how to change the path of an icon in the unity launcher

Question

On previous versions of ubuntu, I used to add Thunderbird to the top menu bar so I could launch it quickly. Occasionally, I would want to use a more recent version of Thunderbird so I would download it directly from Mozilla and put it in my ~/bin/ directory. I would then right click on the Thunderbird icon on my top menu bar and edit the preferences to point to the new version.

I am now using 12.04, but there is no longer a 'preferences' item on the menu for the icons in the launcher. How can I switch the Thunderbird icon to use my newer version?

Answer 1

I'd try to change the exec line in /usr/share/applications/thunderbird.desktop to execute the binary in your home folder (e.g. /home/username/bin/tunderbird). I hope thunderbird.desktop is the right filename.

Or you make a symbolic link /usr/bin/thunderbird to /home/username/bin/thunderbird. With the symbolic link you are able to start your version of thunderbird from konsole, too.