[SOLVED] "Places" plugin in the Mint Menu stopped working

[Socob]

Hello everyone,

First of all, I'm using Linux Mint 11 (standard version). Recently, I've been making a lot of changes to the main menu (using "alacarte"), deleting, moving and renaming many shortcuts there because I did not want them to show up in the menu that appears when you right-click a file and choose "Open with other application..." (which they do even if they're hidden in the main menu). Shortly afterwards, I noticed that when I try to use a shortcut in the "Places" section of the main menu, the menu simply closes without doing anything. It still works with "Computer" and "Network", but anything else (custom shortcuts, the home folder or "Trash") does not work. i don't know if this is actually related to the changes I made to the menu shortcuts, but it happened directly afterwards.

Also, because the symptoms seem to be the same, I suspect that my problem might be related to this (although I'm not sure): http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=76192
Like the user in that topic, I have my /home folder on a separate partition. However, I've never had problems - I've used Linux Mint 11 without problems with this setup before.

If necessary, I can list the things I have in my menu now. I'd appreciate any help with this!

[wyrdoak]

You could try "right click" on Mintmenu /"left click" edit menu/ "left click" revert; that should take you back to the way it was before.

[Socob]

You could try "right click" on Mintmenu /"left click" edit menu/ "left click" revert; that should take you back to the way it was before.

Hm, that didn't really seem to work. Some things were reset, yes, but most of my changes are still there - in particular, most of the entries I removed are still gone. Unsurprisingly, the issue itself hasn't changed, either. Is there a certain entry that's needed for mintMenu's "places" section?

[wyrdoak]

Sounds like a syntax error in the launcher command line. I get the same trying to launch anything "Wine" from the menu I just deleted them from the menu and created one for Cairo Dock, via Desktop Launcher.. Command line syntax seems to be different in the menu than on the desktop or Gnome panel.
You might need to stand on your head and wiggle your ears or something, to get the Linux handshake, to get the syntax, for I've tried .

[Socob]

@wyrdoak:
I'm not really sure what you mean by a "syntax error in the launcher command line" - I mean, if anything, the problem seems to be that I accidentally deleted (not mistyped) something important (or am I missing your point?).


Anyway, I just found out that there are more issues than just the broken ""Places" plugin: Whenever I start up Linux Mint, the desktop is completely empty and unresponsive (e.g. right clicks do not work). I have to open nautilus for the desktop to start working normally. Very strange. In addition, I can't use the option "Open as administrator" that appears in the context menu when you right-click a directory (not a file) in nautilus anymore. I get the following error message:

"Unable to determine the program to run.

The item you selected cannot be open with administrator powers because the correct application cannot be determined."

I guess all these issues are related somehow?

[wyrdoak]

I mean the command line that is entered when a "wine" program is install is a completely different than the command line required to launch a program, whether it's created as a "menu" launcher or a desktop launcher .

I must delete any launcher made and create one with the command line in the proper syntax for the desktop launcher.

Also the command line syntax used to create a desktop launcher will not work in the "menu" launcher .

Not knowing what syntax is required to get the "menu" launcher to work, I just create a desktop launcher and drag it to "Cairo Dock" .

At least I'm down to about two programs now, that I haven't found suitable Linux substitutes for, and have just about got it down to one, then the problem will be no longer a concern of mine.

Also I've gone to "Gnome Custom Menu" for the most part it just loads faster on my little netbook. Cuts down on the aggravation if I don't see it.

[Socob]

Okay, I just "solved" it.

I searched for the application launchers ("*.desktop" files) and found out that there are two main locations where those are stored: "~/.local/share/applications", which I assume to be user-specfic, and "/usr/share/applications", which I assume to apply system-wide. Now, guess what I did: I deleted everything in "~/.local/share/applications" and all of the problems I've mentioned were solved.
I still don't understand what actually caused it - after all, it's not a very good idea for any program to rely on these launchers. However, what I do understand is that if you mess around in your local "~/.local/share/applications" folder too much (which "alacarte", the "Main Menu" program, seems to do if you change a lot of things), the two locations cause conflicts.

Conclusion for me: Don't use alacarte and keep launchers in "/usr/share/applications".

[gammelsmurf1]

I don't know what happened really, but all of a sudden when I opened a folder, vlc starts up and tries to act as a file manager.
So i did sudo apt-get remove vlc and it kinda went on like normal, only that a few things didn't really cope with standard procedures.
Including mintmenu places as an example.
So i salute you Socob
Thank you very much, I followed your "solution", and it worked!