the Wails dialog when no portal answers. With Omarchy's default portal config (hyprland;gtk), users would get the GTK portal's file chooser, which looks very close to what they see today.

Wails v3 uses GtkFileDialog and so goes through the portal, but migrating is a much larger change. I have a small PR for the portal approach ready and will link it here.