don't use full paths in desktop file #3055

prusnak commented at 9:56 AM on October 5, 2013: contributor

desktop environment will find them because they are in standard paths

don't use full paths in desktop file

desktop environment will find them because they are in standard paths

178bff67c0

in contrib/debian/bitcoin-qt.desktop:None in 178bff67c0

   3 | @@ -4,9 +4,9 @@ Name=Bitcoin
   4 |  Comment=Bitcoin P2P Cryptocurrency
   5 |  Comment[fr]=Bitcoin, monnaie virtuelle cryptographique pair à pair
   6 |  Comment[tr]=Bitcoin, eşten eşe kriptografik sanal para birimi
   7 | -Exec=/usr/bin/bitcoin-qt %u
   8 | +Exec=bitcoin-qt %u
   9 |  Terminal=false
  10 |  Type=Application
  11 | -Icon=/usr/share/pixmaps/bitcoin128.png
  12 | +Icon=bitcoin128

Diapolo commented at 10:37 AM on October 5, 2013:

No need to add .png here?

prusnak commented at 1:28 PM on October 5, 2013:

No. DE will try common extensions like .png .xpm .svg

gavinandresen commented at 1:15 AM on October 11, 2013:

This will break my habit of grepping for a filename to find out where it is used, and is likely to make somebody like me think that bitcoin128.png is not used anywhere, "so I'll just go ahead and delete it."

wtogami commented at 1:27 AM on October 11, 2013:

@gavinandresen For distro packaging Icon=name without extension seems to be the norm. In general upstream projects probably shouldn't pay attention to the distro packaging much at all. Note that the majority of distros don't bother submitting their packaging recipes to upstream projects. There are just too many variations of distros.

BitcoinPullTester commented at 10:41 AM on October 5, 2013: none

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laanwj commented at 7:36 AM on October 6, 2013: member

I feel somewhat safer if the .desktop specifies the whole path, at least for the executable.

wtogami commented at 12:09 AM on October 11, 2013: contributor

The Icon change is fine.

I would similarly suggest the full path for a distro package in order to guarantee that you are running the expected packaged binary instead of what may be installed elsewhere and earlier in $PATH.

sipa commented at 8:36 PM on October 13, 2013: member

Agree with @laanwj and @wtogami. But perhaps these are more distro conventions than things we should be deciding?

wtogami commented at 9:06 PM on October 13, 2013: contributor

My earlier point is that it is awkward to have a distro packaging be reliant on what upstream is willing to include. I would be in favor of complete removal of all distro-specific things. There is a similar issue in the always out-of-date Ubuntu build instructions included in Bitcoin. Let distros bikeshed all they want, outside of Bitcoin.

prusnak commented at 9:25 AM on October 14, 2013: contributor

@wtogami Distro packaging is of course not reliant on what upstream is willing to include. It's very hard to find upstream that is able to create a valid desktop file (categories are usually the biggest culprit), so distributions keep patching that stuff all the time.

At the same time it is nice not to carry a lot of patches in distribution packages, because it enhances upstream codebase and simplifies maintenance of the packages. That's why I sent this pull request, but feel free to decline it if you see it doesn't fit.

laanwj commented at 9:58 AM on October 14, 2013: member

The summary is that we're ok with the change in the image file name, but not with the change of the executable to a non-absolute path.

wtogami commented at 10:28 AM on October 14, 2013: contributor

At the same time it is nice not to carry a lot of patches in distribution packages, because it enhances upstream codebase and simplifies maintenance of the packages. That's why I sent this pull request, but feel free to decline it if you see it doesn't fit.

Broader discussion: Any distro-specific packaging or build instructions does not belong in upstream at all. They do not match distro conventions, they often become obsolete, and you to jump through hoops to get them updated. How is going through this hassle "simplfying the maintenance of packages"? You don't see Fedora or Gentoo demanding distro-specific stuff to be included into Bitcoin for these reasons.

Narrow issue: I would ACK changing the image file name but not the executable path. As long as upstream has any say we do not want to encourage the possibility of running the wrong binary. Want to avoid this hassle? Stop relying on upstream for distro-specific things.

prusnak commented at 10:57 AM on October 14, 2013: contributor

Desktop file is not distro specific stuff. DSC, "debian" directory or SPEC file is. Please stop mixing two quite different things for the sake of your arguments (with which I do agree).

wtogami commented at 11:34 AM on October 14, 2013: contributor

I would agree with you except for contrib/debian/bitcoin-qt.desktop

laanwj commented at 12:55 PM on October 14, 2013: member

Right, ignore the "debian". It grew from debian a long time ago but the stuff inside the directory (like the desktop file and man page) is pretty much generally usable.

laanwj commented at 10:14 AM on October 21, 2013: member

Closing this, nothing constructive is happening. Distributions are free to do whatever they want with the .desktop file that makes sense in their specific environment.

laanwj closed this on Oct 21, 2013

Bushstar referenced this in commit 7d8eab2641 on Apr 8, 2020

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