If, like me you have installed apps using "snapd" you will find that they cannot be added to cairo-dock whilst running .... nor can they be added from the launch-menu because they are not there either.
The solution is to make a .desktop entry in /usr/share/applications.
The following example is for "gimp" but can be copied and changed to any other snap application.
create the enntry with your favorite editor (mine is nano for simple jobs like this):
"sudo nano /usr/share/applications/gimp.desktop"
and add the following text:
[Desktop Entry]
Name=gimp
Comment=gimp Desktop
GenericName= Gimp for Linux
Exec=/usr/bin/gimp %U
Icon=/usr/share/icons/Faenza/apps/scalable/gimp.svg
Type=Application
StartupNotify=true
Categories=Graphics;GTK;2DGraphics;RasterGraphics;
MimeType=x-scheme-handler/gimp;
After which (when saved) cairo-dock will prompt you if you want to open the application.
in fact, the provider of the app should provide a .desktop file with the app... how otherwise is the app meant to be run since .desktop files are the standard launchers? spank to them...
is there' not a .desktop installed in other places? where the files of the snap thing are installed in fact?
Every time I used snapd on ubuntu distros, I always ending up have the installed application icon showing up... It's may be an bad integration of snapd for E Desktop Environnement
Yes there is.
It's in /snap/gimp/current/usr/share/applications/gimp.desktop
It also works to copy that to /usr/share/applications or maybe a symlink will do.
This will require editng the Icon=path in that file,though.
The adding and editing thingy is a nice simple stanza to add other personal stuff to the dock ....... like a lockscreen or a screen-rotater icon for on my tablet.
@Thanatermesis
Just did the 32bit to 64bit (3.0.6 to 3.7.5) again.
Started 21.45 and ended 21.56 (ETC) and all went smooth as cold beer on a summerday.
That was on the reinstated machine that caused so many problems last time.
The "only" difference to last time us that I had activated the BIOS partition when upgrading 3.7.4 on the same machine , so no questions asked.
All looks "in the pocket" to me now.
Ultimately, the ony real problem that now can occur is the danged partitioning, in that it always carries a risk.
So backup, backup and backup if there's something important there.
and doesn't works, it wont show on the desktop and there's no way to make it working, see the "gimp/current" part, there's not like /opt/share/applications or /usr/local/applications which should be better, and there's not a single dir to scan
in other words: why snap doesn't just do it better ?
Probably because every developer only has eyes for their own app and doesn't give a hoot of what snap should be doing.
Suppose next they'll be wanting to containerize everything, every app its own virtual space.
so that "snap address dir" makes no sense the way is installed, it doesn't follow any standard, so it is not well made
how other distros does it? i dont know... but probably using an ugly hack
when you install an application, in the correct way, desktop applications are in the correct places and everything works as expected, but thats not the case of the snap things (at least this one)
thats their fault (snaps things), they should be better made, following standards and strictly allowing only things in the correct way instead of "ugly hacks" (putthing things in any place, in any way, any permissions, etc)
The library "problem" has been resolved so no need for jumping throuht these hoops anymore. Both "gimp" and "mypaint" install fine alongside each other, using api (apt-get install).
Just tried to switch my firefox to the latest from mozilla and installed it in /opt . made a symlink to the usr/bin/firefox. Changed the edited firefox-esr.desktop icon file in /usr/share/applications with this addition "exec = /opt/firefox73/firefox %U". to point to the new firefox installation. When I click the .desktop icon directly, it launches the correct new installation of the Firefox, same as when i type firefox in terminal.
My problem is that the launcher menu Firefox icon still launches the old default/stock firefox (which is an old version 5 series too old) from the repositories how do i update that to fireup the new firefox
