Failed to load xapp-gtk3-module on opensuse Tumbleweed solved

Hi there.

I encountered a problem, common during the last year or so, a message saying that the headlined “failed to load xapp-gtk3-module” message appeared across various distributions. Worse, however, than the message was that some “open” and “save to …” dialogs in apps like Vivaldi browser and Matrix Element stopped working, leaving me in an awkward and annoying situation. Unfortunately, the proposed solutions from the internet did not work for me, as on opensuse this module is not shipped with the “xapp” package, as it apparently does for Ubuntu and other distributions. After some weeks of searching, I finally found the solution myself. I want to share the experience for the desperate who are looking to solve this like me:

  • it does not matter if you have installed xapp, xapp-common and libxapp1 or not, which depends on the other software that might need it or not. This is the most common advice for the problem, but did not change anything for me
  • DEINSTALL “xdg-desktop-portal-gnome” and “xdg-desktop-portal-gtk”, contrary to the given advice for other distributions. Then you’ll hopefully get rid of the message, and the missing dialogs at the same time.

Good luck and take care folks!
Cellocommander