Changes to Startup Application Preferences not being remembered in Ubuntu Unity 16.04

[Or Schiro]

Dear all,

I am using Ubuntu Unity 16.04.

If I add a new entry to "Startup Application Preferences", this entry does no longer exist after reboot.

The entry:

/bin/bash -c "sleep 15 && python3 /path/to/show_state.py"

What could be the reason for the entry not being saved properly?

Thankfully,

-Robert

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

Insufficient privileges? Please run the command

ls -ld ~/.config/autostart

and show us the result.

[Or Schiro (orschiro)]

Dear Gunnar,

Thank you for your help!

Output of `ls -ld ~/.config/autostart`:

drwxrwxr-x 2 orschiro orschiro 4096 Sep 3 10:42 /home/orschiro/.config/autostart

Thus, privileges should be alright?

Thankfully,

-Robert

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

So it seems. Can you please start Startup Applications from a terminal window:

gnome-session-properties

Then add a new entry, and let us know

* any error message in the terminal window

* if a new .desktop file is created in ~/.config/autostart

[Or Schiro (orschiro)]

Dear Gunnar,

No error on the terminal but a mismatch between the entries in `.config/autostart` and the ones shown in the GUI preferences.

Please see the attached screenshot.

Warmly,

-Robert

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

Hmm.. Odd. What does the .desktop file look like exactly?

cat ~/.config/autostart/bash.desktop

[Or Schiro (orschiro)]

orschiro@x230:~$ cat ~/.config/autostart/bash.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Exec=/bin/bash -c "sleep 15 && python3 /home/orschiro/bin/show_state.py"
Hidden=false
NoDisplay=false
X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true
Name[en_US]=Laptop Lid Indicator
Name=Laptop Lid Indicator
Comment[en_US]=
Comment=

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

I see that you named the entry "Laptop Lid Indicator", and an entry with that name is shown in your Startup Applications GUI according to the screenshot you posted in comment #4. So I'm confused.

[Or Schiro (orschiro)]

Dear Gunnar,

Indeed I used the GUI to create the "Laptop Lid Indicator" startup file which then seemed to have created "bash.desktop".

Should I maybe try to create entries manually from the command-line and see if they persist upon reboot?

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

Not sure why that would make a difference.

Are you really saying that the file bash.desktop, which you now have shown is created as expected via the GUI, is removed if you reboot?

[Or Schiro (orschiro)]

Dear Gunnar,

Yes, indeed this was the case.

I tried to create my startup files manually in that file directory without using the GUI.

And now it seems that these entries are persistent.

I don't really understand what the underlying issue is.

I will test this for several days more and see if anything changes!

Thanks for all your help so far!

-Robert

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for gnome-session (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]