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Asked: 2020-08-18 00:44:43 +0800 CST

Epiphany/Gnome Web applications not showing now it is a snap install in 20.04

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I have moved from 18.04 to 20.04 using a clean OS install and then re-installation of all used packages. One of the tricks I've used in the past is to create Web applications in Gnome Web (Epiphany) for frequently used sites. These would appear under 'Show Applications' and could be added to favourites in the dock and integrate with notifications etc.

This has stopped working in 20.04, I guess because the default Epiphany install is via Snap - the web 'applications' I re-created are now not shown at all under applications and can't be run in the same way. I can confirm that if I go to about:applications in Epiphany they are listed and are also in my profile under ~/snap/epiphany/current/.local/share/applications as .desktop files.

My installed versions Ubuntu 20.01.1 LTS Gnome 3.36.3 Epiphany 3.34.4-1-g606db9aec

A workaround to re-create the past functionality would be much appreciated.

Thanks M

webapps epiphany snap 20.04

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    You've installed the snap version (either by command, or using a Ubuntu Software and not carefully selecting the non-snap'd version)

    1. remove the snap

    snap remove epiphany

    this will remove

    guiverc@d960-ubu2:~$   snap search epiphany
Name      Version               Publisher  Notes  Summary
epiphany  3.34.4-1-g606db9aec9  jbicha     -      Web browser for GNOME

    or the version you mention - https://snapcraft.io/epiphany

    2. install the standard deb package

    sudo apt install epiphany-browser

    this will install

    guiverc@d960-ubu2:~$   apt-cache search epiphany-browser
epiphany-browser - Intuitive GNOME web browser
epiphany-browser-data - Data files for the GNOME web browser

    or https://packages.ubuntu.com/focal-updates/epiphany-browser

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  2. If you still want to use the snap version, or just don't want to deal with uninstalling/reinstalling. I suggest you symlink the .desktop files from ~/snap/epiphany/current/.local/share/applications to ~/.local/share/applications. To do so, on a terminal do:

    cd ~/.local/share/applications
ln -s ~/snap/epiphany/current/.local/share/applications/* .
chmod +x epiphany-*.desktop

    The last line is necessary to "trust" the desktop files, and show them as any other application. Without it, it won't work.

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