Ticket xavierk/voculinux#27, built on #18 (rename) plus the #25/#26
dependency templates. The template builds the app from the canonical
checksum-verified release sdist, depends on Void's interpreter, GTK,
desktop bindings and packaged Python libraries, and installs the
renamed desktop entry, icons and a packaged-install marker. No speech
models, no vendored wheels, no pip at build or install time.
Packaged installs keep background update checks as a signal, but every
update affordance presents the package-manager path
(src/vocalinux/utils/packaging.py). Also corrects the Void distro
inventory (Ayatana provider name; ydotool marked absent) and regens
the installer map.
The fork takes its own name everywhere a user can see it: binaries
(voculinux, voculinux-gui), desktop entry, autostart, tray, D-Bus
namespace (com.voculinux.Voculinux, no alias for the old name),
config/data/cache dirs, single-instance lock, IBus engine identity,
tray icons, resource prefixes, VOCULINUX_* environment names, and the
update-checker user agent. The internal Python module stays vocalinux
and the distribution metadata keeps the upstream URLs as provenance.
On first run a previous Vocalinux install's config.json, custom
dictionary, and portal restore token are copied once into the new
locations (new config always wins, no merge, no write-back); models
re-resolve through the pinned-checksum download path. An offline
naming-sweep test proves no old-name strings remain on user-visible
surfaces outside the allowlist.
Refs #18
* docs: polish project documentation for a clearer public surface
Rewrite the README and supporting docs for a more professional first
impression: less emoji and badge noise, install-first structure, and a
real documentation index. Add a Contributor Covenant, tighten SECURITY
and GitHub templates, and make distro/update guides read as product docs
instead of internal status notes.
* docs: split install guide and add changelog plus support pages
Break INSTALL.md into a short primary guide, manual/PyPI package lists,
and troubleshooting. Add root CHANGELOG.md and SUPPORT.md, wire them
into the docs index and README, and drop the outdated screenshot lag note
now that v0.15 assets are on main.
* docs: humanize PR copy and remove em dashes
Strip em/en dashes from the documentation rewritten in this PR, fix
mid-sentence colon fallout from that pass, and smooth a few stiff
phrases so the public docs read more natural.
* docs: list Faster Whisper after rebase onto main
Installer and CLI already accept faster_whisper. Document it next to
the other engines, drop the outdated screenshot lag note, and keep the
on-device wording honest for local vs remote.
* feat(snap): add Snap packaging recipe and store publish strategy
Add a strict-confinement snapcraft.yaml aligned with the current app
version and Flatpak sandbox lessons (mic, desktop, network models,
xdotool/xsel injection). Document human-only Snap Store steps and mark
install docs as not published yet.
Refs #48
* fix(snap): adopt-info so craftctl can set version from version.py
snapcraft pack failed: craftctl set version requires adopt-info on the part.
* fix(snap): stop staging GTK/GLib over the gnome platform
Prepending snap-staged GI typelibs and lib paths caused a segfault on
from gi.repository import Gtk. Use platform AppIndicator/GTK and only
stage PortAudio plus xdotool/clipboard helpers.
* docs(snap): note platform GTK path to avoid GI segfault
* fix(snap): route ALSA through Pulse so Settings does not abort
PortAudio enumerates ALSA devices when Settings opens. Missing
/usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf inside the snap triggered a PortAudio assert.
Ship an asound.conf that uses the pulse plugin, stage libasound2-plugins,
and bind ALSA paths via layout.
* fix(snap): keep ALSA conf under snap/local for snapcraft
Move asound.conf out of snap/alsa so snapcraft stops warning about
non-snapcraft paths in the snap directory.
* fix(snap): request raw-input for global keyboard shortcuts
Strict confinement blocks /proc/bus/input and /dev/input, so Wayland
evdev hotkeys never start. Declare the raw-input plug (manual connect)
and print snap-specific connect instructions instead of host input-group
hints.
* fix(hotkeys): discover keyboards via evdev when /proc is blocked
Snap raw-input grants /dev/input/event* but still denies
/proc/bus/input/devices, so find_keyboard_devices() returned empty
and hotkeys never started. Fall back to evdev.list_devices() when
/proc cannot be read.
* fix(snap): restore UI sounds and prefer wtype for Wayland inject
Stage paplay (pulseaudio-utils) and wtype; teach audio_feedback about
pw-play/canberra. xdotool-only injection often hits the wrong window on
native Wayland even when it reports success.
* fix(snap): sync 0.16.2/AGPL metadata and AppImage-safe audio env
Align snapcraft fallback version and store metadata with current main
(VocaHQ URLs, AGPL-3.0), keep docs pointing at #48 on VocaHQ, pass
host_env to pw-play/canberra paths, and document ordered Snap Store
human deploy steps.
* test(snap): harden audio host_env unit test against suite pollution
Patch os.path.exists like sibling audio_feedback tests instead of relying
on a real tempfile path that can collide with other suite mocks.
* style(snap): black-format new audio and snap packaging tests
* docs(snap): treat Store listing as live; edge→candidate→stable refresh
Name vocalinux is already on snapcraft.io (edge @ 0.14.0-beta rev 6).
Document upload/release without re-register, add snap-store-refresh.sh
helper, and point INSTALL/README/DISTRO at the live listing.
* fix(snap): move to core24 and close evdev capability FDs
core22 only ships Python 3.10, which fails requires-python >=3.11, so the
snap base is now core24 (Python 3.12) with the gnome-46 platform and the
Ubuntu 24.04 libasound2t64 package. Also close InputDevice after failed
capability scans and annotate the proc parser with TextIO.
* Snap: align store listing metadata and icon
Match snapcraft.yaml summary, description, license, website, and store
icon to the live Snap Store listing.
* Snap: trim packaging docs, script, and unused SVG
Drop store refresh wrapper, long packaging README, duplicate snap/gui SVG, and speculative pw-play/canberra paths; keep recipe and confinement fixes.
* ci: publish snap to edge and candidate on release tags
* Snap: set grade stable for candidate channel CI
* Snap: skip pip PyGObject; use gnome extension GI
* chore(build): migrate justfile tooling to uv
All recipes now run through 'uv run' against .venv, with a shared
DEV_EXTRAS variable (dev + vad) because uv syncs the environment
exactly and would otherwise uninstall the dev tools between
recipes. 'deps' installs dev+vad; new 'deps-all' covers every
extra. 'build' switches to 'uv build'; 'version' uses --no-sync.
Bump [tool.uv] required-version to >=0.12,<0.13 for uv 0.12.x, and
raise the mypy python_version target to 3.12: mypy 1.19 in the lock
cannot target 3.9 and numpy 2.x stubs need a 3.12 target to parse
(mypy is not run in CI or pre-commit; this only affects 'just
typecheck').
* fix(tests): isolate test runs from real XDG state; fix Arch model-path crash
Local test runs failed en masse (185 failures) while CI stayed
green: tests picked up the developer's real ~/.local/share/vocalinux
models via the default XDG paths and switched IBus/keyboard code
paths through the desktop session env (XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP/
XDG_SESSION_TYPE on GNOME/Wayland, issue #478 branches). conftest
now points XDG base dirs at a throwaway session-wide directory and
clears session variables at import time, mirroring a fresh CI
runner (paths like MODELS_DIR freeze at first import during
collection, so fixture-time isolation is too late).
Also guard the Arch branch of _get_system_model_paths(): it removed
/usr/local/share/vocalinux/models unconditionally and crashed with
ValueError on Arch hosts when a custom XDG_DATA_DIRS never added
that path. Add regression tests, and make the lock-file test assert
the actual $XDG_DATA_HOME/vocalinux contract instead of the
hardcoded ~/.local/share default.
* fix(tests): keep the IBus engine double a plain class
Python 3.14's unittest.mock re-instantiates a user subclass when it builds
child mocks (klass(name=...)). VocalinuxEngine inherits from whatever
IBus.Engine resolves to, and the test module bound that to the MagicMock
class itself, so every engine instantiation raised
TypeError: VocalinuxEngine.__init__() got an unexpected keyword argument 'name'
on 3.14 while passing on 3.13. Replace it with a plain stand-in class that
still hands out per-instance MagicMocks for the IBus API surface the engine
touches.
The same pattern remains in test_ibus_engine.py, test_ibus_engine_utils.py,
test_ibus_active_engine_guard.py and test_ibus_xkb_wayland.py; those never
instantiate the engine, so they are unaffected for now.
* fix(install): build the venv from the system Python
install.sh looked up a bare `python3` from PATH. Started from an activated
virtualenv — a shell left in uv's .venv after `just deps` — it built venv/
from that interpreter, where distro PyGObject is invisible even with
--system-site-packages, and the run aborted with
Distro PyGObject (python3-gi / python3-gobject) is not importable in the venv.
A mismatched venv/ then survived every retry, because the installer reuses
whatever venv it finds.
- drop an inherited VIRTUAL_ENV (and its bin from PATH) before any
interpreter lookup
- select the interpreter explicitly: $SYSTEM_PYTHON (default
/usr/bin/python3) or PATH python3, preferring one that can import gi,
and create the venv with it instead of `python3`
- recreate venv/ when it was built by a different interpreter
- name the interpreter in the PyGObject guard's error
Documents the two environments (uv's .venv for tooling, venv/ for the
installed app) in CONTRIBUTING, the justfile header and AGENTS.md, and adds
the mismatch symptom to the INSTALL troubleshooting section.
* chore(python): raise the supported floor to 3.11
requires-python promised 3.9 while the CI matrix ran 3.9/3.10/3.11/3.13,
the classifiers advertised up to 3.14, mypy targeted 3.12 and install.sh
enforced 3.9 — five different answers to "which Python does this support".
Settle on 3.11 everywhere: pyproject (requires-python, classifiers, black
targets), install.sh's MIN_VERSION, check-system-deps.sh, the distro package
map, the CI matrix (now 3.11-3.14, matching the classifiers), the release and
nightly workflows, and the docs.
mypy now targets the floor instead of 3.12, so type checking covers what we
promise; numpy 2.x ships stubs in 3.12 syntax that a 3.11 target cannot
parse, so its imports are skipped. (mypy has 71 pre-existing errors either
way; no CI job gates on it.)
uv.lock and the requirements/* exports are regenerated — dropping 3.9/3.10
removes most of the version-conditional resolution branches.
tests/test_python_version_policy.py pins the invariant: install.sh's floor,
requires-python, the classifiers and the CI matrix must agree.
* ci: run lint and tests from uv.lock
The lock file and the hash-pinned exports were not enforced anywhere: CI
still built a venv by hand and installed unpinned `PyGObject` plus
`-e ".[dev,vad]"`, so the tool versions it checked against had nothing to do
with the ones `just lint` uses locally.
Both Python jobs now use astral-sh/setup-uv and run through `uv sync
--locked` / `uv run --locked`, which also fails the build when uv.lock drifts
from pyproject.toml.
Partially covers phase 5 of #701 (tests install from the lock, lock freshness
gate); trusted publishing, artifact checksums and action SHA pinning are
still open there.
* ci: lint from a dedicated dependency group
The lint job failed on this branch: `uv run --extra dev` syncs the whole
project, so it tried to build pyaudio from source on a runner that installs
no system dependencies.
src/pyaudio/device_api.c:9:10: fatal error: portaudio.h: No such file or directory
Move black/isort/flake8 out of the `dev` extra into a `lint` dependency
group. CI runs `uv run --locked --only-group lint`, which installs the three
pure-Python tools and skips the project entirely — no portaudio or
girepository headers needed. `just deps` and DEV_EXTRAS request the group
alongside the dev extras, so the local environment still carries test and
lint tooling at once and `just lint` matches CI version for version.
pre-commit is unaffected: its hooks pin their own tool versions upstream.
* fix(install): never configure an engine the venv cannot import
vosk became an optional extra in #705, but the installer still writes
`"engine": "vosk"` into config.json on the whisper.cpp fallback path even
when installing the extra only produced a warning. config.json also survives
reinstalls — every writer guards on "file does not exist" — so an engine
picked by an earlier attempt outlives the venv that supported it. Either way
Vocalinux dies at startup:
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'vosk'
- the fallback now writes the vosk config only when `import vosk` actually
succeeds, and otherwise leaves the engine configuration alone
- a new verify_configured_engine() runs near the end of the install: if
config.json selects vosk and the venv cannot import it, it says so and
prints both fixes instead of leaving a broken install behind
* feat(models): verify every model download against a pinned digest
Pins a sha256/md5 per downloadable speech model in
src/vocalinux/utils/model_checksums.txt and verifies against it in both
install.sh and the runtime downloaders, before the file is moved into place.
Verification fails closed. Covers phase 2.5 of #701; see the PR for details.
* docs(agents): rebase AGENTS.md onto the #727 rewrite
* fix(install): hash models that are already on disk instead of trusting them
* refactor(models): one download path per engine, and fix Whisper's
* docs(install): drop distros that cannot meet the 3.11 floor
* docs: retire the distros and Python versions the 3.11 floor rules out
* fix(install): abort instead of warning when Python is below the floor
* fix(install): fall back to the system Python, not the one on PATH
* fix(install): match an existing venv by installation, not by X.Y
* fix(install): repair a config naming an engine the venv cannot import
* fix(models): pin VOSK by the sha256 of bytes we fetched, not upstream's md5
* fix(justfile): request the dev set in every recipe that syncs
* test(version): scan the docs and website trees for a stale Python floor
* docs: correct the stale model-checksum and distro claims
* fix(models): stamp the VOSK tree the app extracts, as the installer does
* fix(install): replace an unverified VOSK model only once its successor is ready
* docs(install): align the Fedora floor with the rest of the tree
* test(install): drop an f-string with no placeholders
* test(models): stub the downloader probe the VOSK installer test relies on
* docs: drop the long dashes from two model-checksum comments
* fix(install): gate on the interpreter, not on the distro release label
* fix(justfile): export the lint group into requirements/dev.txt
* fix(models): unpack the VOSK tree into staging and stamp it before the swap
* fix(whisper): adopt a checkpoint an earlier release stored under the catalog name
* docs(settings): state what a stray Whisper copy really means for deletion
* fix(models): hash a whisper.cpp model found on disk before it reaches ctypes
* docs(contributing): stop telling readers to uninstall their linters
* fix(install): stop warning off distros the project documents as supported
* docs(distros): file the supported derivatives under supported
* fix(install): leftover review notes from #700 and #705
The scratch dir now holds pip logs and model download temps, so a failed
run has something to inspect. Dep, venv, leftover-process, and pip
failures use exit codes 2/3/4 instead of a blanket 1. --help says the
transcript is written during installation, and the tag hint is
--tag=<release>.
AGENTS.md no longer claims the hash-pinned exports are consumed (they
wait for phases 2/3/5). Docs add a just install line and
vocalinux[vosk] next to the PyPI commands. Settings points at
--engine=whisper. The whisper.cpp fallback installs ".[vosk]".
Fixes leftover review notes from #700 and #705.
Refs #701.
* fix(install): do not let pip build PyGObject from sdist
Fresh --auto --skip-system-deps died on pygobject-3.56.3 even with
distro python3-gi present. Install the other runtime deps from
pyproject.toml, then pip install --no-deps. Extra installs use the
extra's packages only, not pip install ".[extra]".
Fixes leftover review notes from #700 and #705.
Refs #701.
* fix(install): tolerate unset XDG_SESSION_TYPE under set -u
--auto with DISPLAY but no login session died on
XDG_SESSION_TYPE: unbound variable. The session probe now uses
${XDG_SESSION_TYPE:-}, ${WAYLAND_DISPLAY:-}, and ${DISPLAY:-}.
Repo links, install one-liners, and release checks now use
github.com/VocaHQ/vocalinux. The site mentions VocaHQ without a redesign.
The Codeberg mirror, personal email, and X handle are unchanged.
* feat(shortcuts): default to hold Right Alt push-to-talk on first install
Double-tap Ctrl conflicts with many desktop and app shortcuts, so new
installs now use hold Right Alt (Option) in push-to-talk mode. Existing
config.json values are preserved unchanged.
Updates README, user guide, AGENTS.md, first-run dialog, website copy,
and tests to match the new defaults.
* refactor(shortcuts): trim redundant default-change test and comments
Drop the fresh-install assertion that duplicated DEFAULT_CONFIG coverage,
remove the duplicated Right-Alt rationale from config_manager, and drop a
vacuous source-string check from the settings shortcuts test.
* fix(shortcuts): align install.sh seeds and preserve legacy toggle mode
install.sh still wrote ctrl+ctrl without mode, so merges with the new
push_to_talk default became hold-Ctrl. Seed right_alt + push_to_talk for
new installs, and migrate existing shortcut-only configs to mode=toggle
so prior behavior is unchanged.
* style(config): fix black formatting after shortcuts migration
* fix(shortcuts): preserve legacy defaults when shortcuts section is missing
Existing config files without a shortcuts section previously inherited
ctrl+ctrl toggle from DEFAULT_CONFIG. Pin those historical defaults on
upgrade so the new first-install Right Alt push-to-talk defaults do not
silently change behavior.
* docs(agents): unwrap hard-broken dictation control paragraph
Keep the AGENTS.md paragraph as a single line like the surrounding prose.
* docs(packaging): prefer Ayatana AppIndicator in Fedora/Arch hints
Follow-up to #621: align docs, AUR depends, package map, dependency
check messages, and troubleshooting copy with the Ayatana-first install
path so manual installs and AUR users get a working KDE tray icon.
Co-authored-by: Jatin K Malik <jatinkrmalik@users.noreply.github.com>
* style(main): black-format Ayatana install hint lines
CI black --check failed on the multi-line logger.error calls for the
Fedora/Arch package hints.
Co-authored-by: Jatin K Malik <jatinkrmalik@users.noreply.github.com>
---------
Co-authored-by: Cursor Agent <cursoragent@cursor.com>
Co-authored-by: Jatin K Malik <jatinkrmalik@users.noreply.github.com>
* feat(flatpak): add Flatpak packaging for universal distribution
Adds a Flathub-ready Flatpak for the whisper.cpp engine, plus the minimal
runtime adaptations Flatpak actually needs — deliberately scoped down from the
earlier attempts (#416, #428), which bundled unrelated whisper.cpp GPU, audio,
and clipboard changes.
Packaging (packaging/flatpak/):
- app manifest, AppStream metainfo, and desktop entry (com.vocalinux.Vocalinux)
- generated offline Python dependency modules (flatpak-pip-generator)
- bundled shared modules: PortAudio, libayatana-appindicator, xdotool, xsel
Runtime changes (Flatpak-only, behaviour unchanged outside a sandbox):
- utils/paths.py: honour XDG_CONFIG_HOME/XDG_DATA_HOME so config, models and
runtime data live under ~/.var/app/<app-id> in the sandbox
- autostart uses `flatpak run <app-id>` (the host launcher is always on PATH)
- text injection and keyboard backend detect a Wayland host reached via XWayland
(no Wayland socket granted) and route through xdotool / pynput-on-X11
- tray indicator references the exported `<app-id>-*` host icon theme names
Also: a CI workflow building x86_64 + aarch64 bundles, and README / packaging
README / distro-compatibility doc updates.
Verified with a full flatpak-builder build + bundle install on aarch64:
pywhispercpp loads its native libraries without LD_LIBRARY_PATH, XDG paths
redirect correctly, bundled tools are present, and the entrypoint runs.
Manifest and builddir lint are clean and AppStream metadata validates.
Closes#167
* chore(flatpak): sync metainfo version to 0.14.0-beta
Also ignore flatpak-build-dir/ so local builder output stays untracked.
* refactor(flatpak): trim docs and comments after ponytail review
Drop redundant packaging README command blocks, shrink path/tray/autostart
comments, and stop ignoring a non-canonical build-dir name.
* fix(flatpak): close readiness gaps for v0.14.0-beta
Route log files through XDG data dirs so Flatpak keeps them under
~/.var/app, refresh AppStream screenshots to vocalinux.com, and use
the SPDX GPL-3.0-only license id.
* fix(flatpak): enable global hotkeys via evdev and --device=input
pynput over XWayland only receives keys for the focused X client. Prefer
evdev inside Flatpak and grant /dev/input so shortcuts work app-wide.
* fix(flatpak): inject text with ydotool/uinput on Wayland
xdotool only reaches XWayland clients, so typing appeared to succeed but
never hit native apps. Ship ydotool, grant --device=all for uinput, start
ydotoold on demand, and type via uinput inside the Flatpak.
* fix(flatpak): paste via wl-copy + Ctrl+V instead of typing
ydotool type injects character-by-character. Ship wl-clipboard, grant
--socket=wayland, and prefer clipboard paste for instant insertion.
* test(text-injection): expect ydotool default key-delay of 2
Matches the shipped VOCALINUX_YDOTOOL_KEY_DELAY default used when
clipboard paste falls back to character typing.
Add missing pywhispercpp build prerequisites (libssl-dev, autoconf,
automake, libtool, patchelf) to both Debian and Ubuntu apt package lists.
These are not pulled in transitively on clean Debian installs and cause
CMake bootstrap failures during source compilation.
Add runtime smoke test for pywhispercpp to verify_installation() so
"installs but does not run" failures surface at install time with
actionable diagnostic steps instead of silently at first launch.
Treat Debian as a first-class target — remove the "primarily designed for
Ubuntu" warning for Debian systems. Remain conservative for non-Debian,
non-Ubuntu distros.
Add DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive to all apt install commands to prevent
interactive debconf prompts from blocking unattended installs.
Improve ydotool failure messaging on Debian with compile-from-source
instructions since ydotool is not packaged in Debian standard repos.
Add Debian-specific troubleshooting section to DISTRO_COMPATIBILITY.md
covering build deps, ydotool compilation, scoped source builds, and
libwhisper.so resolution diagnostics.
References: https://medium.com/@cslev/talking-to-my-linux-box-without-talking-to-the-cloud-vocalinux-on-debian-without-the-tears-10bf053ea21b
* chore: bump minimum Python from 3.8 to 3.9 and adopt PEP 585 builtins
- Update requires-python, classifiers, mypy target, and black target in pyproject.toml
- Replace Python 3.8 with 3.9 in CI matrix and nightly workflow
- Replace typing.List/Dict/Tuple/Set with builtin list/dict/tuple/set (PEP 585)
- Update all 3.8 version references in README, docs, website, and install.sh
- Fix test_wayland_no_tools to mock IBus availability
- Remove List from common_types re-exports and update test
* style: reformat test files for Black 26.x and pin version in CI
Black 26.x introduced parenthesized context manager formatting.
Reformat 7 test files and pin Black>=26,<27 in CI to prevent
future drift from unpinned version upgrades.
The install.sh on main now dynamically resolves the latest release tag
via GitHub API (merged in PR #313), so pinning to a specific release tag
in install commands is no longer needed — and was causing users to run
the old hardcoded installer.
Update all curl install command URLs across docs, code, and website from
versioned tags (v0.9.0-beta, v0.8.0-beta) to main/install.sh:
- README.md (4 URLs + note text)
- docs/INSTALL.md (2 URLs + note text)
- docs/UPDATE.md (2 URLs)
- docs/DISTRO_COMPATIBILITY.md (1 URL)
- tests/distro-testing-checklist.md (1 URL)
- src/vocalinux/main.py (1 URL)
- web/src/app/page.tsx (remove dynamic release fetch, hardcode main)
* fix: improve Debian/pipx installation experience
- Enhanced error messages in check_dependencies() to provide distro-specific
installation commands (Ubuntu/Debian, Fedora, Arch Linux)
- Added explicit pipx guidance: install system packages BEFORE pipx install
- Updated error message to use gir1.2-ayatanaappindicator3-0.1 for Debian
- Added comprehensive pipx installation section to DISTRO_COMPATIBILITY.md
with step-by-step instructions for all major distributions
* fix: add display availability check to prevent GTK crash on Debian
The original PR only added documentation and improved error messages.
This commit adds the actual fix for issue #288.
Root cause: On some systems (especially Debian), GTK widgets can be
created before the display connection is properly established, causing
the crash: gtk_widget_get_scale_factor: assertion 'GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed
Fix: Add check_display_available() function that verifies Gdk.Display
is available before any GTK widgets are created. This provides a clear
error message instead of a cryptic GTK crash.
Fixes#288
* feat(ui): add auto-start on boot support
- Add --start-minimized CLI flag for autostart entry
- Create autostart_manager.py to handle XDG autostart desktop entry
- Add autostart config option in config_manager.py
- Add Start on Login toggle in Settings dialog
- Add Start Minimized toggle in Settings dialog
- Add Start on Login checkbox in system tray menu
- Add first-run dialog to ask about autostart preference
Closes#184
* fix(test): add first_run: False to mock config settings
The tests were failing with StopIteration because main() now checks
for first_run and shows a dialog if True. By setting first_run: False
in the mock config, we skip the first-run dialog code path.
* fix(ui): harden autostart behavior across Linux sessions
Use XDG-compliant autostart paths and robust Exec command resolution, keep first-run prompt semantics correct, and fix GTK toggle handling so state changes are applied reliably.
* docs(autostart): document XDG startup model and limits
Clarify that Vocalinux uses desktop-session XDG autostart, not systemd services, and explain compatibility expectations for mainstream DEs versus minimal/custom WM sessions.
* feat(ui): add first-run quick-start guidance text
Expand the welcome dialog with concise first-time usage guidance and clear direction to the tray menu Settings entry while preserving the existing autostart decision flow.
* fix(uninstall): remove XDG autostart desktop entry
Ensure uninstall removes ~/.config autostart registration and reports leftover autostart entries during verification.
* fix(install): ignore defunct processes in running-check
Filter installer process detection to exclude defunct entries and installer/uninstaller shells so stale zombie rows do not block reinstall.
* fix(uninstall): ignore defunct processes in running-check
Use filtered process detection so zombie entries and installer shells do not trigger false running-process warnings during uninstall.
Add better error messages and documentation for cross-distribution compatibility.
**Task 9: System Dependency Checker (scripts/check-system-deps.sh)**
- New script to check system dependencies regardless of distribution
- Detects Python 3.8+, pkg-config, GTK3, PyGObject, PortAudio
- Checks for text injection tools (xdotool, wtype, ydotool)
- Provides distribution-specific installation instructions
- Supports all 10+ distribution families (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Arch, openSUSE, Gentoo, Alpine, Void, Solus, Mageia)
**Task 10: Better Unsupported Distro Message (install.sh)**
- Enhanced error message for unsupported distributions
- References the new dependency checker script
- Provides manual installation options (skip-system-deps, venv install)
- Includes link to project wiki
- Interactive prompt to continue or cancel
**Task 11: Distro Compatibility Documentation (docs/DISTRO_COMPATIBILITY.md)**
- Comprehensive compatibility matrix for supported distros
- Experimental support section with known issues
- Requirements by distribution with exact commands
- Desktop environment compatibility (GNOME, KDE, Xfce, sway, i3, etc.)
- Display server support (X11, Wayland, XWayland)
- Architecture support (x86_64, arm64, armhf, riscv64)
- Testing checklist for new distributions
- Issue reporting guidelines
- Contributing guidelines for compatibility fixes
Part of cross-distribution compatibility improvements (Phase 3 of 5).
Related to #157