xdg-open does not work in debian-8 template #2065

waiting-for-dev · Jun 13, 2016

Qubes OS version (e.g., `R3.1`):

R3.1

Affected TemplateVMs (e.g., `fedora-23`, if applicable):

debian-8

Expected behavior:

xdg-open to work out of the box

Actual behavior:

xdg-open http://github.com
/usr/bin/xdg-open: 491: /usr/bin/xdg-open: gnome-open: not found

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

Just run:

xdg-open http://github.com

General notes:

This doesn't happen in fedora-23 template.

I tried:

xdg-settings set default-web-browser iceweasel.desktop
xdg-mime default iceweasel.desktop x-scheme-handler/http
xdg-mime default iceweasel.desktop x-scheme-handler/https

without success. But, anyway, xdg-open should work OOTB.

Thanks!

Related issues:

#1781

user support: to fix this in meanwhile, install libgnome2-bin. sudo apt-get install libgnome2-bin development discussion: Since we have environment variable GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID set, xdg-open will set DE=gnome. Rather than trying to understand and fix xdg-open, I suggest to install libgnome2-bin by default (contains gnome-open). Make libgnome2-bin a dependency of qubes-gui-agent-linux. Should I create a pull request?

adrelanos · Jun 15, 2016

user support: to fix this in meanwhile, install libgnome2-bin. sudo apt-get install libgnome2-bin development discussion: Since we have environment variable GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID set, xdg-open will set DE=gnome. Rather than trying to understand and fix xdg-open, I suggest to install libgnome2-bin by default (contains gnome-open). Make libgnome2-bin a dependency of qubes-gui-agent-linux. Should I create a pull request?

Actually we set DE=generic exactly for this reason.

marmarek · Jun 15, 2016

Actually we set DE=generic exactly for this reason.

Using gnome-open breaks DispVM (because gnome-open doesn't wait for file viewer/editor being closed).

marmarek · Jun 15, 2016

Using gnome-open breaks DispVM (because gnome-open doesn't wait for file viewer/editor being closed).

On Wed, Jun 15, 2016 at 06:43:46AM -0700, Patrick Schleizer wrote:

user support:

to fix this in meanwhile, install libgnome2-bin.

sudo apt-get install libgnome2-bin

development discussion:

Since we have environment variable GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID set,
xdg-open will set DE=gnome.

Rather than trying to understand and fix xdg-open, I suggest to install
libgnome2-bin by default (contains gnome-open).

Make libgnome2-bin a dependency of qubes-gui-agent-linux. Should I
create a pull request?

If I remember this pulls in a vast amount of gnome stuff.

unman · Jun 15, 2016

On Wed, Jun 15, 2016 at 06:43:46AM -0700, Patrick Schleizer wrote:

user support:

to fix this in meanwhile, install libgnome2-bin.

sudo apt-get install libgnome2-bin

development discussion:

Since we have environment variable GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID set,
xdg-open will set DE=gnome.

Rather than trying to understand and fix xdg-open, I suggest to install
libgnome2-bin by default (contains gnome-open).

Make libgnome2-bin a dependency of qubes-gui-agent-linux. Should I
create a pull request?

If I remember this pulls in a vast amount of gnome stuff.

At first it sounded like a bug worth being reported against gnome-open. I cannot find out how to report a bug against gnome-open. However, old bug reports against gnome-open make this seem futile.

https://bugzilla.gnome.org/buglist.cgi?short_desc=gnome-open&query_format=advanced&bug_status=UNCONFIRMED&bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&bug_status=NEEDINFO&short_desc_type=substring

According to Debian file search for gnome-open, seems like gnome-open is a gnome2 thing only and not available in gnome3?

https://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=contents&keywords=gnome-open&mode=path&suite=unstable&arch=any

Then what about perhaps setting DE=generic as global environment variable rather than just setting it in qubes-open?

adrelanos · Jun 16, 2016

At first it sounded like a bug worth being reported against gnome-open. I cannot find out how to report a bug against gnome-open. However, old bug reports against gnome-open make this seem futile.

https://bugzilla.gnome.org/buglist.cgi?short_desc=gnome-open&query_format=advanced&bug_status=UNCONFIRMED&bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&bug_status=NEEDINFO&short_desc_type=substring

According to Debian file search for gnome-open, seems like gnome-open is a gnome2 thing only and not available in gnome3?

https://packages.debian.org/search?searchon=contents&keywords=gnome-open&mode=path&suite=unstable&arch=any

Then what about perhaps setting DE=generic as global environment variable rather than just setting it in qubes-open?

Maybe it's rather a bug in xdg-open to call gnome-open if it isn't installed? I'm not sure about DE=generic globally - it may break something else or have other unexpected results.

marmarek · Jun 16, 2016

Maybe it's rather a bug in xdg-open to call gnome-open if it isn't installed? I'm not sure about DE=generic globally - it may break something else or have other unexpected results.

I am not sure upstream would accept a bug report and/or patch with if/else /usr/bin/gnome-open code included. This issue probably applies to Qubes only. Is caused by Qubes setting the GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID environment variable. [1] https://github.com/marmarek/qubes-gui-agent-linux/blob/master/appvm-scripts/etc/X11/Xsession.d/20qt-gnome-desktop-session-id In /usr/bin/xdg-open it gets triggered by the following line. elif [ x"$GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID" != x"" ]; then DE=gnome Upstream might ask, why do you have the GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID environment variable set if you are not using gnome? The workaround... unset GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID xdg-open ... ...is functional. Can the goal 'Prevents QT from displaying ugly QT theme' [1] be reached some other way than setting the GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID environment variable.

adrelanos · Jun 20, 2016

I am not sure upstream would accept a bug report and/or patch with if/else /usr/bin/gnome-open code included. This issue probably applies to Qubes only. Is caused by Qubes setting the GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID environment variable. [1] https://github.com/marmarek/qubes-gui-agent-linux/blob/master/appvm-scripts/etc/X11/Xsession.d/20qt-gnome-desktop-session-id In /usr/bin/xdg-open it gets triggered by the following line. elif [ x"$GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID" != x"" ]; then DE=gnome Upstream might ask, why do you have the GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID environment variable set if you are not using gnome? The workaround... unset GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID xdg-open ... ...is functional. Can the goal 'Prevents QT from displaying ugly QT theme' [1] be reached some other way than setting the GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID environment variable.

Can the goal 'Prevents QT from displaying ugly QT theme' [1] be reached
some other way than setting the GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID environment
variable.

No idea, but if someone would find a way, I'd love to unset GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID.

This is the commit which introduced the change:
marmarek/qubes-gui-agent-linux@524fb45

marmarek · Jun 20, 2016

Can the goal 'Prevents QT from displaying ugly QT theme' [1] be reached
some other way than setting the GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID environment
variable.

No idea, but if someone would find a way, I'd love to unset GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID.

This is the commit which introduced the change:
marmarek/qubes-gui-agent-linux@524fb45

@h01ger @nrgaway

adrelanos · Jun 23, 2016

@h01ger @nrgaway

A reasonable feature request against upstream /usr/bin/xdg-open could be:
do not overwrite environment variable DE if it is already set

The patch /usr/bin/xdg-open would be trivial.

Now:

detectDE

if [ x"$DE" = x"" ]; then
    DE=generic
fi

Suggested:

if [ x"$DE" = x"" ]; then
    detectDE
fi

if [ x"$DE" = x"" ]; then
    DE=generic
fi

What do you think?

adrelanos · Nov 23, 2016

A reasonable feature request against upstream /usr/bin/xdg-open could be:
do not overwrite environment variable DE if it is already set

The patch /usr/bin/xdg-open would be trivial.

Now:

detectDE

if [ x"$DE" = x"" ]; then
    DE=generic
fi

Suggested:

if [ x"$DE" = x"" ]; then
    detectDE
fi

if [ x"$DE" = x"" ]; then
    DE=generic
fi

What do you think?

Makes sense.

marmarek · Nov 23, 2016

Makes sense.

do not overwrite environment variable DE if it is already set:
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=98866

adrelanos · Nov 26, 2016

do not overwrite environment variable DE if it is already set:
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=98866

Is there any reasons you cannot set/use the (standardized) XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP instead (of DE) ?

rdieter · Nov 28, 2016

Is there any reasons you cannot set/use the (standardized) XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP instead (of DE) ?

I think the only reason is: didn't know about its existence.

marmarek · Nov 28, 2016

I think the only reason is: didn't know about its existence.

Rex Dieter:

Is there any reasons you cannot set/use the (standardized) XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP instead (of DE) ?

Setting XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=generic alone does not work. The bash xtrace shows, DE will still be set to gnome. Setting both XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=generic and DE=generic however works. So no patch from upstream required.

adrelanos · Nov 28, 2016

Rex Dieter:

Is there any reasons you cannot set/use the (standardized) XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP instead (of DE) ?

Setting XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=generic alone does not work. The bash xtrace shows, DE will still be set to gnome. Setting both XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=generic and DE=generic however works. So no patch from upstream required.

Try XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=X-generic.

marmarek · Nov 28, 2016

Try XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=X-generic.

Thank you @rdieter [xdg-open upstream] for joining this discussion!

Update: Upstream rejected my previous suggestion and that's fine.

Marek Marczykowski-Górecki:

Try XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=X-generic.

Doesn't work.

Variable XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP isn't tested for either 'generic' or 'X-generic' so I wouldn't know how that possibly could work as of now.

Still need to set DE=generic as well as XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=generic.

It makes sense to me because in /usr/bin/xdg-open 'sh' function 'detectDE' the following...

if [ x"$DE" = x"" ]; then
   ...
   DE=kde;
   ...

... is outside this previous 'if'.

if [ -n "${XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP}" ]; then

Even though upstream considers variable DE an internal variable, for Qubes purpose in meanwhile as workaround setting DE=generic as well as XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=generic should do.

The clean fix for xdg-open as far as I see through this would be a minimal patch for if 'XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP = 'generic' then it should also set 'DE=generic'. What do you think, @rdieter?

adrelanos · Nov 28, 2016

Thank you @rdieter [xdg-open upstream] for joining this discussion!

Update: Upstream rejected my previous suggestion and that's fine.

Marek Marczykowski-Górecki:

Try XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=X-generic.

Doesn't work.

Variable XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP isn't tested for either 'generic' or 'X-generic' so I wouldn't know how that possibly could work as of now.

Still need to set DE=generic as well as XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=generic.

It makes sense to me because in /usr/bin/xdg-open 'sh' function 'detectDE' the following...

if [ x"$DE" = x"" ]; then
   ...
   DE=kde;
   ...

... is outside this previous 'if'.

if [ -n "${XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP}" ]; then

Even though upstream considers variable DE an internal variable, for Qubes purpose in meanwhile as workaround setting DE=generic as well as XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=generic should do.

The clean fix for xdg-open as far as I see through this would be a minimal patch for if 'XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP = 'generic' then it should also set 'DE=generic'. What do you think, @rdieter?

Typo in my message - there should be X-Generic.

marmarek · Nov 28, 2016

Typo in my message - there should be X-Generic.

Same result.
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=X-Generic sh -x /usr/bin/xdg-open some-file results in using gnome-open.

DE=generic XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=generic sh -x /usr/bin/xdg-open some-file results in using mine-open.

adrelanos · Nov 28, 2016

Same result.
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=X-Generic sh -x /usr/bin/xdg-open some-file results in using gnome-open.

DE=generic XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=generic sh -x /usr/bin/xdg-open some-file results in using mine-open.

Hmm, it should. See detectDE function

detectDE()
{
    # see https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=34164
    unset GREP_OPTIONS

    if [ -n "${XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP}" ]; then
      case "${XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP}" in
(...)
         X-Generic)
           DE=generic
           ;;
      esac
    fi

Maybe Debian have outdated xdg-utils package?

marmarek · Nov 28, 2016

Hmm, it should. See detectDE function

detectDE()
{
    # see https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=34164
    unset GREP_OPTIONS

    if [ -n "${XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP}" ]; then
      case "${XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP}" in
(...)
         X-Generic)
           DE=generic
           ;;
      esac
    fi

Maybe Debian have outdated xdg-utils package?

Yes. jessie version does not support X-Generic. stretch version does.

So looks like upstream already implemented a nice solution XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP="X-Generic" that works for Qubes long term then.

For jessie based Qubes, I suggest:

# Can be removed once depending on Debian stretch or above.
DE=generic

XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=X-Generic

(Then we can just remove DE=generic later with very low priority.)

adrelanos · Nov 29, 2016

Yes. jessie version does not support X-Generic. stretch version does.

So looks like upstream already implemented a nice solution XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP="X-Generic" that works for Qubes long term then.

For jessie based Qubes, I suggest:

# Can be removed once depending on Debian stretch or above.
DE=generic

XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=X-Generic

(Then we can just remove DE=generic later with very low priority.)

andrewdavidwong added enhancement P: minor C: Debian labels Jun 13, 2016

rootkovska removed the C: label Jun 30, 2016

andrewdavidwong added the C: Debian label Jul 1, 2016

unman referenced this issue Nov 12, 2016
Closed
XDG_DATA_DIRS not set in Xenial desktop #2430

andrewdavidwong added this to the Far in the future milestone Dec 24, 2016

QubesOS/qubes-issues

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xdg-open does not work in debian-8 template #2065

Comments

waiting-for-dev commented Jun 13, 2016 • edited Edited 1 time waiting-for-dev edited Jun 13, 2016 (most recent)

Qubes OS version (e.g., R3.1):

Affected TemplateVMs (e.g., fedora-23, if applicable):

Expected behavior:

Actual behavior:

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

General notes:

Related issues:

andrewdavidwong added enhancement P: minor C: Debian labels Jun 13, 2016

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andrewdavidwong added this to the Far in the future milestone Dec 24, 2016

waiting-for-dev commented Jun 13, 2016 •

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waiting-for-dev edited Jun 13, 2016 (most recent)

Qubes OS version (e.g., `R3.1`):

Affected TemplateVMs (e.g., `fedora-23`, if applicable):

marmarek commented Nov 28, 2016 •

edited

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