[Bug 499754] Re: I can not edit menu entries in alacarte at random - Ubuntu Lucid (10.04)
I'm still running Ubuntu 10.04 LTS with GNOME 2.30 at this late date and just encountered this problem after installing LibreOffice 4.3.5, using a DEB archive obtained from LibreOffice.org. I didn't like the way the installer put the entries in the Applications menu and began editing the menu with alacarte (System - Preferences - Main Menu). During this edit I made a mistake, deleting a menu item, so I clicked on the Revert button, after which havoc ensued. A number of custom sub-menus changed from their original names to alacarte-made-x, where x was some number, and those entries became non-editable. The problem appears to have been caused by alacarte improperly deleting one or more of its .directory files in /home/user/.local/share/desktop-directories and *possibly* by the LibreOffice installation causing additional corruption. I was able to recover by using the following steps. 1. In a terminal window in my home directory, I executed sudo chown -R user .config/menus sudo chown -R user .local (Substitute your user name for user.) This fixes improper file ownership issues. Some of the alacarte-made non-editable menu entries now became accessible with the Properties button, but several menus became cross-linked, so that when the name of one menu was changed in the menu editor, the name of another, completely unrelated menu also changed. 2. I looked in my .config/menus directory to find an undo .menu file with a time stamp just after the new package was installed. This was easy, because the file with LibreOffice 4.3.5 had entries containing 4.3.5 that could be found with a text editor. I renamed applications.menu as applications.menu.bak, then copied my chosen .menu .undo-xx file to applications.menu. 3. The first two steps still didn't fully correct the problem, but by looking in .local/share/desktop-directories and examining the contents of the various .directory files and comparing what alacarte-made-x entries there were displayed in my Applications Menu. From this I was able to deduce which .directory files were missing and using gedit I was able to recreate them, using the existing .directory files as a template. Once the missing alacarte-made-x.directory files were restored, the cross-linking of submenu entries in the Applications menu was fixed, allowing all submenus and items to be edited normally again with the Properties button. A more drastic alternative would have been to wipe out the contents of .local/share/desktop-directories and .config/menus and start over, but a bit of patience in performing manual repairs as described above saved me many, many hours of menu creation and customizing. I think this may not be a bug in alacarte as such, but a general lack of robustness in the GNOME 2 menu and the design of alacarte, in that alacarte is unable to detect corruption in the menu files or missing directory files, and simply gets confused. The utility should have automatic error detection and correction built in, or a button or menu that can be invoked manually by the user to repair the menu structure when something goes amiss. There may also be problems with the way the Revert feature works in alacarte, which *may* have been the cause of the problem in this instance. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/499754 Title: I can not edit menu entries in alacarte at random - Ubuntu Lucid (10.04) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alacarte/+bug/499754/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
[Bug 499754] Re: I can not edit menu entries in alacarte at random - Ubuntu Lucid (10.04)
[Expired for alacarte (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.] ** Changed in: alacarte (Ubuntu) Status: Incomplete = Expired -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/499754 Title: I can not edit menu entries in alacarte at random - Ubuntu Lucid (10.04) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alacarte/+bug/499754/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
[Bug 499754] Re: I can not edit menu entries in alacarte at random - Ubuntu Lucid (10.04)
Low importance? Why? How do I edit menus in Lucid? Selecting Edit Menus does nothing. -- I can not edit menu entries in alacarte at random - Ubuntu Lucid (10.04) https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/499754 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
[Bug 499754] Re: I can not edit menu entries in alacarte at random - Ubuntu Lucid (10.04)
** Changed in: alacarte (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided = Low -- I can not edit menu entries in alacarte at random - Ubuntu Lucid (10.04) https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/499754 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
[Bug 499754] Re: I can not edit menu entries in alacarte at random - Ubuntu Lucid (10.04)
On my Lucid Alpha 1 (clean install, up-to-date as of today) I can't find any menu items which would trigger the described error messages. ankspo71, was this a fresh install or an upgrade? You could take a look at /usr/share/desktop-directories and ~/.local/share/desktop-directories/ and verify that they contain files with the .directory extension. Do you get the exception also when trying to open properties of a launcher (not a folder)? If so, the exception should be a bit different. You could add the statement: print file_path above line 377 (and indented similarly to the surrounding lines) of /usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/Alacarte/MainWindow.py and see what file paths Alacarte prints out when you click on the Properties button. It looks like some of the file names lack an extension and cause the exception you described. -- I can not edit menu entries in alacarte at random - Ubuntu Lucid (10.04) https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/499754 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
[Bug 499754] Re: I can not edit menu entries in alacarte at random - Ubuntu Lucid (10.04)
Hi Antti Kaihola, This is a clean install of Lucid Alpha 1 (i386) with no updates applied (I'm avoiding a partial upgrade) but with some various applications installed. All directory files do end in the .directory extension. However, you have helped me find the problem. None of the applications (except for the ones I have added entries for) have the *.desktop extension in the folder ~/.local/share/applications . $$$ ls /home/james/.local/share/applications alacarte-made-1.desktop alacarte-made.desktop brasero cgmail defaults.list empathy evolution evolution-mail firefox foobillard f-spot gcalctool gimp gnome-search-tool Google-googleearth.desktop lastfm mimeapps.list mimeinfo.cache miro openoffice.org-draw sun-java6-javaws thunderbird Track Mania Nations For Ever.desktop transmission tsclient ubuntuone-client-applet userapp-sh-UTV15U.desktop vinagre wine wine-browsedrive wine-extension-chm.desktop wine-extension-gbx.desktop wine-extension-hlp.desktop wine-extension-htm.desktop wine-extension-html.desktop wine-extension-ini.desktop wine-extension-rtf.desktop wine-extension-txt.desktop wine-extension-wri.desktop wine-extension-xml.desktop xsane Changing the ' firefox ' file to ' firefox.desktop ' allows me to change the property values of firefox in alacarte. On the other hand, every file in the /usr/share/applications folder does have a *.desktop extension. Whatever it is that is responsible for creating *.desktop extensions is failing to do so during ubuntu installation, and while using apt-get. I used command line apt-get to install my favorite applications from the ubuntu repositories. I have a few applications listed there that I have installed using another method... sh GoogleEarthLinux.run for example. So it looks like I will have to rename each file (application entry) in the ls /home/james/.local/share/applications directory to .desktop if I want to edit them in alacarte. Thanks. -- I can not edit menu entries in alacarte at random - Ubuntu Lucid (10.04) https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/499754 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
[Bug 499754] Re: I can not edit menu entries in alacarte at random - Ubuntu Lucid (10.04)
Just noting that this bug also has duplicates: Bug #497931, Bug #505673 -- I can not edit menu entries in alacarte at random - Ubuntu Lucid (10.04) https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/499754 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
[Bug 499754] Re: I can not edit menu entries in alacarte at random - Ubuntu Lucid (10.04)
Bad typo: (except for the ones I have added entries for) = (except for the ones that had their own installers eg: googleearth) -- I can not edit menu entries in alacarte at random - Ubuntu Lucid (10.04) https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/499754 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
[Bug 499754] Re: I can not edit menu entries in alacarte at random - Ubuntu Lucid (10.04)
I managed to fix it. I downloaded a new alacarte source package and compiled the source code myself. I can now edit any menu entry in alacarte. If anyone needs to fix alacarte in Ubuntu Lucid (alpha 1) (gnome- desktop), because you are unable to edit the entries in the gnome menu, see below. I got alacarte from gnome 2.29.4 - alacarte version 0.12.4 found here: http://www.icewalkers.com/download/GNOME/1075/dld/ I think the dependencies were intltool and libgnome-menu-dev (when you run ./configure it will tell you) ./configure make sudo make install you might need to reboot the system, if not log out and back in again. Also, I was advised that *.desktop files are not present in the ~/.local/share/applications folder by default, so I am mistaken about that part in my earlier post. Probable Bug Solution: I think alacarte needs to be recompiled for i386 desktop (Lucid alpha 1) before alpha 2 is released. Thanks, -- I can not edit menu entries in alacarte at random - Ubuntu Lucid (10.04) https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/499754 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
[Bug 499754] Re: I can not edit menu entries in alacarte at random - Ubuntu Lucid (10.04)
** Attachment added: Dependencies.txt http://launchpadlibrarian.net/37120559/Dependencies.txt -- I can not edit menu entries in alacarte at random - Ubuntu Lucid (10.04) https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/499754 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
