Today I decided to clean out my system as best I could and see if the
problem still persisted.
I ran:
apt-get --purge remove `apt-show-versions | grep -v uptodate$ | grep
-v "not installed$" | awk -F: '{print $1}'`
then repeated ran:
apt-get --purge remove `deborphan`
apt-get --purge autoremove
Until no more packages were removed. I then for some reason needed to
re-install the 'gnome' metapackage. Desktop icons now function
normally, opening a nautilus window when double clicked.
I was not aware of there being any libraries or packages installed
from anything other than 'stretch', a list of packages is at the head
of this ticket, however something has clearly changed and the system
now works.
Cheers,
Ben
