Public bug reported:
[Impact]
Nautilus repeatedly reports that it cannot add the non-writable emblem because
the requested icon cannot be found in the active icon theme.
The issue appears to result from an inconsistency in icon naming between
Nautilus and the Yaru icon theme:
- Nautilus requests the American spelling: unwritable
- Yaru provides the alternative spelling: unwriteable
As a result, GTK cannot resolve the requested icon name through the
active icon theme.
The journal contains repeated "Failed to add emblem" warnings. The issue
does not cause a Nautilus crash or prevent normal file browsing.
The actual visual impact on the displayed emblem should be considered
separately from the confirmed icon lookup failure.
[Ubuntu release]
Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS (Resolute)
Architecture: AMD64
$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS
Release: 26.04
[Package versions]
- nautilus: 1:50.2.2-0ubuntu0.2
- yaru-theme-icon: 26.04.5.1ubuntu
- adwaita-icon-theme: 50.0-1
$ apt-cache policy nautilus yaru-theme-icon adwaita-icon-theme
[Environment]
- Desktop environment: Ubuntu GNOME
- Display server: Wayland
- Virtualization: QEMU/KVM
- Graphics: Bochs VGA
- Active icon theme: Yaru-dark
Important: This was observed in a QEMU/KVM guest. I am not claiming this
affects all Ubuntu installations.
[Steps to reproduce]
1. Boot Ubuntu 26.04.1 Desktop.
2. Log into an Ubuntu GNOME Wayland session.
3. Ensure that the Yaru-dark icon theme is active.
4. Open Files (Nautilus).
5. Navigate to a location that is not writable by the current user, such as a
root-owned directory or a read-only mounted filesystem.
6. Inspect the journal:
journalctl -b --no-pager | grep 'Failed to add emblem'
[Expected behavior]
Nautilus should successfully resolve the non-writable emblem through the active
icon theme or an appropriate fallback resource.
No missing-emblem warnings should be generated when the corresponding
icon is available under an accepted icon name.
[Actual behavior]
Nautilus repeatedly reports that the requested emblem cannot be found:
Failed to add emblem.
“. GThemedIcon emblem-unwritable-symbolic unwritable-symbolic
emblem-unwritable unwritable”
not found in the icon theme
On the recorded boot:
- Warning count: 10
- First occurrence: 2026-11-01 21:08:02
- Last occurrence: 2026-11-06 23:55:49
- Nautilus process PID: 4902
The warnings occurred during normal desktop usage, including filesystem
exploration and volume activity.
[Technical investigation]
1) Icon names requested by Nautilus
The GThemedIcon error message exposes the icon names requested by
Nautilus:
emblem-unwritable-symbolic -> not found in Yaru
unwritable-symbolic -> not found in Yaru
emblem-unwritable -> not found in Yaru
unwritable -> not found in Yaru
2) Icon names provided by Yaru
The following icon is present in the installed Yaru theme:
/usr/share/icons/Yaru/scalable/emblems/emblem-unwriteable-symbolic.svg
The spelling differs from the name requested by Nautilus:
Requested: unwritable
Available: unwriteable
No corresponding emblem-unwritable* alias/symlink was found under
/usr/share/icons.
The file is owned by the yaru-theme-icon package (dpkg -S).
3) GTK icon lookup verification
Results using GTK icon theme lookup with Yaru:
has_icon('emblem-unwritable-symbolic') = False
has_icon('emblem-unwritable') = False
has_icon('unwritable-symbolic') = False
has_icon('unwritable') = False
has_icon('emblem-unwriteable-symbolic') = True
has_icon('emblem-readonly-symbolic') = True
This confirms that the active Yaru theme provides the alternative
spelling but does not resolve the names requested by Nautilus.
4) Nautilus embedded resources
Nautilus also contains embedded emblem resources:
/org/gnome/nautilus/icons/scalable/actions/emblem-readonly-symbolic.svg
/org/gnome/nautilus/icons/scalable/actions/emblem-symbolic-link-symbolic.svg
/org/gnome/nautilus/icons/scalable/actions/emblem-unwriteable-symbolic.svg
The embedded resource uses the same "unwriteable" spelling as Yaru.
The SVG embedded in Nautilus and the SVG supplied by Yaru have different
MD5 hashes, indicating that they are not identical files:
Nautilus gresource: 4e4184a8383cb23a105309718d206d35
Yaru theme file: 49f998cb33ac883b4e03f450d7e094b6
This provides additional evidence of inconsistent icon naming across the
application and theme resources.
However, the exact fallback behavior and resource lookup order have not
yet been confirmed from the relevant Nautilus source code.
[Root cause assessment]
The available evidence indicates an icon naming inconsistency between Nautilus
and Yaru.
Nautilus requests icon names using "unwritable", while the installed
Yaru theme provides "unwriteable".
GTK consequently fails to resolve the requested icon names through the
active theme.
The exact responsibility for the mismatch (Nautilus, Yaru, or both)
remains to be confirmed by the maintainers.
[Impact assessment]
- Nautilus does not crash.
- Normal file browsing remains functional.
- Repeated missing-emblem warnings appear in the journal.
- The non-writable emblem may not be displayed as intended.
- No data loss or security impact has been observed.
Suggested importance: Low.
[Potential fixes]
Possible approaches include:
1. Yaru icon theme: provide an alias for emblem-unwritable-symbolic pointing to
the existing emblem-unwriteable-symbolic icon.
2. Nautilus: align the requested GThemedIcon names with the existing embedded
resource naming.
3. Both projects: establish consistent icon naming and fallback behavior.
The appropriate fix should be determined by the maintainers.
[Reproducibility and outstanding checks]
The issue has been observed on the described Ubuntu 26.04.1 QEMU/KVM
installation.
Further checks that would help establish its scope:
- Verify behavior with the Adwaita icon theme.
- Confirm whether the emblem is visually missing in Files.
- Check whether the issue also occurs on bare-metal installations.
- Inspect the relevant Nautilus source code to establish the exact icon lookup
and fallback path.
I can run these extra checks if useful.
[Evidence collected]
Evidence directory:
~/Documents/ubuntu-qa/bugs/attachments/def004-nautilus-emblem-evidence/
Includes:
- environment / package versions
- journal excerpts (Failed to add emblem)
- Yaru icon listing and ownership
- GTK has_icon() results
- extracted Nautilus gresource emblem SVG
- gresource emblem path listing
log :
$ journalctl -b --no-pager | grep 'Failed to add emblem'
Nov 01 21:08:02 test-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 org.gnome.Nautilus[4902]:
Failed to add emblem. “. GThemedIcon emblem-unwritable-symbolic
unwritable-symbolic emblem-unwritable unwritable” not found in the icon theme
Nov 01 21:08:02 test-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 org.gnome.Nautilus[4902]:
Failed to add emblem. “. GThemedIcon emblem-unwritable-symbolic
unwritable-symbolic emblem-unwritable unwritable” not found in the icon theme
Nov 01 21:08:02 test-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 org.gnome.Nautilus[4902]:
Failed to add emblem. “. GThemedIcon emblem-unwritable-symbolic
unwritable-symbolic emblem-unwritable unwritable” not found in the icon theme
Nov 01 21:08:09 test-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 org.gnome.Nautilus[4902]:
Failed to add emblem. “. GThemedIcon emblem-unwritable-symbolic
unwritable-symbolic emblem-unwritable unwritable” not found in the icon theme
Nov 01 21:08:09 test-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 org.gnome.Nautilus[4902]:
Failed to add emblem. “. GThemedIcon emblem-unwritable-symbolic
unwritable-symbolic emblem-unwritable unwritable” not found in the icon theme
Nov 01 21:08:09 test-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 org.gnome.Nautilus[4902]:
Failed to add emblem. “. GThemedIcon emblem-unwritable-symbolic
unwritable-symbolic emblem-unwritable unwritable” not found in the icon theme
Nov 01 21:27:24 test-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 org.gnome.Nautilus[4902]:
Failed to add emblem. “. GThemedIcon emblem-unwritable-symbolic
unwritable-symbolic emblem-unwritable unwritable” not found in the icon theme
Nov 01 21:27:24 test-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 org.gnome.Nautilus[4902]:
Failed to add emblem. “. GThemedIcon emblem-unwritable-symbolic
unwritable-symbolic emblem-unwritable unwritable” not found in the icon theme
Nov 06 23:55:49 test-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 org.gnome.Nautilus[4902]:
Failed to add emblem. “. GThemedIcon emblem-unwritable-symbolic
unwritable-symbolic emblem-unwritable unwritable” not found in the icon theme
Nov 06 23:55:49 test-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 org.gnome.Nautilus[4902]:
Failed to add emblem. “. GThemedIcon emblem-unwritable-symbolic
unwritable-symbolic emblem-unwritable unwritable” not found in the icon theme
Nov 07 01:07:47 test-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 org.gnome.Nautilus[4902]:
Failed to add emblem. “. GThemedIcon emblem-unwritable-symbolic
unwritable-symbolic emblem-unwritable unwritable” not found in the icon theme
Nov 07 01:07:47 test-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 org.gnome.Nautilus[4902]:
Failed to add emblem. “. GThemedIcon emblem-unwritable-symbolic
unwritable-symbolic emblem-unwritable unwritable” not found in the icon theme
Nov 07 01:07:58 test-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 org.gnome.Nautilus[4902]:
Failed to add emblem. “. GThemedIcon emblem-unwritable-symbolic
unwritable-symbolic emblem-unwritable unwritable” not found in the icon theme
Nov 07 01:07:58 test-Standard-PC-i440FX-PIIX-1996 org.gnome.Nautilus[4902]:
Failed to add emblem. “. GThemedIcon emblem-unwritable-symbolic
unwritable-symbolic emblem-unwritable unwritable” not found in the icon theme
** Affects: update-notifier (Ubuntu)
Importance: Undecided
Status: New
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2173605
Title:
Nautilus requests emblem-unwritable while Yaru and Nautilus resources
provide emblem-unwriteable
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