Root permissions Edit Desktop File

[mahtiankka]

Really nice option to change the names of applications.

There are a couple of problems with that. When I press "Edit Desktop File" and the text editor opens. I change the name of the app and want to save it. I can't save it because usr/share/applications requires root rights.

I propose a change that the text editor asks for root access rights. This would make it easy for the end user to save.

Another possibility would be to save "Desktop File" in the user's home folder .local/share/applications, but it's a hidden file and the text editor can't see it there.

If the above suggestion is not possible, could the hidden files be stored in the text editor in this case? This would require knowledge from the end user and would be a worse solution.

Tested with Mint Cinnamon 21.2 and 20.2

[JosephMcc]

Why not just click "Properties" and change it there? Is that not giving you some functionality you want?

[mahtiankka]

Interesting trick.

It works like you said. First I edit the English name and the application creates a Desktop File in home folder .local/share/applications which is a good idea. Then I press Edit Desktop File and it automatically opens home .local/share/applications not root usr/share/applications.

To make this easier for the end user, I would suggest that when pressing Edit Desktop File the file would be copied immediately to the folder .local/share/applications and the text editor would be opened from there.

Then this would work fine without the user having to know the trick of the English name.

[mtwebster]

We added the 'edit desktop file' button reluctantly because most users don't need it - properties gives sufficient flexibility. I don't agree with copying the file immediately when clicking edit, because whether you end up changing it or not, you've permanently detached that application's launcher from its packaging (which will only ever update the original in /usr/share/applications).

I never realized properties only showed the English name, though - it should probably show the current language name? We can fix that.