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I use several instances of Firefox, that I usually launch from various launchers.

For example, I have a firefox-test.desktop file in ~/.local/share/applications, that contains:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Firefox-Test
StartupWMClass=firetest
Exec=firefox --new-instance --no-remote -P Test --class firetest %u
Icon=firefox-developer-icon
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
Categories=Network;WebBrowser;
Keywords=web;browser;internet;pentest;
Actions=new-window;new-private-window;

It worked for ages, in many DE, including GNOME in 18.04.

But, in 19.04, clicking on my launchers does nothing.

On the other hand, the commands works from the terminal:

firefox --new-instance --no-remote -P Test --class firetest

Is this a bug? Or an expected change?

pomsky
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phocean
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  • What is the purpose of --class? – DK Bose Jun 02 '19 at 15:52
  • @DKBose Ideally that would let you set custom WMClass and use it for the StartupWMClass entry. – pomsky Jun 02 '19 at 16:00
  • @pomsky but will it work in the Exec= line the way OP has it? man Firefox (19.04) doesn't list it as an option. – DK Bose Jun 02 '19 at 16:02
  • @DKBose It's not a feature of Firefox, it should ideally work with Firefox and other GTK applications. Not sure it works in 19.04, but works fine for me with Firefox on 18.04. – pomsky Jun 02 '19 at 16:13
  • @pomsky but do you use it in the Exec= line? – DK Bose Jun 02 '19 at 16:15
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    @DKBose Yes, same as OP. Without this hack, all Firefox windows from different profiles would get merged into a single icon in the dock – pomsky Jun 02 '19 at 16:25
  • @pomsky that's neat! – DK Bose Jun 02 '19 at 16:26
  • Try right-clicking on the .desktop file and click Allow Launching; this worked for me in 19.04 – gsb Jun 02 '19 at 16:38
  • That's weird, because I don't have such an option. – phocean Jun 02 '19 at 16:42
  • Really? Have you made any tweaks? I see that option in Ubuntu 19.04 GNOME – gsb Jun 02 '19 at 16:44
  • Or try opening Nautilus, going to /usr/share/applications, and copy a file from there to your desktop. Does that work? Sorry I’m kind of new to Ubuntu myself. – gsb Jun 02 '19 at 16:46
  • No tweaks. I have never seen this option. It means it's handled by Nautilus, that somehow change gnome-shell settings. I don't know what it is. – phocean Jun 02 '19 at 16:47
  • Still not. Anyway, it's not supposed to work that way. Launchers have always been read from the ~/.local/share/applications folder. They are found, because they are displayed by the shell, it's just that it may not respect all settings. – phocean Jun 02 '19 at 16:49
  • https://pasteboard.co/IhAV4Rz.png – gsb Jun 02 '19 at 19:45
  • On what icon is it? Not a Firefox launcher. These options (move, rename, etc.) are not standard. Again, I have been using Gnome 3 for almost 10 years and never 1) saw this option, 2) needed to do anything to make a menu entry work. Add the desktop file in the proper folder and it should just work. – phocean Jun 03 '19 at 20:11
  • Actually, it is from a Firefox Nightly .desktop file which I created with the same options as you. Ubuntu 19.04 w/ Gnome Shell 3.22 – gsb Jun 03 '19 at 22:15

1 Answers1

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In case some has the same issue, it just does not work when you have an extension like Dash to Dock with the workspace isolation setting enabled or Workspace Isolated Dash.

I don't know what the issue but in that case launching new Firefox instances is not supported.

Switching back to the standard Dash or disabling any dock workspace isolation solves the issue.

I also opened an issue in Gnome Shell.

phocean
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