296568 - Firefox should have a firefox.desktop file for Linux builds

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 1824327

(Firefox :: Shell Integration, enhancement)

Description

[nulldomain]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8b2) Gecko/20050602 Firefox/1.0+
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8b2) Gecko/20050602 Firefox/1.0+

Firefox needs a firefox.desktop file to be installed in
${prefix}/share/applications on Linux/Unix during a build install to easily
integrate into the desktop menu. Attaching an example .desktop file.  Also a
firefox icon to be used with the .desktop file should be installed in
${prefix}/share/pixmaps.  

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:

Comment 1

[nulldomain]

Attachment: firefox.desktop file

Comment 2

[Ryuichi KUBUKI]

--> enhancement

Comment 3

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This is an automated message, with ID "auto-resolve01".

This bug has had no comments for a long time. Statistically, we have found that
bug reports that have not been confirmed by a second user after three months are
highly unlikely to be the source of a fix to the code.

While your input is very important to us, our resources are limited and so we
are asking for your help in focussing our efforts. If you can still reproduce
this problem in the latest version of the product (see below for how to obtain a
copy) or, for feature requests, if it's not present in the latest version and
you still believe we should implement it, please visit the URL of this bug
(given at the top of this mail) and add a comment to that effect, giving more
reproduction information if you have it.

If it is not a problem any longer, you need take no action. If this bug is not
changed in any way in the next two weeks, it will be automatically resolved.
Thank you for your help in this matter.

The latest beta releases can be obtained from:
Firefox:     http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/
Thunderbird: http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/releases/1.5beta1.html
Seamonkey:   http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/

Comment 4

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This bug has been automatically resolved after a period of inactivity (see above
comment). If anyone thinks this is incorrect, they should feel free to reopen it.

Comment 5

[nulldomain]

This would be another nice Linux integration fix for Fx3.  Instead of having to create my own desktop file, since I install from source.

Comment 7

[Dwayne Bailey]

This is also a localisation/branding issue since the .desktop file allows for localisation and Firefox localisers and branding police are not able to check these files for correct localisation alignment with branding guidelines.

Comment 9

[skierpage]

Thunderbird and SeaMonkey Linux builds have the same issue.

Providing sample .desktop files would help people who download builds from Mozilla rather than installing their Linux distro's package, and would encourage distributions to get it right.

As well as a .desktop file, the mimetype info is also relevant, e.g. Firefox 4 can now handle "video/webm").  Also, the Linux builds should provide stock desktop icons.  They're built-in to the Windows executables, but for Linux they're missing or scattered around in .jar files and icons subdirectories.

I envision each product's Linux build having a desktop_integration/ folder containing:
  applications/
   firefox.desktop
   (or seamonkey.desktop, seamonkey-composer.desktop, etc.)
  icons/
   firefox.png
   firefox_16.gif
   firefox.svg  (bug 543237)   etc.
  mime/
   packages/
    firefox.xml
  README   (saying these are sample files; your Linux distro may have its own versions that are localized or have different branding; read http://standards.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/latest/ ; etc.)

Comment 10

[Noah Meyerhans [:noahm]]

Is there any reason that this bug hasn't seen any meaningful activity?  Six years ago, in Comment 1, a sample .desktop file was attached that should provide a meaningful place to start.  Is there anything else that the community can do to get this resolved?

At the risk of sounding like I'm trolling, Google manages to ship a .desktop with Chrome.  It allows for easy integration with common Linux desktop environments by way of a widely supported standardized mechanism...

Comment 11

[Landry Breuil (:gaston)]

So far, all packagers are providing their own desktop file and manually installing it, that'd be good to mash them up together, get it linked to the build/install system and get something finally commited (and that for thunderbird and seamonkey too, ofc)

See for the BSDs :
http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/ports/www/mozilla-firefox/files/firefox.desktop?rev=1.4;content-type=text%2Fplain
http://cvsweb.se.netbsd.org/cgi-bin/bsdweb.cgi/pkgsrc/www/firefox/files/desktop.in?rev=1.1.1.1;content-type=text%2Fplain
http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/ports/www/firefox/files/firefox.desktop.in?rev=1.9;content-type=text%2Fplain

Comment 12

[Ma Hsiao-Chun]

As it is Firefox 23 now. Any news?

Comment 13

[Ma Hsiao-Chun]

Full integration to Linux system requires something beyond a mere .desktop file.

A good start point seems to be: https://developer.gnome.org/integration-guide/stable/

In order to deploy the integration meta data in an end user friendly way, offering DEB and RPM package (bug 641210) and/or offering a custom installer (with or without GUI).

Comment 14

[Fabio Rafael Rosa]

I do agree with Ma Xiaojun, that it would be better to provide a deb or rpm package (specially for distros that does not package vanilla firefox, like debian). 
But, firefox could at least create a basic .desktop file at $HOME/.local/share/applications when first run (or give a menu option for that), the same way as IntelliJ (or PyCharm)  .

Comment 15

[james.bugzilla]

rpm and deb are not cross distro solutions more so with dependencies issues. 

If Mozilla were going to have have a install package it would likely been done with say Autopackage like in Bug 277066

Comment 16

[skierpage]

(In reply to Ma Xiaojun from comment #13)
> Full integration to Linux system requires something beyond a mere .desktop file.

Sure, but that's a different bug.  Simply providing a .desktop file, even without installing it, would be an improvement on the status quo. Start with the smallest possible improvement.

Comment 17

[john]

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1427383

Comment 18

[Beedell, Roke Julian Lockhart]

I am believing that 'xdg-settings set default-url-scheme-handler http org.mozilla.firefox.desktop' and 'xdg-settings set default-url-scheme-handler https org.mozilla.firefox.desktop' and 'xdg-settings set default-web-browser firefox.desktop' are valid commands for me. Consequently, was this problem remediated before now?

Comment 19

[Nick Rishel [:nrishel]]

I believe you are right that this was resolved by https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1634292. Thanks for the heads up. :)

Comment 20

[Darkspirit]

(In reply to BEEDELL ROKE JULIAN LOCKHART from comment #18)
Then you don't have official Firefox, but a distribution build.