Desktop Icons NG (DING) appearing uninvited etc.

[John Crown]

I installed ubuntu 24.04 on new hardware this weekend (fresh install on a clean disk). (Gnome desktop).
(Didn't notice any uninvited DING icons on my background yet...)
Then I brought over my user files from my 24.04 installation on older hardware. (Wasn't seeing any DING icons there, either...
Somewhere along the way, these icons (file icons) started appearing on my desktop background (in the new hardware/install).
Literally, millions of icons where I'm expecting none. (Ok, dozens of icons -- apparently everything
that could be found in my /home/johnc directory was showing up on the desktop).
After considerable hair pulling, I found that I could get rid of these by (installing and then) using
the app "/usr/bin/gnome-extionsions-app" (which is where I got the terminology "Desktop Icons NG (DING)".
Turned those off, and yes, the background got clean -- as I have been accustomed to for the last several
ubuntu releases, at least. So call that a victory ...
But meanwhile, the cursor started acting weird -- my chosen cursor (DMZ-White) appears when it's over a window, but over the desktop background, it changes to a light-colored small square. Over the "x" icon on a window (e.g. an xterm window), the cursor would change to an "x". Still usable, but wonky.
Fixed it in gnome-tweaks. Click "Appearance", then choose the default cursor "Adwaita (default)". No more weird cursor behavior.
So the upshot: all these DING icons on my desktop background were unwanted, and uninvited as far as I know.
They make my desktop look more like Windows11 (Not A Good Thing).
It would be nice (A) if they didn't ever show up uninvited, or at least (B) to be able to make them go away (cleanly) without having to install "tweaks" and "extensions" packages.
If it's already apparent what I did wrong to deserve this, please do let me know!
Thanks.

% lsb_release -rd
No LSB modules are available.
Description: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
Release: 24.04

% apt-cache policy gdm3
gdm3:
  Installed: 46.0-2ubuntu1
  Candidate: 46.0-2ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 46.0-2ubuntu1 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

% apt-cache policy gnome
gnome:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 1:44+1build1
  Version table:
     1:44+1build1 500
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble/universe amd64 Packages

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 24.04
Package: gdm3 46.0-2ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 6.8.0-38.38-generic 6.8.8
Uname: Linux 6.8.0-38-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.28.1-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: pass
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Tue Jul 16 07:54:25 2024
InstallationDate: Installed on 2024-07-15 (1 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS "Noble Numbat" - Release amd64 (20240424)
SourcePackage: gdm3
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thanks for the bug report.

Too many files appearing on the desktop either means ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs is misconfigured, or that ~/Desktop is symlinked to something else. So please:

1. Run: 'stat ~/Desktop' and tell us what it reports.

2. Attach a copy of ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs

The "light-colored small square" cursor issue is being tracked in bug 2063869.