Cannot add files/folders to panel by dragging

[Ashley Yakeley]

[Impact]

Due to regression in mate-panel 1.18, it's impossible to use file/folder launchers on the panel. They will fail to load right after adding them to the panel.

The fix for this issue for Artful is provided in the debdiff attached to the report.

The fix for Zesty is attached as separate patch, and is also included into the debdiff attached to bug 1675888.

After MATE 1.18 had been released, it turned out that a lot of users rely on file/folder launchers in their daily mate-panel use. Some users even moved to other desktop environments due to this feature being broken. So it would be nice to backport the fix to Artful and Zesty.

[Test Case]

To reproduce the issue, just open file manager (I use Caja, the default one in MATE) and drag some folder to mate-panel. A new launcher pointing to that folder will be created, but it will fail to load, so it won't appear on the panel.

[Regression Potential]

When I was fixing the issue, I had to revert a lot of code changes due to some inter-dependencies in these parts of code. There can be some regression potential in the following panel features:

- running other types of launchers, besides file/folder ones
- using launcher edit dialog
- using desktop actions in the right-click menu of some launchers
  (e.g. firefox, thunderbird, hexchat)

That said, all these features had been tested upstream before merging the fix. Won't hurt to test them more, of course. :)

[Other Info]

The debdiff for Zesty which is attached to bug 1675888 is a combined one, unlike the one for Artful. That was done because there are three more patches to fix mate-panel bugs in Zesty. See bug 1675888, bug 1676840, bug 1695648.

[Original Description]

To reproduce:
1. Create an empty file named "empty" on the desktop.
2. Drag it to the top panel.

Expected:
Icon to show up in panel.

Results:
Icon does not show up in panel.
However, ~/.config/mate/panel2.d/default/launchers/empty.desktop is created.

Tested on:
ubuntu-mate-17.04-desktop-amd64.iso DVD live session: bug occurs
ubuntu-mate-16.10-desktop-i386.iso DVD live session: bug does not occur (behaves as expected)

[Ashley Yakeley (ashley-semantic)]

The entry shows up in dconf; however, .desktop files with Type=Link do not show up in the panel.

[Etienne Papegnies (etienne-papegnies)]

Can reproduce on 17.04

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Vlad Orlov (monsta)]

Sorry, it's another regression in mate-panel 1.18.

https://github.com/mate-desktop/mate-panel/issues/590

[Vlad Orlov (monsta)]

This is now fixed upstream. Attaching the patch with the fix.

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

The attachment "Make file/folder launchers work again" seems to be a patch. If it isn't, please remove the "patch" flag from the attachment, remove the "patch" tag, and if you are a member of the ~ubuntu-reviewers, unsubscribe the team.

[This is an automated message performed by a Launchpad user owned by ~brian-murray, for any issues please contact him.]

[Vlad Orlov (monsta)]

[Impact]

Due to regression in mate-panel 1.18, it's impossible
to use file/folder launchers on the panel. They will
fail to load right after adding them to the panel.

The fix for this issue is provided in the debdiff
attached to the report.

After MATE 1.18 had been released, it turned out that
a lot of users rely on file/folder launchers in their
daily mate-panel use. Some users even moved to other
desktop environments due to this feature being broken.
So it would be nice to backport the fix to Artful.

[Test Case]

To reproduce the issue, just open file manager (I use
Caja, the default one in MATE) and drag some folder
to mate-panel. A new launcher pointing to that folder
will be created, but it will fail to load, so it won't
appear on the panel.

[Regression Potential]

When I was fixing the issue, I had to revert a lot of
code changes due to some inter-dependencies in these
parts of code. There can be some regression potential
in the following panel features:

- running other types of launchers, besides file/folder
  ones
- using launcher edit dialog
- using desktop actions in the right-click menu of some
  launchers (e.g. firefox, thunderbird, hexchat)

That said, all these features had been tested upstream
before merging the fix. Won't hurt to test them more,
of course. :)

[Other Info]

The fix would be useful in Zesty as well, as mate-panel
1.18.x there has the same bug. But I also have some more
fixes for mate-panel in Zesty, and it seems to me they
better go in the same SRU. In this case, the debdiff for
Zesty should contain the patches for several bug reports
instead of only one. I'm still wondering how to properly
make such an SRU. For reference, these other reports are
bug 1675888, bug 1676840 and bug 1695648.

[Simon Quigley (tsimonq2)]

This needs to go in Bionic as well.

[Simon Quigley (tsimonq2)]

Uploaded.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package mate-panel - 1.18.4-2ubuntu1

---------------
mate-panel (1.18.4-2ubuntu1) bionic; urgency=medium

  * fix-file-folder-launchers.patch: new patch. Makes
    file/folder launchers work again (LP: #1690517)

 -- Vlad Orlov <email address hidden> Mon, 30 Oct 2017 14:05:40 +0300

[Vlad Orlov (monsta)]

Attaching the modified patch for Zesty (the original patch for Artful doesn't apply cleanly).

[Vlad Orlov (monsta)]

Sponsors: sorry for re-subscribing, but the description is now updated to reflect patches and debdiff for Zesty, and Zesty entry needs to be added to this report...

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Hello Ashley, or anyone else affected,

Accepted mate-panel into artful-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mate-panel/1.18.4-2ubuntu0.1 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how to enable and use -proposed.Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested and change the tag from verification-needed-artful to verification-done-artful. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-artful. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

[Vlad Orlov (monsta)]

Testing in Artful...

- replaced local builds of mate-panel, mate-panel-common, gir1.2-mate-panel, libmate-panel-applet-4-1, libmate-panel-applet-dev packages with version 1.18.4-2ubuntu0.1 from artful-proposed
- restarted the panel
- dragged some text files and folders from Caja file manager to the panel

File and folder launchers work fine.

Testing for possible regressions...

- application launchers: works
- special launchers (shutdown, logout, connect to server): works
- launcher edit dialog (changing icon, app name, app arguments): works
- desktop actions in launchers (firefox, thunderbird, hexchat): works

All good here.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package mate-panel - 1.18.4-2ubuntu0.1

---------------
mate-panel (1.18.4-2ubuntu0.1) artful; urgency=medium

  * fix-file-folder-launchers.patch: new patch. Makes
    file/folder launchers work again (LP: #1690517)

 -- Vlad Orlov <email address hidden> Mon, 30 Oct 2017 14:05:40 +0300

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

The verification of the Stable Release Update for mate-panel has completed successfully and the package has now been released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regressions.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Hello Ashley, or anyone else affected,

Accepted mate-panel into zesty-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mate-panel/1.18.1-0ubuntu2.1 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how to enable and use -proposed.Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested and change the tag from verification-needed-zesty to verification-done-zesty. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-zesty. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

[Vlad Orlov (monsta)]

Testing in Zesty. It's done after testing the fix for bug 1675888, so the packages are already updated to version 1.18.1-0ubuntu2.1 from zesty-proposed.

Here I just repeated the same set of tests, including regression tests, as stated above in the comment 15. No issues or regressions were found during testing.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package mate-panel - 1.18.1-0ubuntu2.1

---------------
mate-panel (1.18.1-0ubuntu2.1) zesty; urgency=medium

  * Added patches:
    + fix-transparent-panel-crashes.patch - fixes occasional crashes
      when the panel is transparent (LP: #1675888)
    + fix-crash-on-empty-icon-field.patch - fixes crashes when some
      .desktop file has empty Icon field (LP: #1676840)
    + fix-file-folder-launchers.patch - makes file/folder launchers
      work again (LP: #1690517)
    + fix-crash-on-unknown-signals.patch - fixes tray area crashes
      on unknown signals from apps using indicators (LP: #1695648)

 -- Vlad Orlov <email address hidden> Mon, 06 Nov 2017 20:44:51 +0300