[SOLVED] Program Icon is changing back to default after each update.

[Cobra99]

Hello,
I changed the icon for Brave browser, but it is always forced back to default or to generic file icon after brave get new update.
I did change the icon by opening /usr/share/applications folder as a root. This is the setup inside that .desktop file

Code: Select all

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Brave Web Browser
# Only KDE 4 seems to use GenericName, so we reuse the KDE strings.
# From Ubuntu's language-pack-kde-XX-base packages, version 9.04-20090413.
GenericName=Web Browser
# Not translated in KDE, from Epiphany 2.26.1-0ubuntu1.
# Gnome and KDE 3 uses Comment.
Comment=Access the Internet
Exec=/usr/bin/brave-browser-stable %U
StartupNotify=true
Terminal=false
Icon=/home/cobra/Downloads/Inštalačky/brave-release.svg
Type=Application
Categories=Network;WebBrowser;
MimeType=application/pdf;application/rdf+xml;application/rss+xml;application/xhtml+xml;application/xhtml_xml;application/xml;image/gif;image/jpeg;image/png;image/webp;text/html;text/xml;x-scheme-handler/http;x-scheme-handler/https;x-scheme-handler/ipfs;x-scheme-handler/ipns;
Actions=new-window;new-private-window;

[Desktop Action new-window]
Name=New Window
Exec=/usr/bin/brave-browser-stable

[Desktop Action new-private-window]
Name=New Incognito Window
Exec=/usr/bin/brave-browser-stable --incognito

So far it did change back to default 3 or 4 times; as flatpak app or now installed from brave.com source.

Any ideas? Thanks
I use Mint-Y-Dark icon theme and Mint-Y-Dark-Orange desktop theme, System:
Kernel: 5.15.0-58-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 5.6.7
tk: GTK 3.24.33 wm: muffin dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 21.1 Vera base: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy

[Wakatakakage]

The files in system directories such as /usr/share/applications are part of software packages, and as you have observed, they may be replaced any time the software package is updated. If you want to modify a .desktop file, you should copy the file to your own directory space in ~/.local/share/applications (you may need to create the directory), and then modify that copy. Your local version of the .desktop file will take precedence over the version in /usr/share/applications, and your copy will not be touched by updates to the software package.

[Cobra99]

The files in system directories such as /usr/share/applications are part of software packages, and as you have observed, they may be replaced any time the software package is updated. If you want to modify a .desktop file, you should copy the file to your own directory space in ~/.local/share/applications (you may need to create the directory), and then modify that copy. Your local version of the .desktop file will take precedence over the version in /usr/share/applications, and your copy will not be touched by updates to the software package.

Thanks. Will try that.
Is it safe to store the icon file (svg) in this local directory too?

Code: Select all

~/.local/share/icons

I have it now in Downloads, but would like to move it somewhere else.

[Wakatakakage]

Just so you know, I have only played around a little bit with these things, and claim no expertise. I have mainly relied on XDG specification documents:

• Desktop entry specification
• Icon theme specification

The explanation for the Icon entry in the .desktop file states that

If the name is an absolute path, the given file will be used. If the name is not an absolute path, the algorithm described in the Icon Theme Specification will be used to locate the icon.

So I think that the icon file can be placed anywhere as long as you specify its location with an absolute path.

It may be a little "tidier" if you place the icon file in ~/.local/share/icons, but you may want to follow the Icon Theme Specification. This means that the file would have to be placed in a directory structure such as ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/512x512/apps/brave-release.svg. (It mimics the structure under /usr/share/icons/.) Then in your .desktop file, you would no longer need to specify the icon file's absolute path; you could just have Icon=brave-release. The system will follow the algorithm and know where to look for the file.

[Cobra99]

SOLUTION

So I copied brave-browser.desktop file to ~/.local/share/applications and icon .svg image to ~/.local/share/icons/Brave-browser/brave-release.svg and changed the path in desktop file and after todays update, icon stayed as wanted.