Unity dash fails to show applications

[Barry Drake]

Immediately after removing interaction with all Google accounts (settings->online accounts), the Unity dash no longer showed any applications, only files recently accessed. The launcher sidebar is unaffected, and the dash appears as normal but without access to applications. I re-instated all the default online account setting with no effect even after re-booting. I found in an Ubuntu wiki, a workaround for the same problem in 15.04, but this is not longer useable, as the '--reset' Unity commandline parameter, which was required, has now been removed. So far, I can't find where this information is stored, and there is no useful item to edit in the Unity plugin as seen in cssm. I am willing to try anything suggested and report.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 15.10
Package: unity 7.3.2+15.10.20150627.1-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.1.0-3.3-generic 4.1.3
Uname: Linux 4.1.0-3-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.18-0ubuntu7
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Sun Aug 30 14:39:32 2015
InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-07-30 (30 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 15.10 "Wily Werewolf" - Alpha amd64 (20150730)
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Barry Drake (b-drake)]

Maybe some explanation as to exactly what I did to the Ubuntu Unity settings might help. In the Online Account settings, it lists access by Ubuntu to the following Google online accounts for these apps:
Evolution Data Server (if Evolution is installed) for Contacts, for Calendar and for Gmail. I removed all three.
It also added access by these apps:
Shotwell
Photo Search Plugin
Google Drive Search plugin

The last three are installed and activated by default. I'm finding Google very intrusive in the way it is using my personal data to sell to advertisers, and to give me heavily targeted advertising. I thought I could get away with it in Ubuntu - at the moment, in 15.10, the answer seems to be 'no way'. I do, however still want to access Google Contacts, via the slightly buggy but useable google-contacts app installed by default (I think) in Wily - but that's all. I'd like to have Thunderbird address book sync with these contacts, but I have to do that manually at the moment.

[Barry Drake (b-drake)]

It's been pointed out to me that Wily does not integrate anything Google by default. Checking back, I set up the Google account in my Online Accounts, when I installed evolution, so I could import my google contacts.

Google contacts don't export in a format which the Thunderbird address-book can use, and the recommended method I found on the Ubuntu wiki seems to be to install evolution.

This must have been where the problem began - although I had assumed Google account integration was a Wily default. My bad!

It still represents a Unity problem when they are removed though, so I'll add this information to the bug.

[Barry Drake (b-drake)]

I have now tried setting up another account on the same installation of Wily. The problem is there as well. I've been trying to get friends to run Wily, and try the steps that I found caused the problem. So far with little success. The steps are:
Open an online account with Google, and use it to connect to google-contacts or evolution. Then go to Online Accounts, and turn off access for the applications listed as connecting to that account. This was how my problem began.

[Barry Drake (b-drake)]

End of bug - please close this one. But please consider making it a Unity wishlist item. No one I was in contact with could repeat the problem. I downloaded the latest daily-build of Wily, and tried everything I could in the live session to break Unity.

I conclude that the problem occurred during the implementation of a number of major changes to gnome, Compiz and the Unity plugin.

My wish: after the first release of Unity - before Maverick, I think. We were promised some easy tools for editing lenses, and generally customising Unity. The best we got was the ability to make a limited number of changes - mostly cosmetic. I spent time way back studying the Unity system, but the user needs to get pretty deep into the code to do anything very much.

My main complaint is that there is now no working method I can find to do a 'factory reset' of Unity. I ended up re-installing the system. I normally work entirely in a development cycle as soon as the testing version is available. I am always able to restore all data if there is a catastrophic failure. I expect to have to re-install at least a couple of times during the cycle, but it's worth it to be able to report bugs early.

Unity developers, please give us more control over the Unity environment! I felt almost like a Microsoft user! I'd be very grateful if one of the Unity developers could take the trouble to contact me so we could exchange a couple of emails.

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

Hallo Barry Drake
I close this one as your request.
For your wishes I suggest to open a bug report against Unity for each thing you want to implement,
using a clear title like eg:
Add feature 'Factory reset'
or
Provvide a customization tool for Lenses
In this way will be more visible the target of the report.
Best regards
Fabio