Bug 1749174 caused Firefox nightly to no longer use it's launcher icon in Gnome but to open a generic launcher with no icon and no options in the context menu (see screenshot)

INFO: Last good revision: 5ed2c0d1e7819e74a8816219e6154f1707e52d85
INFO: First bad revision: 96732a2f2846c158ac1c1dc9f1f2f9b1d676df83
INFO: Pushlog:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/pushloghtml?fromchange=5ed2c0d1e7819e74a8816219e6154f1707e52d85&tochange=96732a2f2846c158ac1c1dc9f1f2f9b1d676df83

Emilio, is that a known issue with a patch coming or should we back out Bug 1749174?

I don't see this on fedora but will install Ubuntu and take a look.

I don't think this is backout worthy as long as it is fixed in a day or two but if you disagree feel free to request backout.

This should be a duplicate of bug 1530052.

Yeah, so there are two issues. The first one is bug 1530052. But then there's another one. On X, Firefox (even local builds) gets the right icon even if there's no .desktop file.

On Wayland that doesn't happen, presumably because nsWindow::SetDefaultIcon doesn't work. Looking a bit deeper, that's not totally surprising:

• https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/blob/gtk-3-24/gdk/wayland/gdkwindow-wayland.c#L4197-4201

So we don't seem to be able to set the window icon by ourselves on Wayland. Robert, do you know if there's any way to, given a Wayland application, make gnome-shell somehow pick up a custom icon if there's no .desktop file?

(In reply to Emilio Cobos Álvarez (:emilio) from comment #3)

So we don't seem to be able to set the window icon by ourselves on Wayland. Robert, do you know if there's any way to, given a Wayland application, make gnome-shell somehow pick up a custom icon if there's no .desktop file?

Looks to me like we just need to replace the deprecated gtk_icon_theme_add_builtin_icon with gtk_icon_theme_add_resource_path.

P.S.: see https://docs.gtk.org/gtk3/type_func.IconTheme.add_builtin_icon.html and https://docs.gtk.org/gtk3/method.IconTheme.add_resource_path.html and

Btw, regarding bug 1530052, apparently on Ubuntu having the same Wayland app id is not enough to group windows together (which is what happens on Fedora).

(In reply to Robert Mader [:rmader] from comment #4)

Looks to me like we just need to replace the deprecated gtk_icon_theme_add_builtin_icon with gtk_icon_theme_add_resource_path.

How so? https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/-/blob/gtk-3-24/gdk/wayland/gdkwindow-wayland.c#L4203-4209 is empty as well...

I think this is probably WONTFIX (CANTFIX?) or just a dupe of bug 1530052 given the discussions above. I can get a nice icon on Ubuntu with a firefox-nightly.desktop like:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Firefox Nightly
GenericName=Web Browser
Comment=Browse the Web
Exec=/home/emilio/firefox/firefox %u
Icon=/home/emilio/firefox/browser/chrome/icons/default/default128.png
Terminal=false
Type=Application
MimeType=text/html;text/xml;application/xhtml+xml;application/vnd.mozilla.xul+xml;text/mml;x-scheme-handler/http;x-scheme-handler/https;
StartupNotify=true
StartupWMClass=firefox-nightly
Categories=Network;WebBrowser;
Keywords=web;browser;internet;
Actions=new-window;new-private-window;profile-manager;

[Desktop Action new-window]
Name=New Window
Exec=/home/emilio/firefox/firefox --new-window %u

[Desktop Action new-private-window]
Name=New Private Window
Exec=/home/emilio/firefox/firefox --private-window %u

[Desktop Action profile-manager]
Name=Profile Manager
Exec=/home/emilio/firefox/firefox -P %u

After installing it with sudo desktop-file-install firefox-nightly.desktop.

(also apparently as another option, there's a nightly / beta snap, which is closer to what Ubuntu will eventually ship than regular binary nightlies I guess... But anyhow, that's a whole different issue, I'm not sure I'm a fan of snap to begin with)

Comparing Mozilla binaries with Chrome's deb file is like night and day. Chrome integrates with the system by default.
Mozilla binaries don't integrate by default and require users to choose between staying with a distribution-provided ESR or Snap or finishing Mozilla's incomplete packaging work themselves individually.

Snaps are slower and don't support NativeMessaging, eID smartcards, etc., so they aren't a solution either, rather something for non-trusted non-distribution packages. IMHO, that development time would have been better spent with hardening browser engines.

IIUC, desktop files don't allow relative paths, so current package-less Nightly could only contain a non-working example, unless Nightly detects its path and places an autogenerated FirefoxNighty.desktop in ~/.local/share/applications on first run (if it doesn't exist yet) and after each update.

(In reply to Darkspirit from comment #8)

Comparing Mozilla binaries with Chrome's deb file is like night and day. Chrome integrates with the system by default.
Mozilla binaries don't integrate by default and require users to choose between staying with a distribution-provided ESR or Snap or finishing Mozilla's incomplete packaging work themselves individually.

Snaps are slower and don't support NativeMessaging, eID smartcards, etc., so they aren't a solution either, rather something for non-trusted non-distribution packages. IMHO, that development time would have been better spent with hardening browser engines.

My solution to this is to repackage nightly to a distribution-native format and distribute that in our [archlinuxcn] repo.

unless Nightly detects its path and places an autogenerated FirefoxNighty.desktop in ~/.local/share/applications on first run (if it doesn't exist yet) and after each update.

Except that I don't like application-generated .desktop files. If this is implemented, perhaps a configuration is needed to avoid conflicts with repackagers / user customizations (especially given that Firefox cannot detect it's already set as default applications for years).

(In reply to lilydjwg from comment #9)

Except that I don't like application-generated .desktop files. If this is implemented, perhaps a configuration is needed to avoid conflicts with repackagers / user customizations (especially given that Firefox cannot detect it's already set as default applications for years).

mozregression sets these prefs:
app.update.enabled:false
app.update.auto:false

Debian Testing firefox-esr package has:
[locked] app.update.enabled:false
app.update.auto:true # it seems to be irrelevant

If Mozilla binaries keep being not properly packaged, then at least app.update.enabled could be checked whether to generate and place a .desktop file (bug 296568).

Unfortunately the .desktop file workaround only works for me when also specifying the profile with the -P option in Exec.

I am not sure you are asking the right people.

Want to make it clear even if you launch the app under Gnome, after it starts the Name displayed on the topbar changes from Nightly to Firefox (it should not) and the icon displayed in the application switcher is the Firefox release version ICON (also not correct)

Yes, I think there are only few options:

1. Install nightly desktop file to ~/local/share/applications which is local user directory
2. Use Flatpak/Snap
3. Keep it broken

IMHO option 1) may need some dialog like Profile Manager / Safe mode to ask if it's ok to install the desktop file + "don't ask me again" checkbox.

A year ago, https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell/-/issues/2383 pointed back to bug 1530052.

https://community.kde.org/Guidelines_and_HOWTOs/Wayland_Porting_Notes#Application_Icon

On Wayland setWindowIcon() no longer works. This also means that currently is not possible to set a per-window icon (because the xdg-shell standard doesn't allow it). It is still possible to set the main application icon that will be shown in task managers and window decorations:

• The name of the application icon will be fetched from the .desktop file of the application.
• The name of the .desktop file must adhere to the reverse domain standard (e.g. org.kde.app.desktop).

https://github.com/nextcloud/desktop/issues/1435#issuecomment-534696771

(In reply to mac198442 from comment #14)

Want to make it clear even if you launch the app under Gnome, after it starts the Name displayed on the topbar changes from Nightly to Firefox (it should not) and the icon displayed in the application switcher is the Firefox release version ICON (also not correct)

What's the name of your .desktop file? Afaict the --name <foo> you pass from Exec needs to match it so that GNOME does the right grouping. So my file in comment 6 is called firefox-nightly.desktop (and I passed --name firefox-nightly), but if you call it Nightly.desktop you probably need to pass --name Nightly. With that it should work.

Could an example .desktop file be included in the nightly tar.gz?
There seem to exist some desktop files, do they need an update as well? https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/search?q=&path=.desktop&case=false&regexp=false

For me, the custom .desktop file was not shown in Gnome Settings > Default Applications.
And if Nightly sets itself as default web browser, a "Nightly" entry was added without icon. The window icon was also not shown when opening a link from Thunderbird.

Setting the custom .desktop file as default handler for http and https with xdg-mime fixes the problem:

• "Firefox Nightly" is now shown with its icon in Gnome Settings > Default Applications.
• The correct window icon is now shown when opening a link from Thunderbird.

$ nano ~/.local/share/applications/org.mozilla.firefox-nightly.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Firefox Nightly
GenericName=Web Browser
Comment=Browse the Web
Exec=/home/darkspirit/firefox/firefox --name firefox-nightly %u
Icon=/home/darkspirit/firefox/browser/chrome/icons/default/default128.png
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Network;WebBrowser;
MimeType=text/html;text/xml;application/xhtml+xml;application/xml;application/vnd.mozilla.xul+xml;application/rss+xml;application/rdf+xml;image/gif;image/jpeg;image/png;x-scheme-handler/http;x-scheme-handler/https;
StartupNotify=true
StartupWMClass=firefox-nightly
Keywords=web;browser;internet;
Actions=new-window;new-private-window;profile-manager;

[Desktop Action new-window]
Name=New Window
Exec=/home/darkspirit/firefox/firefox --name firefox-nightly --new-window %u

[Desktop Action new-private-window]
Name=New Private Window
Exec=/home/darkspirit/firefox/firefox --name firefox-nightly --private-window %u

[Desktop Action profile-manager]
Name=Profile Manager
Exec=/home/darkspirit/firefox/firefox --name firefox-nightly -P %u

$ xdg-mime default org.mozilla.firefox-nightly.desktop x-scheme-handler/https
$ xdg-mime default org.mozilla.firefox-nightly.desktop x-scheme-handler/http
Then start Firefox Nightly.
When it asks if it should set itself as default browser, tick "never ask again" and click on "no".

• Yes means: Set the binary as default browser. It doesn't have an icon or wmclass.
• No means: Keep using the default browser org.mozilla.firefox-nightly.desktop which has an icon and wmclass.

Alternative steps (you can call update-desktop-database instead of xdg-mime, but then you need to manually select "Firefox Nightly" in Gnome Settings > Default Applications):

1. Add ~/.local/share/applications/org.mozilla.firefox-nightly.desktop

2. $ update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications/
   If it causes an error, comment the invalid line out and run the command again.

   Could not parse file "/home/darkspirit/.local/share/applications/Minecraft.desktop": Invalid key name: Path[$e]

3. The custom .desktop File ("Firefox Nightly" with its icon) is now shown in Gnome Settings > Default Applications.
   "Firefox Nightly" can now be selected.

(If someone wants to test these steps repeatedly, just rename/delete ~/.config/mimeapps.list.)

IMHO, as this bug tracks the Wayland problem caused by Mozilla builds not being packaged,
it should become a meta bug and blocker for enabling the Wayland backend in Mozilla's non-packaged Firefox Stable,
to get parity with Ubuntu (deb+snap) and Fedora builds, and in general.

• bug 1530052
  • X11: https://docs.gtk.org/gdk3/func.set_program_class.html
  • Updating existing in-tree .desktop files with correct WMClasses: firefox (org.mozilla.firefox.desktop), firefox-beta (org.mozilla.firefox-beta.desktop), firefox-nightly (org.mozilla.firefox-nightly.desktop)
• bug 296568 (Non-packaged Firefox builds by Mozilla): When asking to set Firefox as default browser, Firefox should place a proper org.mozilla.firefox-nightly.desktop file in ~/.local/share/applications/ and set that as the default browser.

firefox98:

• Wayland affected: Unpackaged Nightly+Early Beta are affected.
• Wayland unaffected: Packaged Firefox Nightly/Beta/Stable on Ubuntu (deb+snap) and Fedora are unaffected as they place their .desktop file.
• Wayland disabled: Unpackaged Firefox Stable is unaffected because the Wayland backend is still disabled by default for it.

Hi. I'm using Firefox Beta for Ubuntu Impish, version 98.0b3 (64-bit). I'm not really sure if I should create a new ticket (specifically for Firefox Beta being installed from the official Mozilla PPA), but I'm having a similar issue as regarding the reported behavior (Firefox shows up using the generic gears icon both in the dock, after launching, and when hitting the super key to view the overview of launched applications).

I can confirm that there's a proper .desktop file in /usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop, which seems to have been updated recently (2022-02-10); though I didn't pay much attention then if the icon problems started happening that very day.

If you need me to file a different bug, or to piggy-back on a different bug like #296568, I'd be happy to do so.

Additional info:

• OS: Ubuntu 21.10 x86_64
• DE: GNOME 40.5
• WM: Mutter

Perhaps it may be relevant to disclose that this last week I have been doing some sysadmin house-keeping by trying to declare XDG Base Directory environment variables both in /etc/security/pam_env.conf and in a custom script in /etc/profile.d/ (the latter ensuring that, upon login, the expected directories are created and have the appropriate permissions).

However, I haven't finished migrating all 'offending' folders from my home directory, including ~/.mozilla/firefox/. So, I'm not sure if the presence of the declared environment variables could be causing the issue in any way.

The desktop file should be firefox-beta.desktop. Now we use a different name / class from release, so firefox.desktop is not the right file.

I don't think reopening this as a metabug is particularly useful. Bug 296568 is the only actionable thing here, I guess.

For future reference, the TLDR is:

• Firefox itself can't fix it on Wayland environments (other than by locally "installing itself", sorta, like bug 296568 proposes).

• The solution is having a .desktop file that matches firefox-<channel>.desktop, so:

  • Nightly: firefox-nightly.desktop
  • Beta: firefox-beta.desktop
  • Dev edition: firefox-aurora.desktop
  • Release: firefox.desktop

• The .desktop file should be something like the one in comment 6, with the paths fixed up, and StartupWMClass= also fixed up to match the above naming, of course.

(In reply to rolandog@gmail.com from comment #24)

Hi. I'm using Firefox Beta for Ubuntu Impish, version 98.0b3 (64-bit). I'm not really sure if I should create a new ticket (specifically for Firefox Beta being installed from the official Mozilla PPA), but I'm having a similar issue as regarding the reported behavior (Firefox shows up using the generic gears icon both in the dock, after launching, and when hitting the super key to view the overview of launched applications).

I can confirm that there's a proper .desktop file in /usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop, which seems to have been updated recently (2022-02-10); though I didn't pay much attention then if the icon problems started happening that very day.

If you need me to file a different bug, or to piggy-back on a different bug like #296568, I'd be happy to do so.

What's the link for the PPA? I think the PPA is not maintained by Mozilla, and it just probably needs to be updated to include a firefox-beta.desktop file as suggested above. If that is on launchpad maybe Olivier can help?

Hi Emilio,

Thank you for your response! I think I may have misread the title of the PPA, but now that I'm taking a double-look, I think it should be interpreted as Ubuntu's "Mozilla Team" Team's packages...

https://launchpad.net/~mozillateam/+archive/ubuntu/firefox-next

I would've reported the bug in the PPA, but I think it hasn't accepted bug reports since 2012 (and refers one to Bugzilla in some places), though I have now found Ubuntu's official place to report Ubuntu-specific firefox-related bugs:

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox

However, at the very bottom (Other versions of 'firefox' in untrusted archives.) Mozilla Team as listed as an untrusted source.

However, I see that Olivier is a member of that team:

https://launchpad.net/~mozillateam

Which is one of the reasons I had trusted the PPA a couple of years ago.

Clicking on the "set as default browser" button on about:preferences creates this incorrect file:
~/.local/share/applications/userapp-Nightly-MGKCH1.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=1.0
Type=Application
NoDisplay=true
Exec=/home/darkspirit/firefox/firefox-bin %u
Name=Nightly
Comment=Benutzerdefinition für Nightly

(In reply to Emilio Cobos Álvarez (:emilio) from comment #26)

I don't think reopening this as a metabug is particularly useful. Bug 296568 is the only actionable thing here, I guess.

Because this bug is valid, can be solved and has multiple dependencies.
Still to do:

• When setting as default browser, Firefox should create a correct desktop file instead of current wrong one.
• The firefox folder should contain a correct desktop file as example.
• The Ubuntu PPA package should place a correct desktop file.

(In reply to Darkspirit from comment #29)

Because this bug is valid, can be solved and has multiple dependencies.

It has only one open dependency that is bug 296568, can we just move this discussion there?

Still to do:

• When setting as default browser, Firefox should create a correct desktop file instead of current wrong one.
• The firefox folder should contain a correct desktop file as example.

Sure. These two are bug 296568.

• The Ubuntu Nightly PPA package should place a correct desktop file.

Not fixable on mozilla-central, afaict.

To address this issue in the packages for Firefox beta distributed through the Ubuntu Mozilla Team PPA, we'll update the desktop file to include

StartupWMClass=firefox-beta

(In reply to Olivier Tilloy from comment #31)

To address this issue in the packages for Firefox beta distributed through the Ubuntu Mozilla Team PPA, we'll update the desktop file to include

StartupWMClass=firefox-beta

I noticed that when using beta channel, it goes through a brief period when version is equal to release version, and then I suppose the icon with above approach will break.

Also, this workaround in .desktop file

StartupWMClass=firefox-beta

(when it's actually beta) helps let's say to see correct icon in KDE task manager (if you set such icon in .desktop file explicitly at least), but it doesn't help to have correct icon in the window title bar. I still get generic Wayland icon there.

Oh, correction. I does work if you name the file firefox-beta.desktop (overlooked that detail above).

Found another workaround for the issue when Firefox beta is going through a release version phase briefly (for example mine is currently at 103.0 while it's still on the beta channel).

In such case using a .desktop file targeted for beta doesn't help and icon reverts back to generic Wayland one. To help it, make another desktop file targeted as for release version, but set NoDisplay=true there to avoid having multiple launchers shown in your DE.

Ok, I had an interesting discovery regarding Wayland+KDE:

• I had a pinned icon on the "Task Manager" in KDE to launch Firefox Stable (which I had initially from snap).
• Yesterday I switched from Firefox Stable to Firefox Beta by using snap refresh --channel=latest/beta firefox
• When launching Firefox with this icon, it would then go to it's own icon on the "Task Manager" with the Wayland icon shown.
• This morning I tried launching Firefox Beta from the "Application Launcher" - and the icon in the "Task Manager" then showed up correctly.
• I un-pinned and re-pinned the "Task Manager" icon, and now it also works correctly

This is a bit confusing behaviour for users, but seems like it might be an issue on the KDE side, not on the Firefox side.

(In reply to Jay Tuckey from comment #39)

Ok, I had an interesting discovery regarding Wayland+KDE:

• I had a pinned icon on the "Task Manager" in KDE to launch Firefox Stable (which I had initially from snap).
• Yesterday I switched from Firefox Stable to Firefox Beta by using snap refresh --channel=latest/beta firefox
• When launching Firefox with this icon, it would then go to it's own icon on the "Task Manager" with the Wayland icon shown.
• This morning I tried launching Firefox Beta from the "Application Launcher" - and the icon in the "Task Manager" then showed up correctly.
• I un-pinned and re-pinned the "Task Manager" icon, and now it also works correctly

This is a bit confusing behaviour for users, but seems like it might be an issue on the KDE side, not on the Firefox side.

Could be, for some odd reason, it requires a log out/log in sequence to pick up the changes in the KDE shell.

Wayland Nightly Snap is only affected by bug 1826330.

Hello! I am experiencing the same issue on the firefox-aurora as the opener of this issue. I deleted and installed multiple time firefox-aurora from different sources , but the issue still occurs. I am using Ubuntu 22.04. Can you tell me if this issue is still active and if no how I can fix it? Thank you in advance.

(In reply to PetarNeshkov from comment #43)
On Debian or Ubuntu, you can install Mozilla's experimental Firefox Nightly debian package (bug 1799516):
It has gotten a proper .desktop file today (bug 1824327) which solves this bug and bug 1826330.

$ curl -sSf https://packages.mozilla.org/apt/repo-signing-key.gpg | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/packages.mozilla.org.gpg > /dev/null
$ echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/packages.mozilla.org.gpg] https://packages.mozilla.org/apt mozilla main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mozilla.list > /dev/null
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install firefox-nightly
$ xdg-mime default firefox-nightly.desktop x-scheme-handler/https
$ xdg-mime default firefox-nightly.desktop x-scheme-handler/http

With apt-cache search firefox-nightly you can find out which language packs can be installed.
e.g. $ sudo apt install firefox-nightly-l10n-fr

Disable the default browser check on about:preferences and don't use it (as it would create a faulty ~/.local/share/applications/userapp-Nightly-*.desktop file).

(In reply to Darkspirit from comment #45)

(In reply to PetarNeshkov from comment #43)
On Debian or Ubuntu, you can install Mozilla's experimental Firefox Nightly debian package (bug 1799516):
It has gotten a proper .desktop file today (bug 1824327) which solves this bug and bug 1826330.

$ curl -sSf https://packages.mozilla.org/apt/repo-signing-key.gpg | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/packages.mozilla.org.gpg > /dev/null
$ echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/packages.mozilla.org.gpg] https://packages.mozilla.org/apt mozilla main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mozilla.list > /dev/null
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install firefox-nightly
$ xdg-mime default firefox-nightly.desktop x-scheme-handler/https
$ xdg-mime default firefox-nightly.desktop x-scheme-handler/http

With apt-cache search firefox-nightly you can find out which language packs can be installed.
e.g. $ sudo apt install firefox-nightly-l10n-fr

Disable the default browser check on about:preferences and don't use it (as it would create a faulty ~/.local/share/applications/userapp-Nightly-*.desktop file).

What about firefox-aurora(Firefox Developer Edition)? Do you know fix about the related browser or the cause of the problem?