I just had to replace the SSD in my laptop, which for reasons that would deserve a discussion thread of their own, I ended up having to do a complete reinstall. Then I restored all my home directory files. So what I have is a clean F31, but my own account from the old F30 system was restored. I am using "GNOME on Xorg" as the desktop environment.
The problem I have is with Desktop files (in ~/Desktop). First I didn't see them at all, then found with some Googling that I needed to turn off display of the Trash icon, which now allows me to see the Desktop files. There are two issues:
1) The desktop icons are visible, but the Icons=file line in them seems to be ignored. 2) When I double click one, the Exec=command is executed, but it also opens a full-screen window that I figured out is "gnome-games".
For #1, I first did a little research with dnf and discovered that I needed to install the "comps-extras" package to bring back the files in /usr/share/pixmaps/comps . But this did not fix the issue, even after I restarted gnome-shell (with ALT-F2 and "r"). So I logged out and back in again, but no joy. I did check to ensure that my account can read the specified image files.
For #2, I would like to know how I can stop the execution of gnome-games. With a little trial and error, I discovered that if I iconify the gnome-games window the first time it comes up, then the Desktop icons double-click-execute properly, but if I instead kill the gnome-games window, then it pops up again next time I double-click an icon.
A sample Desktop file is below. Both issues occur whether or not I have the leading "#!" line.
#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open
[Desktop Entry] Version=1.0 Encoding=UTF-8 Name=cobweb Name[en_US]=cobweb Exec=xterm -sb -T cobweb -bg forestgreen -fg white -e ssh -o 'FallBackToRsh no' -X cobweb -l greg Icon=/usr/share/pixmaps/fedora-logo-sprite.png Terminal=false MultipleArgs=false Type=Application GenericName[en_US]=cobweb
Thanks for any pointers.
--Greg
On 4/13/20 10:00 AM, Greg Woods wrote:
The problem I have is with Desktop files (in ~/Desktop). First I didn't see them at all, then found with some Googling that I needed to turn off display of the Trash icon, which now allows me to see the Desktop files. There are two issues:
- The desktop icons are visible, but the Icons=file line in them seems
to be ignored.
.desktop files are not really supported any more as things to see or click on. They are intended to be started through the Gnome interface. Put them in "~/.local/share/applications" and they will show up in the overview with everything else.
- When I double click one, the Exec=command is executed, but it also
opens a full-screen window that I figured out is "gnome-games".
I hadn't heard of that application before, but that's where the problem is. $ xdg-mime query default application/x-desktop org.gnome.Games.desktop
If you look in /usr/share/applications/org.gnome.Games.desktop, you can see it claims that mimetype. That does seem like a bad idea.
On Mon, Apr 13, 2020 at 4:47 PM Samuel Sieb samuel@sieb.net wrote
.desktop files are not really supported any more as things to see or click on.
I guess I didn't realize that, since there is still an installable extension for turning them on and off.
They are intended to be started through the Gnome interface. Put them in "~/.local/share/applications" and they will show up in the overview with everything else.
Thanks for that piece of information. That mostly works. It took me a few minutes to find them under Applications -> Other, but they are there and the icon images are there as well. It will take me a while to get used to where they are located now, but I suppose I will eventually get used to it.
- When I double click one, the Exec=command is executed, but it also
opens a full-screen window that I figured out is "gnome-games".
I hadn't heard of that application before, but that's where the problem is. $ xdg-mime query default application/x-desktop org.gnome.Games.desktop
If you look in /usr/share/applications/org.gnome.Games.desktop, you can see it claims that mimetype. That does seem like a bad idea.
I probably should have thought of just uninstalling it. I am getting older and I am slipping.
Oddly enough, after having been away from the computer for a couple of hours, when I got back the desktop icons had disappeared again. Even before I removed gnome-games and without my having done anything in the meantime. I wonder if they will reappear again the next time I reboot or log out. OK, so I restarted gnome-shell, and now they have appeared on the secondary monitor.
In any event, if that really isn't supported any more, I'll just remove them from ~/Desktop and get used to finding them in the Applications menu.
Thanks, --Greg
On 4/13/20 5:44 PM, Greg Woods wrote:
On Mon, Apr 13, 2020 at 4:47 PM Samuel Sieb <samuel@sieb.net mailto:samuel@sieb.net> wrote
.desktop files are not really supported any more as things to see or click on.I guess I didn't realize that, since there is still an installable extension for turning them on and off.
Which extension is that?
They are intended to be started through the Gnome interface. Put them in "~/.local/share/applications" and they will show up in the overview with everything else.Thanks for that piece of information. That mostly works. It took me a few minutes to find them under Applications -> Other, but they are there and the icon images are there as well. It will take me a while to get used to where they are located now, but I suppose I will eventually get used to it.
I'm assuming you're using Gnome Shell, so from the overview you can type the name or possibly keywords of the app to select it.
On Mon, Apr 13, 2020 at 7:10 PM Samuel Sieb samuel@sieb.net wrote:
On 4/13/20 5:44 PM, Greg Woods wrote:
On Mon, Apr 13, 2020 at 4:47 PM Samuel Sieb <samuel@sieb.net mailto:samuel@sieb.net> wrote
.desktop files are not really supported any more as things to see or click on.I guess I didn't realize that, since there is still an installable extension for turning them on and off.
Which extension is that?
gnome-shell-extension-desktop-icons.noarch 19.10.2-1.fc31 @updates
Installing this extension, which appears to be supported as it is being updated, creates a button in the tweak tool for turning them on or off, and a settings sub-menu where the display of the Trash icon can be turned on and off. Turning on display of the Trash icon causes none of the icons to be displayed. The only way I know of to see what is in the Trash or to empty it is to invoke a file manager such as Nautilus or Dolphin. This seems to be new in F31, as the icons and the Trash work fine from the desktop on my F30 system.
I'm assuming you're using Gnome Shell, so from the overview you can type the name or possibly keywords of the app to select it.
Yes, but one of the reasons for using the desktop icons in the first place is to avoid the extra steps of going into shell mode and using the keyboard.
In any event, if the desktop icons are no longer supported, and there are bugs in how they work, then I have little choice but to dump them and move on, so that is what I have done.
--Greg
On 4/13/20 10:00 AM, Greg Woods wrote:
- When I double click one, the Exec=command is executed, but it also
opens a full-screen window that I figured out is "gnome-games".
I left out an important part of the last email. Unless you're using that application, uninstalling it should resolve the issue.
-
Greg Woods -
Samuel Sieb