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Explorer
Nov 4, 2021 4:57 PM UTC
Solved

Wayland screen sharing broken with GNOME 41 on Fedora 35

Hi,

 

I recently updated to Fedora 35 with GNOME 41. This GNOME release restricts the screenshot API which Zoom has used for screen sharing on Wayland, so the screen sharing functionality no longer works (see here on Ask Fedora).

 

I require screen sharing for school, and I'm sure many others have a similar requirement/system configuration. With Wayland increasingly becoming a de facto standard on Linux, it is crucial that Zoom support Wayland screen sharing.

daleweAnswer
Newcomer
Jul 14, 2022 3:51 PM UTC

It's not a bug in xdg-desktop-portal-wlr, so I'm not going to create a pull request to add code that does nothing (if the client is behaving correctly...). There's already work on supporting to share only a region of the screen (https://github.com/emersion/xdg-desktop-portal-wlr/pull/156) which should coincidentally also fix Zoom.

 

Simply running Zoom with "env XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME /usr/bin/zoom" should be enough to make Zoom think it's on Gnome while still keeping dbus working.

 

Edit: This should not be marked as solution! If any, https://community.zoom.com/t5/Meetings/Wayland-screen-sharing-broken-with-GNOME-41-on-Fedora-35/m-p/67283/highlight/true#M35878 provides a workaround for the issue, which has to be fixed by Zoom!

411 replies

Newcomer
Jun 20, 2022 5:13 PM UTC

Any news about the 5.11? 😅

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Newcomer
Jun 20, 2022 6:01 PM UTC

Support chat report: due to some bugs the release has been postponed to July 3rd. We must therefore wait until July 3 to discover the next procrastination date.

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Newcomer
Jun 20, 2022 6:04 PM UTC

Perhaps by then we will even get updated release notes, also: Release on a Sunday?

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Newcomer
Jun 21, 2022 3:41 PM UTC

I can confirm from my side that Zoom really has implemented this now properly and for me, it is working as expected.

Many kudos to @YaBoiB 

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Newcomer
Jun 21, 2022 4:34 PM UTC

The rpms on the download center look like they haven't been updated.  The webpage claims that you're getting 5.11.0 but if you run rpm -qpi on the rpm, it's still 5.10.7.   

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Newcomer
Jun 21, 2022 4:42 PM UTC

The same here.

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Explorer
Jun 21, 2022 4:48 PM UTC

wow fixed a lot (I am on 5.11.0 btw, with kde plasma)
pls remove this check, If you really fixed it, it should work on all DE's

edit:

THERE IS A WORKAROUND

firstly quit zoom in the tray, then open terminal and type this in,

XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME zoom

(you can also add that env variable to the desktop file to not do this with terminal every single time until they fix it)

and you should have fun with screen share, I have no idea why zoom forgot to remove this check, but nonetheless still disgusting to see the Linux port being neglected like this (still even after 8 months 🤦)

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Newcomer
Jun 21, 2022 5:00 PM UTC

Where did you get 5.11.0? I go to the download page and it still only mentions 5.10.7. Also, I wish they didn't do those gatekeeping checks. I run Debian unstable, so Zoom's compatibility check is usually wrong. I wish they were more like Discord -- screen sharing hasn't had issues and none of these checks I have to work around.

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Explorer
Jun 21, 2022 5:18 PM UTC

in the zoom client, go to about zoom, and then it should say update available (click it), it will bring you to the download page, then download the one for ur distro and it is magically the new version, I have no idea why.

This was on arch linux, so your luck might vary

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Newcomer
Jun 21, 2022 5:18 PM UTC

Maybe last users commenting didn’t see:

 

“Support chat report: due to some bugs the release has been postponed to July 3rd.”

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Explorer
Jun 21, 2022 5:19 PM UTC

that is false, I have 5.11.0 on my computer right now

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Newcomer
Jun 21, 2022 5:34 PM UTC

I tried to download it this morning and the 5.10.7 was present. I actually checked back seeing the 5.11 right now. Maybe support operator was uninformed at this point, but they told me release date was postponed. Anyway, will test the release once back home. 😉

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Newcomer
Jun 21, 2022 6:14 PM UTC

I have also tested with 5.11 and it seems to be working flawlessly. 

I have to point out that when issues like this appear , it still shows that some companies don't understand the Linux community. Just show a warning and let people still test it on their distros anyway.

Anyway, for us this is good news and thank you, we'll be doing an internal testing and if all good we'll probably get a pro license.

EDIT to clarify after some people reporting not working:

I'm on Fedora 36 and tested with somebody on the other end. I have 2 monitors and shared one of them and it worked. I will do more testing until the end of the week (as it's nigh time now here)

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Explorer
Jun 21, 2022 6:25 PM UTC

I don't think this is zoom not understanding the linux community, it's just zoom making a really really dumb mistake, by only supporting the GNOME desktop environment on an API that intentionally supports all wayland DE's. 

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Explorer
Jun 21, 2022 6:38 PM UTC

I did some more testing, and screensharing is still broken, checking on another person's computer, all it says is [Insert name here] has started screen sharing with no actual screenshare

very disappointing indeed (I will restart my computer and check if that helps tho)

edit: still broken 🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦, this update did not fix anything

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Newcomer
Jun 22, 2022 5:14 PM UTC

I'm having this same issue.

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Newcomer
Jun 21, 2022 6:56 PM UTC

So I installed zOOM 5.11.0 and verified that screen sharing works on my workstation. I'm running Debian unstable (bookworm/sid) with GNOME 42.2 / Wayland. Thanks for finally fixing this. (zOOM because they called GNOME "Gnome")

 

I really wish the fix could have been released sooner as a hotfix. I've had to ask co-workers to assist me with presentations as I couldn't share my screen and didn't have time to deal with workarounds.

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Explorer
Jun 21, 2022 7:10 PM UTC

did you check on another person's computer????

I am using KDE plasma and it is still broken, even with that workaround (cuz zOOM devs forgot that GNOME is not the only thing around)

edit: I am going to try modding the binary file to remove the check, if I succeed, I will post it here. 

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Newcomer
Jun 21, 2022 7:55 PM UTC

I think you may be able to modify your /etc/os-release file to fool it. 

 

I did some digging and I think the binary uses this file to figure out which distro someone is running.

 

$ strings /opt/zoom/zoom | grep /etc/os-release
/etc/os-release

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YaBoiB
Employee
Employee
Jun 21, 2022 8:55 PM UTC

Hey Team, 

 

The Linux deployment has been slightly delayed for version 5.11.0, but it should be completed by tomorrow end of the day US time. Sorry for the inconvenience. I know that many of you have been waiting for a long time for this version to be released. I do not know the reason for the delay. 

 

Brandon

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Explorer
Jun 21, 2022 11:01 PM UTC

could you fix the fact that it still says you need to use GNOME to screenshare in the next release? (though with a hack it "works" on any other desktop environment/window manager, but other users won't be able to see your screen)

It also doesn't make sense to place a random artificial restriction on screensharing when it is meant to work across all desktop environments

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Newcomer
Jun 22, 2022 11:58 AM UTC

So, I _think_ it worked for a second or two (didn't get to check on another client) before it segfault'd

 

  1. Start Zoom
  2. New Meeting
  3. Share Screen
  4. Use system capture (complete with confusing screenshot, I think from Ubuntu?)
  5. Single Window
  6. *a window*
  7. Share
  8. [wait]
  9. kaput

It's just done it three times in a row

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Newcomer
Jun 22, 2022 12:02 PM UTC

Update: Also consistently happens when sharing the whole screen

 

This on an entirely up-to-date freshly rebooted fc36 system.

 

Feels like delaying til the 3rd wouldn't have been a terrible idea…

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