The cause of this is: 1. You install a snap. 2. GNOME Software generates a notification, with a button that will contact the GNOME Software process and perform the action "app.launch" with the app ID. (gs-common.c:gs_app_notify_installed) 3. GNOME Software uses the ID as a desktop ID (i.e. the name of a .desktop file) to launch the application via the GAppInfo object (gs-application.c:launch_activated)
Where this fails is G-S is assuming that the application ID matches the desktop ID. This is best practise for modern XDG compliant apps, but is not enforced. This assumption always fails in the general case for Snaps, and the ID used is a generated AppStream ID like io.snapcraft.moon-buggy- 2kkitQurgOkL3foImG4wDwn9CIANuHlt. The initial solution was to explicitly pass the desktop ID, but this seemed a bit of a hack an unlikely to be upstreamable. https://gitlab.gnome.org/robert.ancell/gnome-software/tree/notification- launch-desktop-id The second solution was to continue to pass the ID, but instead to have plugins do the launching, that way the Snap plugin could work out the binary to run. https://gitlab.gnome.org/robert.ancell/gnome- software/tree/notification-launch-plugin The latter solution turns out to be non-trivial to implement. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to gnome-software in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1816396 Title: Starting snap from the after-install notification fails Status in gnome-software package in Ubuntu: Triaged Status in gnome-software source package in Bionic: Triaged Status in gnome-software source package in Cosmic: Won't Fix Status in gnome-software source package in Disco: Triaged Bug description: [Impact] The launch button on the notification shown after snaps are installed doesn't work. [Test Case] 1. Open GNOME Software 2. Select a snap that is not installed 3. Install that snap 4. Switch focus to another application (i.e. so GNOME Software doesn't have focus) Expected result: A notification is shown saying the app is installed with a button that launches it. Observed result: A notification is shown but the launch button give an error like "no such desktop file: io.snapcraft.vlc-...." [Regression Potential] TBD To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-software/+bug/1816396/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
