No icon for LiVES in the Ubuntu Software Center

[Daniel Neel]

Binary package hint: lives

Description: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
Release: 10.04
Installed: 1.3.2-2ubuntu1
Candidate: 1.3.2-2ubuntu1
Version table:
*** 1.3.2-2ubuntu1 0
       500 http://ftp.usf.edu/pub/ubuntu/ lucid/universe Packages
       100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

When browsing the Ubuntu Software Center for LiVES, the thumbnail image for the application doesn't appear until after the application has been installed.

To reproduce the bug:

If LiVES is not currently installed on your computer:
- Open the Ubuntu Software Center and search for "LiVES"
- There should not be a thumbnail image for the program

If LiVES is currently installed on your computer:
- Open the Ubuntu Software Center and remove LiVES
- Search for "LiVES" in the Software Center - there should not be a thumbilna for the program

Expected behavior: A thumbnail image for the program LiVES would display in the Ubuntu Software Center whether the program was installed or not.

Actual behavior: A thumbnail image for the program LiVES only displays in the Ubuntu Software Center while the program is installed.

[T L R (tlr)]

I can confirm what you are saying is true and tested as well on my Ubuntu 10.04 system.

Not every package in my Software Center has an icon though, so I am cannot confirm that "lives" is supposed to have one before being installed.

[Harry Rickards (hrickards)]

Upstream has given https://s3.amazonaws.com/bits.ohloh.net/attachments/31224/LiVES_logo_128x_med.png for this purpose, but I can't find any information on how to add this to the package. Any help?

[Daniel Neel (dneelyep)]

From https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SoftwareCenter#software-icon:

"The icon should be the icon supplied for the application by your current theme, if there is one; otherwise the icon provided by app-install-data, if there is one; otherwise the generic package icon."

I'm assuming the icon for LiVES isn't included in the user's default theme, so the icon information needs to be included in the app-install-data package? I'm not really sure how this works but maybe the maintainers of that package would be good to check with.

[Daniel Neel (dneelyep)]

Ok, I think I've found the problem:

It looks like the app-install-data-ubuntu package contains the information that will display for a given package in the Software Center.

I think the data that is displayed is saved in the file .../app-install-data-ubuntu/lucid/annotate/head:/menu-data/packagenamehere.desktop.

This file for the LiVES package is located at http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-branches/ubuntu/lucid/app-install-data-ubuntu/lucid/annotate/head:/menu-data/LiVES.desktop for the current branch of Lucid development.

In this file, one sees the following:
Name=LiVES
Comment=Video Editor/VJ tool
Categories=AudioVideo;AudioVideoEditing;
Exec=lives
Icon=lives
Type=Application

The Icon field should contain a file location for the application's Icon, rather than just the word "lives". However, I don't know how to fix this - I'm thinking the icon needs to be added to a location in the LiVES source code, with the Icon field changing to reflect that location.

[Daniel Neel (dneelyep)]

Scratch the previous comment - the icon for the program is located in lives-1.3.2/menu-entries, along with the .desktop file. In the packaging guide, it's recommended not to include a directory location or file extension for the Icon entry, so the Icon entry in the .desktop file appears to be ok. Also, this could explain why the Software Center is able to display the icon correctly after the package has been installed. So, the problem seems to be that the Software Center isn't recognizing/displaying this icon unless the package is installed. Any ideas on why this would be the case?

[Alessio Treglia (quadrispro)]

This affects app-install-data only.

[Daniel Neel (dneelyep)]

Appears to be fixed in Ubuntu 10.10 - the icon appears in the Software Center. Setting Status to Fix Released.