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Most of my settings in /etc/xdg have disappeared somehow for no apparent reason. I am running 14.04

I first noticed a problem with system setting not working properly. See: Systems Settings is completely empty

Solved by getting hold of a fresh copy of /etc/xdg/menus/unitycc.menu

Then I noticed that my wifi icon was missing from the top right hand corner.

Solved by getting hold of a fresh copy of /etc/xdg/autostart/nm-applet.desktop

Then I realised that software centre was failing with an authentication error when I tried to install stuff.

Solved by getting hold of a fresh copy of /etc/xdg/autostart/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent1.desktop

These files do not seem to reinstate themselves even if I do a

sudo apt-get install --reinstall <package name>

for the package that they originate from (I don't know why). I have to find the right package, manually unpack it, find the relevant file, and copy it into the right location.

My question:

Is there a better way to fix this? If so what?

Am I missing anything else from these directories?

Current contents of /etc/xdg:

matt@matt-laptop:/etc/xdg/autostart$ cd /etc/xdg
matt@matt-laptop:/etc/xdg$ ls
autostart  menus
matt@matt-laptop:/etc/xdg$ ls autostart
gnome-settings-daemon.desktop  nm-applet.desktop
gnome-sound-applet.desktop     polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1.desktop
matt@matt-laptop:/etc/xdg$ ls menus
gnomecc.menu  unitycc.menu
Community
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Matt Caswell
  • 2,250

1 Answers1

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You may need first to purge the package:

sudo apt-get purge <package name>

then install it:

sudo apt-get install <package name>

with this, the package's conffile under /etc/xdg/autostart/ will be installed as you want.

Crisson Hu
  • 1
  • I doubt purging package and installing it will do anything, because OP already said they tried sudo apt-get install --reinstall <package name>. Worth trying , but I doubt this will help. Nonetheless, good attempt ! – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy Oct 06 '15 at 20:53