Debian Bug report logs - #1115727
geary: Unread and flagged messages no longer visible (no bold subject, no icons) in Geary 46 on Debian 13

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Message #5 received at submit@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: "Mr. Wobbo" <ernst.lanser@gmail.com>

To: submit@bugs.debian.org

Subject: geary: Unread and flagged messages no longer visible (no bold subject, no icons) in Geary 46 on Debian 13

Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2025 16:35:18 +0200

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Package: geary
Version: 46.0-7
Severity: important
X-Debbugs-CC: ernst.lanser@gmail.com

In Geary 46 on Debian 13 (GNOME 48), unread messages are no longer 
displayed
in bold, and envelope/important icons are missing in the message list. 
This
regression makes it very difficult to distinguish between read and 
unread
messages or to see flagged/important state.

Steps to reproduce:
1. Open Geary 46 on Debian 13 (GNOME 48).
2. Receive new (unread) messages.
3. Compare read vs unread → both look identical (no bold subject, no 
icons).
4. Mark a message as important → no icon is shown.

Expected result:
- Unread messages should be visually distinct (e.g. bold subject line).
- Important/flagged messages should display an icon.

Actual result:
- No visual difference between read/unread or flagged/unflagged 
messages.

Environment:
- Debian 13 (Trixie), GNOME 48
- Geary 46.0-7 from Debian repositories

Additional information:
- Upstream report: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/geary/-/issues/1681
- User discussion: 
https://www.reddit.com/r/gnome/comments/1nidol0/geary_46_on_debian_13_unreadflag_visibility/

Please see the attached screenshots for visual confirmation.

Thank you very much for your time and work on maintaining Geary in 
Debian.

Best regards,
Ernst Lanser

[screenshot_geary_2025-09-19.jpg (image/jpeg, attachment)]

Message #12 received at 1115727@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Ernst Lanser <ernst.lanser@gmail.com>

To: 1115727@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug #1115727: Additional information from fresh Debian 13 GNOME install

Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2025 13:38:26 +0100

I would like to add some extra information after further testing.

I can reproduce this behaviour on a completely fresh Debian 13 (Trixie)
GNOME installation, without any third-party themes or user
customisations. The system was set up as follows:

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install --ignore-missing -y gnome-core geary
   sudo systemctl set-default graphical.target
   sudo reboot

After logging into the clean GNOME session, Geary still shows no
meaningful visual difference between read and unread messages: the
subject lines do not appear noticeably bolder, and there is no clear
indicator that helps distinguish read from unread messages. Changing
fonts or switching GNOME themes does not solve this.

I also attempted to modify Geary’s behaviour through dconf/gsettings,
but the relevant keys no longer affect the conversation list in recent
Geary versions.

As an experiment, I built and installed the Geary version from Debian 12
on the *same* Debian 13 system. With that older version, unread messages
are clearly visible again (bold text stands out correctly and the old
indicators behave as expected). This shows that the fonts on the system
are capable of rendering bold correctly, and that the issue only appears
with the current Geary version on Debian 13, not with the older one on
the exact same setup.

Upstream has closed the GitLab issue as likely a “font configuration
problem”, but because this also occurs on a clean Debian 13 GNOME
installation, it may be worth verifying whether this is:

 - a Debian-specific interaction between Geary 46 and Debian’s 
default
   fontconfig/theme stack, or
 - something that still needs adjustment on the Geary side to ensure
   unread messages remain clearly visible on Debian’s default setup.

At the moment, on stock Debian 13 GNOME, it is very difficult to
distinguish unread from read messages in Geary, which affects the
usability of the client for the entire Trixie release cycle.

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