[Bug 1576446] [NEW] desktop shortcut names just print the file name ("*.desktop") and a generic icon

Thu Apr 28 23:27:46 UTC 2016

Public bug reported:

I have VMs for 14.04, 15.10, and now 16.04.  I've had no particular
trouble creating desktop shortcuts in the first two.  I typically create
a new desktop entry by copying the "*.desktop" file in ~/Desktop to a
new file and editing the contents, changing the Name, Icon, and Exec
properties.  This has worked perfectly fine in the first two.

In 16.04, although "executing" the shortcut (double-clicking, for
instance) works fine, executing the application I want, the display of
it is somewhat defective in two ways.  First, all of the shortcuts I
create this way are using the same generic icon (looks like a document
editor, with "Aa" in text with some little colored boxes).  My "Icon"
property is a fully-qualified path to the icon file.  I've double-
checked that the path I specify there exists.  Second, the label
underneath the icon isn't the "Name" value, it's just displaying the
name of the ".desktop" file, including the ".desktop" extension.

I then tried the "recommended" way of creating shortcuts for "provided"
applications by searching for the app in the "appstore" (don't remember
what that's called) and then dragging the icon I found onto the desktop.
I thought I tried this yesterday, and it resulted in the same symptom,
but when I tried it today it worked fine.

So I then looked closer at the generated ".desktop" file and compared it
to my "hand-coded" ".desktop" files.  The generated one had quite a few
more properties, but I didn't see anything obvious that indicated why
mine was not working properly.  However, I still looked at the
differences and decided to try removing some differences to see if it
would fix my hand-coded file.  The first thing I noted was that in my
hand-coded file, the "Name" property was not the first property setting
in the "Desktop Entry" group, but in the generated one, it was.  I read
the "Desktop Entry Specification", and I didn't see any indication that
the order of those properties was relevant, but just in case, I tried
making that change.

In fact, that appeared to be the problem.  When I just moved the "Name"
property to the first position in the group, the icon and name displayed
correctly.

I'd call this a bug.  This ordering constraint was not required in 14.04
or 15.10, and again, the "Desktop Entry Specification" says nothing
about any required ordering of these properties.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: ubuntu-desktop 1.361
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-21.37-generic 4.4.6
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-21-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Thu Apr 28 14:16:15 2016
InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-04-26 (2 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20160420.1)
SourcePackage: ubuntu-meta
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

** Affects: ubuntu-meta (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

** Tags: amd64 apport-bug xenial

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1576446

Title:
  desktop shortcut names just print the file name ("*.desktop") and a
  generic icon

Status in ubuntu-meta package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  I have VMs for 14.04, 15.10, and now 16.04.  I've had no particular
  trouble creating desktop shortcuts in the first two.  I typically
  create a new desktop entry by copying the "*.desktop" file in
  ~/Desktop to a new file and editing the contents, changing the Name,
  Icon, and Exec properties.  This has worked perfectly fine in the
  first two.

  In 16.04, although "executing" the shortcut (double-clicking, for
  instance) works fine, executing the application I want, the display of
  it is somewhat defective in two ways.  First, all of the shortcuts I
  create this way are using the same generic icon (looks like a document
  editor, with "Aa" in text with some little colored boxes).  My "Icon"
  property is a fully-qualified path to the icon file.  I've double-
  checked that the path I specify there exists.  Second, the label
  underneath the icon isn't the "Name" value, it's just displaying the
  name of the ".desktop" file, including the ".desktop" extension.

  I then tried the "recommended" way of creating shortcuts for
  "provided" applications by searching for the app in the "appstore"
  (don't remember what that's called) and then dragging the icon I found
  onto the desktop.  I thought I tried this yesterday, and it resulted
  in the same symptom, but when I tried it today it worked fine.

  So I then looked closer at the generated ".desktop" file and compared
  it to my "hand-coded" ".desktop" files.  The generated one had quite a
  few more properties, but I didn't see anything obvious that indicated
  why mine was not working properly.  However, I still looked at the
  differences and decided to try removing some differences to see if it
  would fix my hand-coded file.  The first thing I noted was that in my
  hand-coded file, the "Name" property was not the first property
  setting in the "Desktop Entry" group, but in the generated one, it
  was.  I read the "Desktop Entry Specification", and I didn't see any
  indication that the order of those properties was relevant, but just
  in case, I tried making that change.

  In fact, that appeared to be the problem.  When I just moved the
  "Name" property to the first position in the group, the icon and name
  displayed correctly.

  I'd call this a bug.  This ordering constraint was not required in
  14.04 or 15.10, and again, the "Desktop Entry Specification" says
  nothing about any required ordering of these properties.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
  Package: ubuntu-desktop 1.361
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-21.37-generic 4.4.6
  Uname: Linux 4.4.0-21-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2
  Architecture: amd64
  CurrentDesktop: Unity
  Date: Thu Apr 28 14:16:15 2016
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-04-26 (2 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20160420.1)
  SourcePackage: ubuntu-meta
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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