firefox snap .desktop missing StartupWMClass

Bug #2045820 reported by Tim Richardson
10
This bug affects 2 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
firefox (Ubuntu)
Confirmed
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

this is repost from https://forum.snapcraft.io/t/snap-icons-is-the-firefox-desktop-file-missing-startupwmclass/37400

I have the mozilla stable version installed using the mozilla binary method, and snap for the beta channel. The snap icon is broken, both in the menu entry and in the panel. That is, there is no icon in menu, and the generic cog icon in the panel.

This is on 22.04 But I have the same problem in 23.10 and in a VM 22.04. That is, I can reproduce this every time.

I did snap remove firefox

to uninstall, but this file

/home/tim/.local/share/applications/firefox_firefox.desktop

remains.

So I remove it manually, and reinstall.

The desktop file for this is now:

/var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/firefox_firefox.desktop

It is called Firefox Web Browser in the gnome launcher, and it has an icon. But after launching, it still uses the generic cog icon in the panel. The context menu from this icon has no actions, except to Quit. If I create a second window, both are associated with this icon, which is good.

In the Gnome launcher, if you search for an app and if that app is running, the Gnome launcher indicates it with a dot. However, while this works for the mozilla binary, the icon of Firefox Web Browser (installed with snap) does not show a dot, even though I have two windows from it open.

image: see attachment firefox_bug_0.png

image: see attachment firefox_bug_1.png

Fix?

From chatgpt help, I see this:

image: see attachment firefox_bug_3.png

Add this line to the snap .destkop file, near the top, fixed it:

StartupWMClass=firefox-beta

Therefore my suggestion is that the .desktop file have a channel-dependent StartupWMClass value set.

Revision history for this message
Tim Richardson (tim-richardson) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Tim Richardson (tim-richardson) wrote :

screenshot 2, chatgpt suggestion which contained the fix

description: updated
Revision history for this message
Tim Richardson (tim-richardson) wrote :

screen shot of icon problem

description: updated
description: updated
description: updated
description: updated
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

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

Changed in firefox (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Maximiliano Bertacchini (maxiberta) wrote :

I can confirm adding `StartupWMClass=firefox-beta` in the .desktop file fixes the firefox snap icon in the KDE/Plasma task manager. Thanks!

Revision history for this message
Tim Richardson (tim-richardson) wrote : Re: [Bug 2045820] Re: firefox snap .desktop missing StartupWMClass

Where is the source code for the snap packaging for firefox? How can
patches be submitted?

On Fri, 8 Dec 2023 at 01:10, Maximiliano Bertacchini <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> I can confirm adding `StartupWMClass=firefox-beta` in the .desktop file
> fixes the firefox snap icon in the KDE/Plasma task manager. Thanks!
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2045820
>
> Title:
> firefox snap .desktop missing StartupWMClass
>
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--
Tim Richardson

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