[Novalug] Xubuntu 14.04 problem - menu launch programs that run in terminal

Jon LaBadie novalugml@jgcomp.com
Sun Nov 30 19:45:41 EST 2014


Forgot to mention one workaround.

You could copy a working terminal launcher.  Then edit it so the
command line has the terminal's options to launch a command.  It
is probably the "-e" option like xterm uses.

Change the icon and name settings also.

jl

No changes below.


On Sun, Nov 30, 2014 at 07:36:44PM -0500, Jon LaBadie via Novalug wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 29, 2014 at 10:47:53PM -0500, Bonnie Dalzell via Novalug wrote:
> > 
> > I have now learned about .desktop files and how to get rid of the
> > whisker menu.
> > 
> > I have some of my custom launchers that open in gedit, with a single click,
> > some common files that I consult and modify regularly.
> > 
> > mostly I learned to do that by looking at the relevant alacarte-made.desktop
> > file in
> > 
> > /home/bdz/.local/share/applications
> > 
> > from my 12.04 installation
> > 
> > however I still cannot get a launcher to work where a program needs a cli
> > window to open with the program running - for example the mail program
> > Alpine.
> > 
> > 
> > this is the .desktop file I have for alpine
> > it is named alacarte-made.desktop
> > 
> > [Desktop Entry]
> > Type=Application
> > Name=Alpine
> > Comment=pine based email program
> > Icon=gnome-panel-launcher
> > TryExec=alpine
> > Exec=alpine
> > Categories=Applications;
> > Type=Application
> > 
> > Terminal=true
> > 
> > Actions=NewWindow;
> > 
> > 
> > there are  default helpers in
> > 
> > /home/bdz/.local/share/xfce4/helpers
> > 
> > this is the one that exists as custom-MailReader.desktop
> > 
> > [Desktop Entry]
> > NoDisplay=true
> > Version=1.0
> > Encoding=UTF-8
> > Type=X-XFCE-Helper
> > X-XFCE-Category=MailReader
> > X-XFCE-CommandsWithParameter=alpine "%s"
> > Icon=alpine
> > Name=alpine
> > X-XFCE-Commands=alpine
> > 
> > but I cannot get alpine to open
> > 
> > the error is
> > 
> > Failed to execute default Terminal Emulator.
> > 
> > Input/output error.
> 
> Couple of things.  I think the "Failed to execute" line above
> is key.  I'm guessing whatever specifies the default applications
> for your desktop (unity? gnome? kde? ???) is specifying one
> that is not installed.  Or is accessed via a broken symbolic link.
> 
> My only ubuntu is a VirtualBox VM of 14.04.  I had to install mutt
> and alpine after your posting for testing.  I got both to work with
> launchers after chmod'ing them to be executable.  Ubuntu complained
> they were "untrusted" and googling suggested untrusted meant not
> executable.
> 
> The source of my launchers?  First, on Fedora I found
> /usr/share/applications.  It is also on Ubuntu.  It has many many
> *.desktop files.  It also contains a file "default-applications".
> 
> On Fedora, and after installing mutt on Ubuntu, there was a
> /usr/share/applications/mutt.desktop.  Very different.  The
> Fedora one worked on Fedora, so I copied it to Ubuntu.  Both
> versions worked on Ubuntu.  BTW, I put them in ~/Desktop.
> I also copied the Fedora on as ~/Desktop/alpine.desktop and
> edited it to globally change all "mutt" to "alpine".  That
> worked to launch alpine.
> 
> 
> Exploring the default apps, I found the command "gsettings".
> Not sure what desktops honor it settings but here are two
> ways to use it to explore.
> 
>   gsettings list-schemas
> 
> Gives a long list of things like:
> 
>   org.gnome.desktop.default-applications
>   org.gnome.desktop.default-applications.terminal
>   org.cinnamon.desktop.default-applications
> 
> Selecting a schema you can run something like
> 
>   gsettings list-recursively org.gnome.desktop.default-applications.terminal
> 
> to find out its values.
> 
> For my Ubuntu the listed default was "x-terminal-emulator".
> Sure enough, there is a /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator.
> It is a symbolic link to /etc/alternatives/x-terminal-emulator
> with is a link to /usr/bin/gnome-terminal.wrapper which is ...
> 
> The launchers are nothing special, I'll send them via email.
> 
> HTH
> Jon
> -- 
> Jon H. LaBadie                  novalugml@jgcomp.com
>  11226 South Shore Rd		(703) 787-0688 (H)
>  Reston, VA  20190		(703) 935-6720 (C)
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>>> End of included message <<<

-- 
Jon H. LaBadie                  novalugml@jgcomp.com
 11226 South Shore Rd		(703) 787-0688 (H)
 Reston, VA  20190		(703) 935-6720 (C)



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