Bug 257192

Summary:	Menu link to System Settings is missing after installing Kubuntu on a a Ubuntu desktop
Product:	[Applications] kmenuedit	Reporter:	Derek Cooper <bugzillaid>
Component:	general	Assignee:	Unassigned bugs mailing-list <unassigned-bugs>
Status:	RESOLVED WORKSFORME
Severity:	normal	CC:	bugzillaid, cfeck
Priority:	NOR
Version:	0.8
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Ubuntu
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Derek Cooper 2010-11-17 21:57:06 UTC

Version: 0.0.1 (using KDE 4.5.1)
OS: Linux

My menu link to the system settings application is missing. The problem cropped up when I tried to drag the icon from the menu favorites to the desktop. The icon disappeared from the menu altogether. I am able to start systemsettings from the Alt-F2 popup.

Reproducible: Didn't try

Steps to Reproduce:
Actually trying to reproduce this would require reinstalling Ubuntu and Kubuntu in sequence. I can't afford to wipe my computer to diagnose this properly but here's how I believe the bug can be reproduced:

1. Install Ubuntu Maverick from desktop distribution disk
2. Use Synaptic to install Kubuntu, selecting kdm as the default window manager.
3. Using Kicker right-click on the system settings icon to add it to favorites.
4. Close and reopen Kicker, then drag the icon from favorites to the desktop.

Actual Results:
An error message pops up about the target being missing. Unfortunately I didn't record the error message and can't find it in my logs.
The link to system settings is missing from favorites and from the Application/Settings menu folder.

Expected Results:
The icon on the desktop, the favorites menu item and the original menu item should all launch the KDE System Settings application.

OS: Linux (i686) release 2.6.35-22-generic-pae
Compiler: cc

I was able to restore the link to system settings in favorites but not in the original Application/Settings menu folder. I did this as follows

1. Use Alt-F2 to launch systemsettings.
2. Re-open Kicker. Note that the favorites icon has reappeared but it has no icon. Also, the original mixed-case caption has been replaced with the name of the executable.

System History:
My Kubuntu install was overlaid on a Ubuntu Gnome setup. I had also previously tested Canonical's Unity desktop on this machine. I also encountered a glitch in updating due to the ~/.kde folder being owned by root. I resolved this easily with chown, but maybe there were residual issues.

Hypothesis:
On my other Kubuntu computer I have a desktop launcher for system settings, and it doesn't specify a full path. I suspect that the Gnome and KDE distributions are using the same executable name. When Kicker tries to launch the shortcut it may be pointing to the gnome systemsettings executable. When it finds that missing it removes the icon altogether.

Comment 1 Christoph Feck 2010-11-18 02:39:55 UTC

I am a bit puzzled by the long description, so I could not tell if you were using the KMenuEdit application at all. In other words, did you right-click the "K" icon and selected "Edit Applications..." there?

Otherwise it would be just a Kickoff bug.

Comment 2 Derek Cooper 2010-11-18 22:37:01 UTC

Sorry for the long text.  I had been trying to figure this glitch out for most of the day.  Searching for information is hard because the keywords are so generic.  By the time I wrote the bug report I had tunnel vision.  

If you right click on Kicker, you get an option to open the menu editor.  As a relative noob I assumed that Kicker and KMenuEdit were elements of the same project.  However, I think this bug actually belongs to the systemsettings package.  I don't see how to reassigns it (or if that's possible).

FWIW, this afternoon I was able to restore the link by reinstalling the systemsettings package through Synaptic.  As far as I can tell that's not possible with the standard software installer.

Comment 3 Jekyll Wu 2012-07-28 13:29:50 UTC

Cant' reproduce the reported problem (If I understand it correctly).

If the problem still happens in recent versions(4.8.4 or higher), please open another report and describe the problem in a more easy-to-follow way.