[Bug]: Thaw 2.0.0-beta.12 (43) closes certain menu bar applications when plugging/unplugging an external monitor

[noraa]

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Description

Running the Thaw 2.0 beta, and whenever I plug into my external monitor a number of menu bar apps quit and reopen; when I unplug from the monitor the exact same thing happens. It appears as if Thaw is completely reloading all of the menu bar icons (I can see the icons momentarily disappear from the menubar, and the quickly reappear one at a time), which is causing many of the menubar apps to quit and reopen. When the app reopen it's as if they're opening for the first time after a reboot, and my screen gets littered with app windows.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Plug into an external monitor; or unplug from an external monitor
2. See the menubar icons disappear and quickly reappear
3. Notice multiple apps reopen and liter the screen with their windows3

App Version

2.0.0-beta.12 (43)

macOS Version

Tahoe 26.5

Monitor Setup

Multi-monitor Setup

Additional Information

No response

[nightah]

Do you have different spacing set for your displays? Please provide a screenshot of this settings panel.

If you do have different spacing set for different displays, applications must go through a relaunch wave to reset the menu bar spacing, and this is expected behaviour.

[noraa]

That was 100% the issue. Setting the spacing the same for both monitor resolved the problem. Thanks for such a quick response.

[nightah]

No problems glad you got it sorted.

[andreasmartin]

That’s not entirely correct. It also seems to happen when the menu bar spacing is changed globally via:

defaults -currentHost write -g NSStatusItemSpacing -int 6 
defaults -currentHost write -g NSStatusItemSelectionPadding -int 6 

In that case, Thaw shows exactly the behaviour described above, even with the default spacing settings inside Thaw itself. Every time an external monitor is connected or disconnected, the entire menu bar appears to reload, causing several menu bar apps to quit and relaunch.

This is quite disruptive, especially because many apps reopen their windows afterwards as if the system had just restarted.

It would be great if Thaw could avoid overriding or resetting the menu bar spacing in this situation and instead respect the globally configured spacing values.

[nightah]

That’s not entirely correct. It also seems to happen when the menu bar spacing is changed globally

What isn't? The scenario I described is absolutely correct, it certainly isn't the only circumstance that a restart wave can happen, but I don't think anybody claimed that to be the case.

Setting the spacing in Thaw is effectively the same as writing the setting globally, Thaw has to set it globally and restart all bundles to achieve the proposed spacing if it isn't what was already set when those bundles launched and their menu bar items were created. Because the spacing is built into the menu bar icon on launch and cannot be changed at runtime.

What exactly is your use case that you're setting the value globally?

Do you perhaps know something that we don't and could learn from you?

Setting the value globally after a menu bar item has been launched is effectively useless until you either reboot or close all bundles and reopen, or at least that's what all my tests suggested.

[andreasmartin]

Thanks for the clarification. I didn’t mean to imply that your explanation was wrong. I only wanted to point out that the same restart wave also occurs when the spacing is configured externally/globally, even if Thaw itself is left at default settings.

The additional context I wanted to provide is that I’m not changing spacing dynamically through Thaw itself, but globally at the system level. You are absolutely right that these values only become effective after a reboot or re-login. However, once applied, they remain stable across monitor/projector reconnects and do not trigger relaunch waves by themselves. I’ve been using this setup together with more traditional menu bar managers like Hidden Bar without issues.

So the main point I was trying to make is not that Thaw’s current behavior is “wrong,” but rather that there may be a useful additional mode of operation for users who intentionally manage spacing globally already.

Ideally, I’d personally love an option to completely disable spacing management inside Thaw and instead let Thaw simply respect the already configured global defaults without trying to reapply or reconcile them dynamically during display changes.

[diazdesandi]

@andreasmartin Thanks for the report and detail, I’ve run into this myself as well and completely agree it can be quite disruptive. Right now this behavior addresses issues we have encountered and bugs, so we had to take this approach. We are looking at improving this, including clearer messaging or an option/alert in Thaw that explains when and why a relaunch will happen.

If you’d like to expand on the idea of a disabling spacing management mode specifically, you’re very welcome to open a dedicated feature request issue so it can be discussed in more detail.

[nightah]

Firstly, I wanted to apologise because, reading back my message now, it reads as quite terse. That's not how I intended to come across. I was genuinely curious to understand why you're managing the setting the way that you are, and perhaps even somewhat hoping that your existing method could give us clues to achieve the same outcome less destructively.

I only wanted to point out that the same restart wave also occurs when the spacing is configured externally/globally, even if Thaw itself is left at default settings.

I take your point and agree that this would occur in your circumstance.

The additional context I wanted to provide is that I’m not changing spacing dynamically through Thaw itself, but globally at the system level.

Understood, and we want to support users of Thaw to work with what is most accessible and comfortable to them.
Is there a reason why you couldn't or don't want to configure that setting just once for your respective display(s)?
It would achieve the same outcome and prevent the disruptive restart waves.

However, once applied, they remain stable across monitor/projector reconnects and do not trigger relaunch waves by themselves. I’ve been using this setup together with more traditional menu bar managers like Hidden Bar without issues.

I don't have experience with Hidden Bar, so I'm unsure what it supports. Is it fair to assume that it doesn't provide you the ability to customise the menu bar spacing, which changes the global values you have been and are now still manually changing?

Ideally, I’d personally love an option to completely disable spacing management inside Thaw and instead let Thaw simply respect the already configured global defaults without trying to reapply or reconcile them dynamically during display changes.

Going back even before Thaw existed (with Ice), menu bar spacing existed as a feature. It originally had warnings that spacing adjustments could require a restart of applications and potentially even a reboot. That's why, when growing that feature, we made conscious decisions to support it without requiring external intervention to "apply" said settings.

My view is that all feedback is good feedback. It gives us a balanced impression of how to move forward with this project beyond just what we may originally agree between the maintainers as to what is "right". I believe we can and should provide more information to inform users better about the repercussions of configuring that item, both within Thaw and externally.

Also, per @diazdesandi's feedback, feel free to open an FR regarding your request. It will also allow us to gauge how much additional interest there is in having an opt-out setting.