this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2024
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I would like the Firefox profile manager to open when I run Firefox from the GNOME 3 menu, be it the DashBar or the native menu. I installed Firefox using Flatpak.

I know that I can run it from the terminal with flatpak run org.mozilla.firefox -p. But how do I modify the .desktop file? I guess it is the one in /var/lib/flatpak/exports/share/applications/org.mozilla.firefox.desktop? I tried replacing the line

[Desktop Entry]
Exec=/usr/bin/flatpak run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=firefox --file-forwarding org.mozilla.firefox @@u %u @@

with

[Desktop Entry]
Exec=/usr/bin/flatpak run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=firefox org.mozilla.firefox --ProfileManager

but I cannot save the document because of "too many symbolic links".

What is the secret?

I really wish Firefox would simply offer this as an option in its settings.

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[–] Luci@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Copy the unmodified .desktop file to ~/.local/share/Applications and make your changes there.

[–] original_reader@lemm.ee 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Will give this a shot. Thank you.

Is it just me or are there too many places where .desktop files could be located?

[–] Luci@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 month ago

I think in the case of flatpak, they moved them to a different location because they are symlinked within the flatpak itself and should be readonly, where as the other locations are for system desktop files (distro package manager), local desktop files (yours) and optional desktop files (things youve built from source)

Doesn't seem so bad when you consider that

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Are you editing with desktop-file-edit?

See: https://man.archlinux.org/man/desktop-file-install.1

I had to manually modify and install a .desktop file myself, and this is not only safer, it performs some additional operations to ensure the files and symlinks go where they need to go.

[–] original_reader@lemm.ee 1 points 1 month ago

No I didn't. Will try that. Thanks.

[–] unlawfulbooger@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It’s not really what you’re asking, but couldn’t you just visit the about:profiles page?

It’s not as nice as the dedicated profile manager, but it’s just as functional.

You could even set it as your default page, or add it to the bookmark bar.

[–] original_reader@lemm.ee 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I could. You're totally right. There's also an extension I could use for that.

It's just as you said. Not as nice. What can I say... I am obsessing over this.

I know that feeling all too wel…

Sorry I can’t help you with the solution you want, I don’t use flatpak.