Arch Linux

Joltaic

Member

Registered: 2023-08-04

Posts: 1

Desktop Entry Not Showing Up and Not Being Detected

Hi! I'm having issues getting a desktop entry to show up. The .desktop file is in the following locations:
- /home/.local/share/applications
- /usr/share/applications

I have been trying to troubleshoot this for a while, but none of the posts I've found have been helpful. For example, when I run "desktop-file-validate app-name.desktop", I get the message "app-name.desktop: file does not exist" and with "gtk-launch app-name.desktop" I get "gtk-launch: no such application app-name.desktop".

I will note that Menu Libre is able to detect the file and edit it, but cannot run it. Alacarte on the other hand, can´t even detect it.

Also, I have run "update-desktop-database" as well.

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know! If you need more info, I will gladly provide it.

Here is the .desktop entry:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.1
Type=Application
Name=Arch Updater
Comment=Check for and perform updates
Icon=archlinux
Exec=arch_update
Terminal=true
Actions=
Categories=System;System-Tools;X-GNOME-Other;

I will note that I have tried adding a "Path" key and the entire path to the "Exec" key and the same issues persist. The script in the "Exec" key is currently in "/home/.local/bin".

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 30,465

Website

Re: Desktop Entry Not Showing Up and Not Being Detected

For example, when I run "desktop-file-validate app-name.desktop", I get the message "app-name.desktop: file does not exist"

That's to be expected, desktop-file-validate requires a full (or relative) path to the desktop file not just a name.  It will not search the normal paths for desktop files.

... and with "gtk-launch app-name.desktop" I get "gtk-launch: no such application app-name.desktop".

I don't have gtk-launch to test, but I'm pretty sure that takes just the basename without the .desktop extension.  So it should be `gtk-launch app-name`.

You will need the full path in the Exec line in order for it to run a script under your home directory.  Is that script executable?  And what is in that script?

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"UNIX is simple and coherent" - Dennis Ritchie; "GNU's Not Unix" - Richard Stallman