I've downloaded and am playing with the new Neon release of KDE. When I activate an item from the Kickoff menu, though, it opens up a *.desktop
file in the Kate text editor instead of launching the item. What's the issue?
2 Answers
Background
I encountered this bug with a clean installation of 32-bit Kubuntu 16.10. After allowing updates to the system:
- with Dolphin I browsed to
remote:
(Network) - I opened Add Network Folder
- I expected a launch of
knetattach
(Network Folder Wizard – KDE Network Wizard) - instead, a
.desktop
file was opened by Kate.
I installed Thunar 1.6.11, browsed /usr/share/applications/
and found files, with representative names such as KNetAttach
, behaving as expected.
Browsing the same directory with Dolphin, I found org.kde.knetattach.desktop
and other .desktop
files misbehaving; Dolphin failed to execute the required files.
Unix & Linux Stack Exchange
There's the accepted answer to KUbuntu 10.04 / Dolphin File Manager: Is there a way to make .desktop files display the filename the same as the NAME= in the metadata? – relevant to one of the symptoms that were observed in my case, but not a solution to the execution problem.
Super User
There's the accepted answer to KDE launcher opens .desktop files in Kate but what's suggested there did not work around the execution problem in my case.
The solution in my case
The reply to .desktop files are opened with text editor • KDE Community Forums refers to a 2015 topic:
- How do I unset default to open .desktop in a text editor?
– I took a hint from a 2016 reply from mfrandsen.
nano ~/.config/kiorc
The file comprised two lines,
[Executable scripts]
behaviourOnLaunch=open
I edited the second line to read:
behaviourOnLaunch=execute
– then saved the file.
Immediately after the save, Dolphin behaved as expected.
-
After trying to find an answer, as I foolishly thought open meant to open the program I was trying to open, I needed to change it to execute. This worked perfectly, thank you! Jul 27, 2017 at 11:58
@Ryan-muller I've been testing this with a *.desktop
file.
Here's the contents of my *.desktop
file.
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Gedit
Comment=Gnome Text Editor
Icon=/usr/share/icons/gnome/256x256/apps/text-editor.png
Exec=/usr/bin/gedit
Terminal=false
Type=Application
NoDisplay=false
Name[en_US]=Gedit
GenericName[en_US.UTF-8]=Gedit
Comment[en_US.UTF-8]=Gedit
-
-
I am well aware of the question, thank you... I only took
gedit
as an example. What I've tried to mention earlier, is that this is a desktop shortcut. Ryan could edit the*.desktop
file at theTerminal=false
orTerminal=true
andNoDisplay=false
orNoDisplay=true
variable to change the starting behaviour of the app he is trying to start. See the next comment for the rest... this comment hasn't got enough characters left. Sep 12, 2015 at 6:00 -
In another case he might have seen a dialogbox mentioning the question where the app, file or shortcut he is trying to open has to be started with, choose
Kate
and forgot to untick the option in this dialogbox, toalways start this type of file with this application
. Sep 12, 2015 at 6:00
*.desktop
file? I Think the clue might be in there.