So, while the system-wide applications weren't being detected, I tried to test whether applications installed through `guix install` would be detected or not.
# removed chromium from the system installation, then: $ guix install ungoogled-chromium $ ls ~/.guix-profile/share/applications chromium.desktop After a system reboot, not only chromium was already pinned to the taskbar, but other system-wide applications (like Firefox) also started showing up in the application runners! In order to test the pattern further, I uninstalled chromium. After system reboot, Firefox also stopped showing up in the application runners. For some reason, KDE detects system-wide applications only if there is something installed in the user's guix profile (or if the user's guix profile is properly set up?). I even tested this by installing only a non-GUI app with a .desktop file - neovim - through `guix install`. Same result. I am not sure what's going on here. Any explanation would be appreciated. Here is the order of dirs in $XDG_DATA_DIRS without anything installed in user's guix profile: $ echo $XDG_DATA_DIRS | sed 's/:/\n/g' | head -3 /home/bhoot/.config/guix/current/share /run/current-system/profile/share /gnu/store/4q4ji4g7xzkbvmqa5dn1jr68kp9dydvh-plasma-workspace-6. 1.4/share and the order in $XDG_DATA_DIRS after installing something in user's guix profile: $ echo $XDG_DATA_DIRS | sed 's/:/\n/g' | head -3 /home/bhoot/.config/guix/current/share /home/bhoot/.guix-profile/share /run/current-system/profile/share Regards, Jayesh Bhoot On Mon, 19 May 2025, at 12:23, Jayesh Bhoot wrote: > Hello, > > ======= > Problem > ======= > > None of the applications I installed are picked up by the KDE desktop's > application runners - KRunner and Kickoff launcher. > > ============================== > How I've installed my packages > ============================== > > I've specified the applications in the system's os.scm: > > (packages > (append > (specifications->packages > (list > "ark" > "emacs" > "kmousetool" > ;; others > )) > %base-packages)) > > So that they are installed along with the command: > > $ sudo guix system reconfigure safed-hathi/os.scm. > > ================================== > ~/.guix-profile lookup didn't work > ================================== > > I found a Guix Help thread > (https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-guix/2020-02/msg00007.html) which > suggested to check if the *.desktop files are located in > ~/.guix-profile/share/applications/. But, ~/.guix-profile does not have that > structure at all in my system: > > $ ls -la ~/.guix-profile > lrwxrwxrwx 1 bhoot users 46 May 12 22:23 */home/bhoot/.guix-profile* -> > /var/guix/profiles/per-user/bhoot/guix-profile > > Source of the link does not exist though: > > $ ls /var/guix/profiles/per-user/bhoot/guix-profile > ls: cannot access '/var/guix/profiles/per-user/bhoot/guix-profile': No such > file or directory > > But an empty lock file does exist: > > $ ls /var/guix/profiles/per-user/bhoot/guix-profile.lock > /var/guix/profiles/per-user/bhoot/guix-profile.lock > $ cat /var/guix/profiles/per-user/bhoot/guix-profile.lock > $ > > I even tried to search for *.desktop files in the whole user dir, but in vain: > > $ find /var/guix/profiles/per-user/bhoot/ -name '*.desktop' > $ > > ======================================================== > *.desktop files in system-wide profile are not picked up > ======================================================== > > I then looked for the .desktop files in the system directories and found > their symlinks inside /run/current-system/profile/share/applications/*. > > This directory has .desktop files for system-default applications: > > $ find -L /run/current-system -wholename '*applications/*.desktop' | grep > konsole > /run/current-system/profile/share/applications/org.kde.*konsole*.desktop > > as well as for applications I explicitly installed: > > $ find -L /run/current-system -wholename '*applications/*.desktop' | grep > emacs > /run/current-system/profile/share/applications/*emacs*.desktop > > But the user-installed apps are not picked up by either krunner of Kickoff > launcher. > > Any pointers are appreciated. > > Regards, > Jayesh Bhoot
