Application icon doesn't work in the launcher

[juzzlin]

I have already asked this on Stackoverflow with no answers or suggestions:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/52248316/application-icon-doesnt-work-with-snap-packaging

The thing is that the application launcher always shows the system default application icon instead of the icon I set in the .desktop file. I use the same install locations and files for Debian packaging successfully so I guess they are correct.

Source code is here if someone gets interested:

juzzlin/Heimer

Running ./scripts/buildSnap.sh builds the snap package.

[Wimpress]

I noticed that your plugs: don’t list the desktop or desktop-legacy interfaces which I think will be required.

• https://docs.snapcraft.io/reference/interfaces

[Lin-Buo-Ren]

According to my experience, additional patching is required to make the icon visible, here’s a GNU Sed script I been using for this purpose: https://github.com/Lin-Buo-Ren/snapcrafters-template-plus/blob/master/snap/utilities/patch-desktop-entries.sed

Utility script for patching: https://github.com/Lin-Buo-Ren/snapcrafters-template-plus/blob/master/snap/utilities/patch-desktop-entries.bash

Location in-recipe that calls the utility script: https://github.com/Lin-Buo-Ren/snapcrafters-template-plus/blob/5bb7778/snap/snapcraft.yaml#L137-L144

[Lin-Buo-Ren]

Also, I would like to point out that not all applications in a single snap will prefer a single icon, that’s probably why the Icon key in the desktop entries are not patched in the first place, because Snapcraft doesn’t know what the proper icon belongs to a certain menu entry. This probably should be handled by the packager themselves.

NOTE: The actual desktop entry effective are in /var/lib/snapd/desktop and is generated by snapcraft according to the desktop entry specified in the desktop key of an apps instance.

[juzzlin]

Where is this all documented? Now I feel that I’m the first one ever who is trying to make this work. Wtf.

[juzzlin]

Unfortunately that doesn’t seem to fix it…

[Lin-Buo-Ren]

@juzzlin

Where is this all documented?

This is the most relatable topic I can find in the doc category, unfortunately, it didn’t mention anything about application icons…

The snap format

This page documents the format of the built snaps. See The snapcraft format for more information about the snapcraft.yaml file used to build these snaps. A snap is a SquashFS file carrying content alongside metadata to tell the system how it should be manipulated. When installed, the SquashFS file for the snap is mounted read-only at the following location: /snap/<snap name>/<revision>/ This method delivers fast and extremely predictable installations, with no installat…

[Lin-Buo-Ren]

Here’s another one that actually explains some stuff:

Getting ready for stable

Snaps can be released in the store to one or more channels. One byproduct of this is developers can ‘hide’ unfinished applications, or snaps which aren’t production quality from users. However, once an application hits the stable channel, users will have expectations for functionality and presentation. This page details some tips on getting your application ready for the stable snap store channel. Consider it a checklist of best practices for landing in the stable channel. Confinement Snaps i…

[Lin-Buo-Ren]

Change that might work out… or not:

maybe the desktop entry is also needed to be copied to gui/_snap_name_.desktop and patched manually according to the documentation

[juzzlin]

Yeah, I’ll try that next.

[Lin-Buo-Ren]

I filed a proposal to improve the situation: Proposal: The `apps.<app-name>.icon` Key

[juzzlin]

I just couldn’t make that work. Should I refer to gui/heimer.desktop somehow in the snapcraft.yaml ?

[Lin-Buo-Ren]

@juzzlin

Should I refer to gui/heimer.desktop somehow in the snapcraft.yaml ?

I don’t think so, the apps.<app-name>.desktop key only allows relative paths from the prime folder. AFAICS the /snap/gui folder will be copied to /prime/meta/gui by snapcraft, so setting apps.<app-name>.desktop key to meta/gui/heimer.desktop might work (never done that before :-/)

[juzzlin]

Hmm…if I remove /var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/heimer_heimer.desktop the icon is shown…

[Lin-Buo-Ren]

Are you sure that menu entry isn’t the other installation of Heimer in your system?

[juzzlin]

Well, $ find /usr -name "*heimer*" doesn’t give me anything. But I don’t know how the things are cached.

[juzzlin]

Btw, I can find these files after installation (seems to be correct?):

/snap/heimer/x2/usr/share/icons/hicolor/64x64/apps/heimer.png /snap/heimer/x2/usr/share/pixmaps/heimer.png /snap/heimer/x3/usr/share/icons/hicolor/64x64/apps/heimer.png /snap/heimer/x3/usr/share/pixmaps/heimer.png /snap/heimer/x1/usr/share/icons/hicolor/64x64/apps/heimer.png /snap/heimer/x1/usr/share/pixmaps/heimer.png

Should these have something to do with the path in the desktop file?

Desktop file /var/lib/snapd/deskop/applications/heimer_heimer.desktop now has:

[Desktop Entry] Name=Heimer GenericName=Mind map application Comment=Mind map application Exec=env BAMF_DESKTOP_FILE_HINT=/var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/heimer_heimer.desktop /snap/bin/heimer %U Icon=heimer Type=Application Categories=Education; StartupNotify=true

Is this now still the same file I have in the yaml ? Not the one that’s under gui/ ? I don’t understand why the Icon is again heimer, but the Exec has been changed

[Lin-Buo-Ren]

I’ve

@juzzlin

I don’t understand why the Icon is again heimer , but the Exec has been changed

Snapcraft has patched the Exec key but not the Icon key. I’m currently building your snap and experimenting how snapcraft deal with the icon keyword, hold on a bit

[Lin-Buo-Ren]

Here’s the pull request that is confirmed working: Snap: Fix-up application icon lookup by Lin-Buo-Ren · Pull Request #21 · juzzlin/Heimer