Base: point Toolbar Web Browser icon to new browser

[entropyagentMember]

G’Day antiXers

I installed “antiX-23.2_x64-base” and Firefox-ESR.

The Toolbar Icon still starts Seamonkey. OK, I need to change this to my preferred application.

Does changing the icon to run /usr/share/applications/firefox-esr.desktop seem like a good choice?

My workflow, using Start / Control Centre / Desktop / Preferred Applications:

Notice that Web Browser is set to Seamonkey. (Clear, accurate, unambiguous feedback, lovely)

Find that highlighting and clicking and doubleclicking on Seamonkey does not seem to do anything. Bit disappointing.

Notice a button labelled “Free Choice” *

Click on this and get taken to another screen which tells me “Web Browser” is linked to “Seamonkey-mozillabinaries.desktop”
(More clear, accurate unambiguous feedback – two views which seem to agree with each other. To me, this builds confidence in the tool)

This time, clicking on “Seamonkey-mozillabinaries.desktop” actually takes me to a folder
“/home/chip/.local/share/applications/” which only has Seamonkey .desktop files.
This is a bit disappointing. Is this a Seamonky design decision?

Does this mean I must hunt down a Firefox .desktop file? I know the button said “Free Choice” but this is a scary amount of freedom.
From my occasional conversation with other computer users, many don’t seem to grasp the basics of files and folders.

Would /usr/share/applications/firefox-esr.desktop be a good choice?
I found this by checking what other default applications point to.
This seems to be link to “/usr/local/lib/antiX/antix23-desktop-files/reservoir/firefox-esr.desktop”
It seems to work fine, but whenever I make a “customisation” I am concerned about the maintenance burden of doing something in a non-standard way.

* Maybe “Select Alternative” or “Choose Alternative” would be less ambiguous and more conventional terminology, at least in English.

Thanks for the Preferred Applications tool.

I notice that the empty lines I entered to function as “paragraph breaks” seem to be stripped out after clicking submit. Interesting.

• This topic was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by entropyagent.
• This topic was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by entropyagent.

[BobCModerator]

Base works differently. Seamonkey is not installed the same as Firefox, and I can’t tell you why not, but for the Preferred Applications app, the best solution was to make sure it was able to find it or other apps installed for that user, not all users. As I understand it, the people installing base do so because they can’t afford the disk space or CPU for Firefox or LibrOffice. It’s designed to fit on an old CD so that computers without USB can test or install and run from a CD ROM.

If you installed Firefox from the repos or software installer, I would hope it would appear as one of the Web Browser pulldown selections without needing to manually key it in via the Free Choice, manual entry mode. Take a screenshot of the Web Browser pulldown list, please.

Here is the link to SEARCH THE FORUM >> http://www.antixforum.com/search-forums

[entropyagentMember]

Thank you for your response and interest, but the problem is now gone.

Perhaps because I hunted down Firefox and included it, the world has changed. Or maybe it was solar flares.
The Web Browser dropdown works better. Firefox is offered, as well as 2 Seamonkey options.
Email Client still offers 3 Seamonkey options. It ignores Thunderbird which I have installed, but not yet run.

I did not take any pictures of the problem situation because
1) I can’t recall if I have uploaded pictures here before
2) I was just asking for confirmation that my “fix” was sane and sensible, easy to hunt down in a few months when I have forgotten.

To get pictures of the problem situation, I would probably have to reinstall Base and install Firefox.

But now that you are here:

BobC wrote:

the best solution was to make sure it was able to find it or other apps installed for that user, not all users.

I can see the value of this. Now that you mention this, I can also see the value of applying the same principal to all the applications, but it seems to only apply to Web Browser and Email Client (both of which are Seamonkey).

Terminal, File Manager, Text Editor, Video Player, Audio Player all point to /usr/share/applications/
Image Viewer does not seem to be set. Images open in Firefox (now installed)

Of course, having multiple opinionated users on a single install is perhaps rare?

BobC wrote:

I would hope it would appear as one of the Web Browser pulldown selections without needing to manually key it in via the Free Choice, manual entry mode.

I installed from standard repo using apt, and, despite the fact that Firefox-ESR was installed, there was nothing other than Seamonkey in the Web Browser dropdown. The only dropdown that worked was the Email Client, offering 3 Seamonkey options.

Because the problem is gone, I booted the install usb and noticed that only Web Browser and Email Client have relative paths
../applications/*.desktop rather than absolute paths.

Sorry I can’t give what you asked for.

Attachments:

1. 

   antiX_preferred_applications_live1.jpg
   

[BobCModerator]

The issue could be duplicated by making and booting an original antiX 23.2 base USB:

1. boot it, connect to the internet
2. bring up the preferred applications screen and pull down the web browser selection list to see if Firefox-ESR is shown (it shouldn’t be) Take a screenshot.
3. use the software installer from the toolbar to add firefox-esr
4. bring up the preferred applications screen and pull down the web browser selection list to see if Firefox-ESR is shown (it should be). Take a screenshot.
5. if firefox-esr isn’t shown in #4 above, grab a copy of the firefox-esr.desktop file (probably in /usr/share/applications), make a zip archive of it, and upload it and the screenshots here.

My guess would be that the firefox-esr.desktop file doesn’t have attributes that the preferred applications app require to recognize it as a web browser. There isn’t much consistency in the .desktop files as they come from many different upstream sources and the standard doesn’t define things closely enough to help much.

Here is the link to SEARCH THE FORUM >> http://www.antixforum.com/search-forums

[BobCModerator]

I tested it and after installing it with the Software installer (on the toolbar), it appeared on the pulldown in #4 above. I selected it, hit apply, and the Web browser icon on the toolbar brought up Firefox-ESR as it should have.

Here is the link to SEARCH THE FORUM >> http://www.antixforum.com/search-forums

[entropyagentMember]

Thank you for your time and trouble and toil. I couldn’t ask for any more. It must have been my imagination.

Perhaps I will point out that your duplication did not include the actual install. However, you have already done more than enough to try and duplicate something that was probably my mistake.

Thanks again.

[BobCModerator]

A difference was that I used the software installer so I was sure that if there was a special customized .desktop file it would be included. Also the way the pulldown looks it’s hard to see that the Firefox line underneath had popped up. Maybe you just didn’t notice it.

I don’t think it would be any different if I had installed it. It’s an old machine and I don’t have space on that drive for another install.

If anyone else has the same issue and you figure out how to get it to happen, put a post in and I’ll look at it.

Here is the link to SEARCH THE FORUM >> http://www.antixforum.com/search-forums

[entropyagentMember]

Thanks for the feedback. It seems that you are suggesting that there might be a UI/UX difference between software installed via “apt install <software>” and the software installer from the toolbar. I’d like to know a little more about this. Is it mentioned in documentaion?

I notice that in the forum’s linked FAQ https://robin-antix.codeberg.page/antiX-FAQ/antiX23/#_post_installation
there is mention of installing software and updating software.

How do I find which applications to install?

Both antiX-full and antiX-base come with package-installer, which makes it easy to install popular applications. See below for more information.

antiX-full also comes with synaptic so searching for applications is easy.

To search for applications in antiX-net, antiX-core and antiX-base use our tool cli-aptiX or use apt-cache search in a terminal

For example: apt-cache search video player
How do I keep the system up-to-date?

antiX is set up using Debian Stable repositories by default. This allows users to keep their system up to date with regular upgrades. antiX recommends using apt update followed by apt dist-upgrade in a root terminal. Users can also keep antiX up to date via Control Centre-→ Software-→ antiX Updater Synaptic is also available for those that prefer a gui tool.

Does this mean that if I use apt to install software, I might not be getting the full-fat, all-modern-conveniences, no-expense-spared antiX experience, over which much blood has been sweated by tireless toilers such as yourself?

P.S. The last sentence quoted probably is meant to have a full-stop between “Updater” and “Synaptic”?

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by entropyagent.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by abc-nix. Reason: quote block

[BobCModerator]

You could find out for sure by trying it using each method from a fresh reboot of an antiX base USB, and see if Firefox-ESR appears in the list for each. I tested the software installer.

The software installer has a list of what to install for each package I think, and there is a file that contains the lists if I recall. You could look at the dependencies, and installed files lists and the code to find out.

Here is the link to SEARCH THE FORUM >> http://www.antixforum.com/search-forums

[entropyagentMember]

BobC wrote:

I tested it and after installing it with the Software installer (on the toolbar), it appeared on the pulldown in #4 above. I selected it, hit apply, and the Web browser icon on the toolbar brought up Firefox-ESR as it should have.

Hello,

It seems this works in live or installed if one does not update the system. If I update the system, it does not work.

I dug up some more resources for experimentation:

1) booted from a 23.2base64 usb
2) Used Software/Package Installer to install yad-goodies-antix (to get antiX-Updater) and firefox-esr
3) tried to change the default toolbar icon to firefox-esr –> it worked fine
4) Used Software/Package Installer to remove firefox-esr
5) updated with antiX-Updater =========> something different
6) Used Software/Package Installer to install firefox-esr
7) tried to change the default toolbar icon to firefox-esr using Preferred Applications –> FAILURE: No sign of firefox-esr

I tried a similar process with an installation to VM, with the same result.
Before updating the system, changing the toolbar ico to start freshly-installed firefox-esr looks possible (firefox-esr is available in dropdown)
Remove firefox-esr
After updating the system and installing firefox-esr, changing the toolbar ico to start firefox-esr fails, as there is no sign of firefox-esr in dropdown

The update involves 182mb and quite a few apps and some config files.

Also, as an aside:
I notice that the installer mentions update-alternatives is using /usr/bin/firefox-esr to “provide” /usr/bin/x-www-browser and /usr/bin/gnome-www-browser

When uninstalling firefox-esr, installer mentions
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/xlinks2 to provide /usr/bin/x-www-browser (x-www-browser) in auto mode
Removing ‘diversion of /usr/bin/firefox to /usr/bin/firefox.real by firefox-esr’

Despite the mention of xlinks2, the toolbar icon still starts seamonkey.

[BobCModerator]

Sounds like it got messed up in #4, #5, or #6.

Would need to look at each step and verify the link files and .desktop files involved. If I had to guess, it would be related to removing firefox-esr application while it was set as the preferred web browser. If I recall there would be a link that would have been pointing to the .desktop file, but it would be a bad link after the app was removed. Who know after that? It would depend if you went into preferred applications or not, and how it reacted to the bad link. It certainly wouldn’t be expecting a bad link, and I don’t know if it was tested for that.

You might be able to correct it by using either the normal, automatically filtered or Free Choice manual mode to set it to a browser that exists. Maybe after that, all valid .desktop files might appear in the normal, automatically filtered mode.

Its possible, but I don’t think updating was the cause.

Here is the link to SEARCH THE FORUM >> http://www.antixforum.com/search-forums

[entropyagentMember]

To eliminate a possible issue you suggested, I removed the install & remove firefox-esr steps.

I booted live into a vm, installed yad-goodies-antix, updated with Updater, installed firefox-esr with Installer, and tried to make firefox-esr the preferred app with Preferred Applications. This failed due to the absence of firefox-esr in the Web Browser drop-down.

The difference between the Preferred Applications tool “working” and “not working” is the update. (Of course, the update could be what breaks links?)

It seems the options are:

1) Installer leaves “broken links” when removing firefox-esr (Less than ideal)

or

2) Updater (or one of the updates it applies) breaks the ability of Preferred Applications to change a preferred application. (Less than ideal)

Updater, Installer, Preferred Applications are very promising tools, which I am sure are appealing to some users (myself included) as a means of easing setup and admin tasks. It seems that, in at least one set of circumstances, there might be a slight wobble in their interaction, though.

In the hopes of making a positive contribution by pointing out a disappointment, I thought I’d mention it. Nobody else has, so I guess that’s the end of that.

Thanks for your time.

Looking forward to taking the new baby out for a spin, maybe next month.

[BobCModerator]

Yes, that makes sense. Ie the updater itself might not be the issue, but something being updated could be.

When I did my test with the USB I did not run the update. Maybe it updated the preferred applications app with a version that isn’t working the same?

Here is the link to SEARCH THE FORUM >> http://www.antixforum.com/search-forums

[DaveForum Admin]

Disclaimer. I have not read the full thread.

I suspect a difference between Firefox-esr and Firefox is a problem as Firefox-esr will load into /usr while Firefox will load into /opt. /Opt is outside the standard scope of preferred applications iirc. Free choice going to ~/ would make sense given it defaults to opening the base dir of the last set program.

Computers are like air conditioners. They work fine until you start opening Windows. ~Author Unknown

[BobCModerator]

entropyagent, See Dave’s comment above. My testing was all Firefox-ESR, not straight Firefox. Please clarify which your posts above are referring to?

Here is the link to SEARCH THE FORUM >> http://www.antixforum.com/search-forums

[Author]

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