Arch Linux

scott_fakename

Member

Registered: 2012-08-15

Posts: 106

xfce4 Desktop launchers no longer work

I am using XFCE4 as my desktop environment, and using mpv to play videos.

The workflow I have been using is this: Get a bunch of videos that I want to watch, put them in a directory, make a playlist, save it as a .m3u file, and then create a launcher on my desktop that runs "mpv -playlist /path/to/playlist.m3u"

Here are the contents of an example:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=Show Name
Comment=
Exec=/usr/bin/mpv -playlist /home/user/media/Video/ShowName/Playlist.m3u
Icon=video-x-generic
Path=
Terminal=true
StartupNotify=false

This has been working fine for a couple of years. But recently it stopped working. Now I get the following error message:

Failed to execute child process "/usr/bin/mpv -playlist /home/scott/media/Video/ShowName/Playlist.m3u" (No such file or directory)

I wondered if it was because it was trying to run the whole command (with spaces) as the name of the executable so I made launcher to run "gvim -O ~/a ~/b" and it worked properly, opening a gvim instance with a split window as expected.

I know the command was correct, because I could run

awk -F= '$1 == "Exec" { system($2) }' ShowName.desktop

on the desktop launcher and it would work correctly as well.

I am able to run the /usr/bin/mpv ... command from a terminal and get the results that I expect. So for now I have a workaround where I just moved the commands into shell scripts and have the launchers run those shell scripts.

Any ideas why these launchers no longer work? It started after the latest update to mpv.

Anybody else experiencing these issues?

Thanks!

Last edited by scott_fakename (2015-03-07 05:07:53)

foutrelis

Developer

From: Athens, Greece

Registered: 2008-07-28

Posts: 705

Website

Re: xfce4 Desktop launchers no longer work

The issue is most likely caused by a patch added in exo 0.10.2-3. It was later fixed in exo 0.10.3-2 but that's still in [testing].

I might move Xfce 4.12 to the stable repos soon, but as a workaround you could try setting Terminal=false in your launcher.

scott_fakename

Member

Registered: 2012-08-15

Posts: 106

Re: xfce4 Desktop launchers no longer work

Yep! It works now, if I set terminal=false.

Perfect, thanks very much! Next time I notice exo getting updated I'll move them back.

I appreciate the help.

themetman

Member

Registered: 2015-10-18

Posts: 1

Re: xfce4 Desktop launchers no longer work

I have just updated my Arch setup, and now my xfce4 desktop launchers do not work. The Panel launchers work fine. I am on 4.12 version of xfce4 as far as I can tell.
I get this error in a dialog box 'Launch error':

Failed to run "Run%20EnergeSanity.desktop"
Process org.xfce.FileManager exited with status 1

I have tried deleting them and reinstalling them, I have tried using a bash script to do what I want but the Launcher will not launch the script. I have Terminal=false in the settings. I have reinstalled XFCE4
Anyone else having this problem?
Cheers