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I installed Ubuntu 19.10 and have issues trying to create a desktop icon with gnome-desktop-item-edit.

$ sudo gnome-desktop-item-edit ~/Desktop/ --create-new

  sudo: gnome-desktop-item-edit: command not found

$ which gnome-panel

  /usr/bin/gnome-panel

$ gnome-panel --version

  gnome-panel 3.34.0

Is this an issue with Ubuntu 19.10 or a problem with the gnome-panel package?

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  • Please post the part you edited in later as a separate new question. I have removed it, but you can find it here. The original question was about failure to create .desktop launchers on 19.10 using gnome-desktop-item-edit whereas the edited part is about the failure to run a specific .desktop launcher on 19.10. Questions should not be edited in a way that they change drastically (refer to this).
    – pomsky
    Oct 31, 2019 at 11:34
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    This is one of many examples of FOSS weakness. There is a gap between developers and end users. People ask for simple things for years and yet nobody from community cares, because there is CLI solution described in 15 threads on 5 forums. Linux needs to solve this in order to enter main stream. Should not be difficult once understood. Apr 23, 2023 at 9:10

1 Answer 1

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Yes, indeed it seems gnome-desktop-item-edit is removed from the gnome-panel package, it won't be available for Ubuntu 19.10 (and most likely later releases).

As an workaround you can create .desktop files by hand. Just create a blank text file and add the following lines to it for a simple one:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=<NAME OF THE APPLICATION>
Comment=<A SHORT DESCRIPTION>
Exec=<COMMAND-OR-FULL-PATH-TO-LAUNCH-THE-APPLICATION>
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Icon=<ICON NAME OR PATH TO ICON>
NoDisplay=false

Then rename the file as APPNAME.desktop and right-click and select 'allow launching' (you may also have to make it executable).

Also the .desktop files for installed applications are usually found in your /usr/share/applications/ directory (or /var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/ for snap applications). You can copy a .desktop file from there.

For a GUI alternative you may use alacarte (aka 'Main Menu'). Install it by running (the 'universe' repo needs to be enabled)

sudo apt install alacarte

It creates a .desktop launcher in your ~/.local/share/applications/ directory by default (and hence it makes the application available in your list of applications, so that you can launch it from your Activities overview or Applications overview). You can copy the created .desktop file afterwards.

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