How to force Unity reload ~/.local/share/applications/

Question

Let's say I changed/added some myapp.desktop file at ~/.local/share/applications/. For some time Ubuntu Unity will still show me old applications shortcuts at Unity lens under Ubuntu button. It will take some time (or just a one restart) to get applications list updated there.

How I can force Unity reload ~/.local/share/applications and reflect shortcuts correctly in lens?

Correction. It should just be unity. Press alt+F2 and type in the command. — sayantankhan, Nov 12 '13 at 15:41
Yes. It didn't help. It still shows old application name after unity or unity --reset (which was before I modified myapp.desktop file). — vladimir, Nov 12 '13 at 16:55
Odd, it seems to be working fine when I do the exact same thing you're doing. Have made sure the .desktop file is executable? — sayantankhan, Nov 12 '13 at 17:26
It works only after log off/restart. Try just to change the name of existing application inside the desktop file. Don't change anything else. For ex, add " Test" to the name of some existing app. Now press Ubuntu button and start typing application name - it still shows old name without " Test" for me. I reproduced it on both work and home machines and on wife's laptop. I think it's about 100% reproducable. — vladimir, Nov 12 '13 at 18:26
Analogous question for newer Ubuntus: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/12118/how-do-i-refresh-gnome-3-applications. — wrwrwr, Aug 02 '20 at 16:34

score 91 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 07 '18 at 20:55

91

A little late, but i stumbled upon this thread before finding a solution, atleast to my problem, googling something related, nearly giving up.

As per this guide help.ubuntu.com, don't just edit or create your .desktop files in /usr/local/share/applications or ~/.local/share/applications. Instead, create the file somewhere else and use

desktop-file-install <your_file.desktop>

to add the file.

E.g. you create ~/myapp.desktop and do

desktop-file-install --dir=$HOME/.local/share/applications ~/myapp.desktop

Existing files of the same name will be overwritten and unity updated, you can use --delete-original if the source is not needed anymore, or

sudo desktop-file-install ~/myapp.desktop

to install it for all users.

edited Nov 07 '18 at 20:55

a3nm

423

answered Apr 14 '14 at 15:54

Rodin

1,026
8
3

+1 this works. A rough edit script using this recipe is at https://gist.github.com/hilbix/f468fcbb15c3f68670d8 – Tino May 25 '14 at 09:51
5

just putting a copy of the .desktop file in ~/.local/share/applications worked for me- – chrismarx Mar 18 '15 at 14:01
I usually manually edit the file and add it to .local/share/applications/. Tried using the command with --delete-original and I got a warning: warning: key "Keywords[uk]" is a list and does not have a semicolon as trailing character, fixing. The result was the source file deleted and nothing copied to the target directory. Evil OS... basically nuked my file and I had to create a new one from scratch. – Daniel Mar 09 '17 at 11:00
4

I still get the issue OP noticed even when doing this. – JAB Mar 28 '17 at 16:22
2

I also still get the issue OP noticed even when doing this (and even after restarting) (Ubuntu 16.04). – Dan Nissenbaum Jul 22 '17 at 18:05
This also works with plasma ( kde ). But, what does desktop-file-install do other than copying the file contents into /usr/share/applications ( in case of sudo ) ? – infoclogged Aug 04 '17 at 09:23
I put the original desktop files under a local version control in subversion and use this method to deploy them. This makes it easier to deploy on new OS installs. On caveat I noticed is that the desktop may not refresh the first time you hit the Super key but does the second time. – Timothy C. Quinn Dec 17 '20 at 20:45
This solutions only works for me, if I go to dir=$HOME/.local/share/application then right click to the corresponding application.desktop and allow the permission of the execution. – Name Jun 27 '21 at 15:17

score 25 · Answer 2 · edited Sep 03 '20 at 17:59

25

sudo update-desktop-database will refresh the .desktop database.

edited Sep 03 '20 at 17:59

user643722

412

answered Aug 16 '17 at 17:58

Pekka Kuronen

259

2

This didn't work for me. Running Ubuntu 16.04. I still don't see on the launcher icon the changes made in the .desktop file. – RichArt Nov 24 '17 at 22:02
4

This command only updates MIME type databases. It does not update any other changes. See: http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/zesty/man1/update-desktop-database.1.html – hife Dec 05 '17 at 15:47
It worked for me – aless80 Oct 25 '18 at 05:15
works for me with sudo – Mahoor13 Feb 10 '19 at 09:10
1

Worked like a charm on Ubuntu 22.10 – Martin Nov 10 '22 at 09:39

score 18 · Answer 3 · answered May 10 '14 at 17:03

18

The way to do this is to run the command

killall unity-scope-home

after opening the dash the process is started automatically again.

The correct icons are then displayed...

answered May 10 '14 at 17:03

wa4557

900

1

Does not work at my side. I removed a .desktop file and it still shows up in compiz launch bar. – Tino May 25 '14 at 08:35
Well, stuck with BUG 1287663 the solution was to use gsettings set followed by ( unity --replace & ) – Tino May 25 '14 at 10:24
I don't know what you mean with compiz launch bar?! I thought you were talking about the dash? – wa4557 May 26 '14 at 11:19
Works fine for me, Applications are listed again – Sjaak Trekhaak Nov 20 '14 at 15:14
2

Any alternatives in 15.10? I'm getting unity-scope-home: no process found – ardila Nov 30 '15 at 20:17

score 8 · Answer 4 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:25

8

According with this answer (and you can find many others in the same sense), unfortunately there seems to be no command to let the unity-applications-daemon refresh its application cache. But I can confirm that unity will automatically detect any changes with .desktop files in ~/.local/share/applications. If these changes are not immediately available, try logging out and in again to refresh it.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:25

Community

1

answered Nov 12 '13 at 17:42

Radu Rădeanu

169,590

3

Yeah, it will automatically detect .... in an hour ... – vladimir Nov 12 '13 at 18:28
@vladimir As I said, if you want the changes immediately available, try logging out and in again to refresh it. – Radu Rădeanu Nov 12 '13 at 18:29
3

I fully got your answer and probably will accept it. You understand downsides of logging off - all opened apps closed. It's not a solution, it's a workaround and not a user friendly one. Are you developer by any chance? If yes, could you please point me to the daemon sources? I guess this is it: unity-lens-applications daemon.vala – vladimir Nov 12 '13 at 21:28

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 23 '18 at 17:53

This answer does not involve a desktop restart.

Though quite late, there's a utility command to update the desktop database cache named update-desktop-database.

Updating stuffs added in $HOME/.local/share/applications/, use:

>> update-desktop-database

Updating stuffs addded in global ones, like /usr/share/ubuntu/applications, /usr/share/gnome/applications, /usr/share/applications, etc., use:

>> sudo update-desktop-database

Juliano ENS · Answer 6 · 2017-04-03T16:31:17.247

0

Some applications might stop working properly after this command. Chrome, for example, became totally black.

unity --replace

edited Apr 03 '17 at 16:31

answered Apr 03 '17 at 16:04

Juliano ENS

101

Could you clarify your warning(?)? – Zanna Apr 03 '17 at 16:28

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 25 '17 at 09:10

0

I had a similar issue, fixed when restart. I use ubuntu 16.04

I usually create .desktop files in /usr/share/applications/ if I want to share the desktop files with other users and ~/.local/share/applications if for only one user. And I usually restart.

answered Oct 25 '17 at 09:10

Saahithyan Vigneswaran

161

How to force Unity reload ~/.local/share/applications/

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