Public bug reported:
Package: ardour (Ubuntu 26.04 / Ubuntu package, version 9.0.0~ds-1ubuntu2)
Component: /usr/share/applications/ardour.desktop
Summary:
Ardour's .desktop file has an invalid Exec= line that violates the
freedesktop.org Desktop Entry Specification, causing GNOME Shell (and any
other launcher relying on GLib's g_app_info_launch / gio) to silently
refuse to load the application. As a result, Ardour does not appear in
the GNOME Activities search or application grid, even though it is
correctly installed.
Current Exec line:
Exec=FLTK_BACKEND=x11 /usr/bin/ardour %f
Problem:
Per the Desktop Entry Specification, the Exec key must contain a program
to execute, optionally followed by arguments — it is not passed through
a shell, so "VAR=value" prefixes are not interpreted as environment
variable assignments. Instead, GLib's desktop file parser treats
"FLTK_BACKEND=x11" itself as the executable to launch. Since no such
binary exists, GLib considers the whole desktop entry invalid.
Confirmed with:
$ gio launch /usr/share/applications/ardour.desktop
gio: Unable to load application information for
'/usr/share/applications/ardour.desktop'
Note: desktop-file-validate does NOT flag this as an error (only GLib's
runtime loader does), which likely explains why this has gone unnoticed
in packaging QA.
Steps to reproduce:
1. Install ardour via apt on Ubuntu 26.04.
2. Open GNOME Activities overview and search for "Ardour".
3. Observe that Ardour does not appear as an installed application
(only unrelated files/Flathub suggestions are shown).
4. Run `gio launch /usr/share/applications/ardour.desktop` in a
terminal — it fails with the error above.
Expected behavior:
Ardour should appear in the GNOME application search/grid with its
icon, like any normally packaged application.
Actual behavior:
Ardour's launcher is silently invisible to GNOME Shell / GLib-based
application launchers.
Fix:
Wrap the environment variable assignment with `env`, which is a valid
executable and correctly forwards the variable to the target program:
Exec=env FLTK_BACKEND=x11 /usr/bin/ardour %f
Verified fix:
After applying the change above and running
`update-desktop-database /usr/share/applications`, both
`desktop-file-validate` and `gio launch` succeed, and Ardour appears
normally in the GNOME application overview.
System info:
- Ubuntu 26.04
- GNOME Shell (Wayland)
- Ardour 9.0.0~ds-1ubuntu2
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 8840HS
** Affects: ardour (Ubuntu)
Importance: Undecided
Status: New
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2165824
Title:
invalid Exec= line
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