Custom application icon does not appear

Question

My application's icon is not showing if I do not use an absolute path like here:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=MyProgram
GenericName=MyProgram
Comment=This is a comment
Icon=/opt/extras.ubuntu.com/MyProgram/Icons/myprogram.svg
Exec=myprogram
Categories=Utility;TextTools;
Hidden=false
Terminal=false
Type=Application

Instead I write

Icon=myprogram

just like I call the program with Exec=myprogram, where it searches under /usr/bin.

According to the free desktop standards I copied the icons to /usr/share/icons/hicolor and even deleted the icon-cache as described here with sudo gtk-update-icon-cache /usr/share/icons/hicolor. Still my icon does not appear.

Answer 1

If you don't specify a full path, icons must reside inside the current icon scheme location.

If you want to add a program icon that is not part of any specific scheme, put it in /usr/share/icons/.

Answer 2

Solution as described in question, plus what I did by accident:

Somehow my launcher and panel disappeared and I restored them with

#!/bin/bash
dconf reset -f /org/compiz/
unity --reset-icons

Then my icons worked. Should be easier...