Alternatives for x-window-manager if not x-session-manager.

[Mike Mestnik]

Not installing these takes gnome-shell out of the running for startx default.

Also there is no menu file, just a .desktop file. Is there a tool to generate menu files from .desktop, because the reverse is true.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: gnome-shell 3.2.1-8ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-6.12-generic-pae 3.2.0-rc6
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-6-generic-pae i686
ApportVersion: 1.90-0ubuntu1
Architecture: i386
Date: Tue Dec 27 09:17:21 2011
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=C
SourcePackage: gnome-shell
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2011-12-21 (5 days ago)

[Jeremy Bícha (jbicha)]

Hi, thank you for reporting this bug, but I'm sorry to say I don't understand what the issue you're trying to report is.

[Mike Mestnik (cheako)]

Where is the Ubuntu Policy Manual? I only know about Debian and since both alternatives and menu are part of Ubuntu I have to assume the policy regarding this has also been copied.

http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-opersys.html#s-menus
http://j.mp/rueS4P

In short .desktop files should not be included in packages, nor should configuration files for any other menu system(pdmenu, fvwm, ect). Instead these files will be generated by the menu system. I know that LSB .desktop files have become a widely excepted standard however they are not supported every where, unlike the menu system, and there are some applications that will never make use of them because of design goals.

The other big difference is that the menu system ties into the package management system, something not currently supported by .desktop files. This gives the package management system, as well as the rest of the system, a call back to run when these files are updated. The .desktop system AFAIK lacks any form of call back on updates, save i-notify.

The other missing component is integration into the alternatives system.
http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ap-pkg-alternatives.html
http://j.mp/v4FuZG

The appropriate alternative for gnome-shell is x-session-manager.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thank you for reporting this bug to Ubuntu.
Ubuntu 12.04 (precise) reached end-of-life on April 28, 2017.

See this document for currently supported Ubuntu releases:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

We appreciate that this bug may be old and you might not be interested in discussing it any more. But if you are then please upgrade to the latest Ubuntu version and re-test.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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