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Application categories in Manta Menu dissapearing
http://navigatrix.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=440
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Author:  Markus [ 01 Aug 2013, 14:26 ]
Post subject:  Application categories in Manta Menu dissapearing

Could anyone tell me where the configuration file(s) lives that define(s) which categories will be shown in the Manta Menu? Under nx0.5, after installing some additional software from the repositories, the "Navigation" and "SSB Radio" categories no longer show in the menu, everything else is still there. The desktop configuration files in /usr/share/applications are also stiil in place, incl. those with Category= Navigation or SSB Radio.

Many thanks,
Markus

Author:  David [ 01 Aug 2013, 21:11 ]
Post subject:  Re: Application categories in Manta Menu dissapearing

Hello Markus,

the desktop directory definition files are

/usr/share/desktop-directories/Navigation.directory
/usr/share/desktop-directories/HamRadio.directory

they also have to be registered with theses files

/etc/xdg/menus/applications-merged/navigation.menu
/etc/xdg/menus/applications-merged/hamradio.menu

Author:  Markus [ 01 Aug 2013, 21:55 ]
Post subject:  Re: Application categories in Manta Menu dissapearing

Thanks, David. As far as I can tell, the files are still in place (pasted only for Navigation below but corresponding Ham file exist as well:

Code:
markus@markus-laptop:/usr/share/desktop-directories$ ll Navi*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 160 Jun  5 13:10 Navigation.directory
markus@markus-laptop:/usr/share/desktop-directories$ cat Navigation.directory
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Navigation
Name[es]=NavegaciĆ³n
Comment=Navigation applications
Comment[es]=Aplicaciones de NavegaciĆ³n
Icon=Navigation.png
Type=Directory
markus@markus-laptop:/etc/xdg/menus/applications-merged$ ll navi*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 352 Jun  5 12:56 navigation.menu
markus@markus-laptop:/etc/xdg/menus/applications-merged$ cat navigation.menu
<!DOCTYPE Menu PUBLIC "-//freedesktop//DTD Menu 1.0//EN"
 "http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/menu-spec/1.0/menu.dtd">
<Menu>
  <Name>Applications</Name>
  <Menu>
    <Name>Navigation</Name>
    <Directory>Navigation.directory</Directory>
    <Include>
        <Category>Navigation</Category>
    </Include>
  </Menu> <!-- End Navigation -->
</Menu>

Does any of this look odd/incorrect? I'm assuming these don't have to be executable?

In /etc/xdg/menus/lxde-applications.menu I find the following lines:
Code:
   <!-- Read in overrides and child menus from applications-merged/ -->
   <DefaultMergeDirs/>

I assume this where the merged stuff is folded into the overall menu. Does the <DefaultMergeDirs/> tag need any attributes to look at the correct directory?

Thanks again,
Markus

Author:  David [ 02 Aug 2013, 01:31 ]
Post subject:  Re: Application categories in Manta Menu dissapearing

The menu structure also changes if there is a new menu config file in your home folder. I dont remember the exact name of it. But you can check if this problem also appears when you create a new user. If it doesnt happen then look somewhere inside .config or .local in your home folder and delete any menu config files you may find.

Author:  Markus [ 02 Aug 2013, 04:41 ]
Post subject:  Re: Application categories in Manta Menu dissapearing

Thanks again David. My /etc/xdg/menus/lxde-applications.menu file does look like the one you pasted, I only quoted the two lines that seem to directly related to the /etc/xdg/menus/applications-merged folder.

You got me on the right track with looking at my home directory. I added a new user as you suggested and for him (or her - whatever gender "test" is) the menu comes up complete with Navigation and SSB Radio. I couldn't find a relevant difference under ~/.config or ~/.local but did come across a folder ~/.cache/menus. In it I have three files with very cryptic looking names:

Code:
markus@markus-laptop:~/.cache/menus$ ll
total 72
drwx------  2 markus markus  4096 Aug  2 21:08 ./
drwx------ 18 markus markus  4096 Aug  2 20:55 ../
-rw-------  1 markus markus 20309 Aug  2 20:55 14f43e70d0ff3cb33fa495db1c2479d6
-rw-------  1 markus markus 15194 Jun 25 18:48 5f8ff47c3640027acb705d4edde1f438
-rw-------  1 markus markus 15302 May 25 10:58 7f9c9073f35a9455c7554b02eae6a413


The most recent of these files (name starting with "14f43...") contained what looked like the definition for the Manta Menu - showing all entries without Navigation and SSB Radio (I assume these files exist in any nx installation so I won't clutter this post with its content). For my "test" user the equivalent file shows the full menu structure. When I relace my files under ~/.cache/menus with the test user file my entire Manta Menu content dissapears after logging out and in again (except for logout and run). However, when I replace the content of my 14f43... file with the content of the equivalent test user file it works and I get my full menu back!

I can also put new desktop config files in say /usr/local/share/applications and they will be picke up in the menu and the 14f43... file is updated accordingly. So I guess the bottom line is: it works but I have no clue why since the underlying config files seem identical between the test user and myself...

Btw... a *very* cool job on NX0.5 ... I was afraid that clumsiness and clutter would increase when climbing up the ubuntu release tree but it's just as swift as the old one with some very nice additions. Many thanks!

PS: As I writing the last paragraph I wonder whether having carried over my existing home partition from nx0.4 to nx0.5 could have caused the problem above?

Author:  Moe [ 02 Aug 2013, 06:34 ]
Post subject:  Re: Application categories in Manta Menu dissapearing

Markus wrote:
The most recent of these files (name starting with "14f43...")
Looks like garbled names.

Say...you're on a boat and have nothing to do all day...try this from our friends at commandlinefu.com. They come up with this little beauty.
Code:
fsck.ext4 -cDfty -C 0 /dev/sdxx
Quote:
Run a ext4 file system check and badblocks scan with progress info

Nothing fancy, just a regular filesystem scan that calls the badblocks program and shows some progress info. The used options are:

-c ? check for bad sectors with badblocks program

-D ? optimize directories if possible

-f ? force check, even if filesystem seems clean

-t ? print timing stats (use -tt for more)

-y ? assume answer ?yes? to all questions

-C 0 ? print progress info to stdout

/dev/sdxx ? the partition to check, (e.g. /dev/sda1 for first partition on first hard disk)

NOTE: Never run fsck on a mounted partition!
the 'bad block' check is slow so have a book to read or leave it out.

Author:  David [ 02 Aug 2013, 12:53 ]
Post subject:  Re: Application categories in Manta Menu dissapearing

You may even delete the contents of the .cache folder. It gets rebuild automaticaly.

Author:  Markus [ 02 Aug 2013, 16:52 ]
Post subject:  Re: Application categories in Manta Menu dissapearing [SOLVE

...commandlinefu... very neat - I have to remember that ;-) Ran the fsck on steroids on all partitions. If I read its output correctly it did fix some bad block inodes.

Deleting cache contents and rebooting worked fine as well - the file gets rebuilt with the same cryptic name and the menu is complete afterwards - so all is well!

Could have sworn I tried that yesterday but that was obviously self dellusionary...

Thanks!

Author:  lapaloma [ 16 Jul 2014, 11:39 ]
Post subject:  Re: Application categories in Manta Menu dissapearing

Markus, to delete the cache contents will sove the problem. Can you explain to me how I can do that.

Thanks
Ferdinand

Author:  Markus [ 16 Jul 2014, 15:12 ]
Post subject:  Re: Application categories in Manta Menu dissapearing

Ich habe die Anleitung gerade unter Deiner ursprgl. Frage "nebenan" eingestellt: http://navigatrix.net/viewtopic.php?p=3481#p3481. Schau mal nach - wenn das nicht funktioniert, gibt's noch eine Moeglichkeit, "halb-manuell" eine neue, saubere Konfiguration zu erstellen.

Viel Glueck!
Markus

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