[CentOS] [FIXED] Centos 5.7--desktop icons are now a blank sheet of paper with the .desktop filename and they don't work

Wed Feb 15 18:40:34 UTC 2012
Daniel J Walsh <dwalsh at redhat.com>

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On 02/15/2012 11:40 AM, fred smith wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 10, 2012 at 09:40:13AM -0500, Daniel J Walsh wrote:
>> On 02/09/2012 05:06 PM, fred smith wrote:
>>> 
>>> new info, see below...
>>> 
>>> On Wed, Nov 16, 2011 at 08:31:17PM -0500, fred smith wrote:
>>>> On Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 08:45:48PM -0500, fred smith wrote:
>>>>> On Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 11:22:32AM +0100, Ljubomir
>>>>> Ljubojevic wrote:
>>>>>> Vreme: 11/15/2011 03:25 AM, fred smith piše:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> note that the Desktop folder contains a subdirectory
>>>>>>> named "radio stations", and that its representation on
>>>>>>> the desktop looks correct. but when I click on it to
>>>>>>> open up that folder, all its contents are also broken
>>>>>>> in the same way.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Anybody got any clues?
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> First remove all spaces from folder(s) and desktop
>>>>>> files.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Next, there was some trick when you create your own
>>>>>> desktop files, I was receiving similar warning, but I am
>>>>>> not sure (at the moment) what was the solution. While you
>>>>>> change names, I will later on look for a solution.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Tried removing spaces. makes no difference.
>>>>> 
>>>>> did a reboot with forced fsck, on the off-chance that would
>>>>> fix something. no such luck.
>>>>> 
>>>>> created a whole new user, who CAN create working desktop 
>>>>> launchers. which tells me it's something in my own login 
>>>>> environment that's messing me up. Wonder what that might 
>>>>> be....
>>>> 
>>>> Well, it's fixed. I know the solution, if not the cause: in
>>>> my home directory, cd to .local/share/mime, delete (or
>>>> rename) the "globs" file. log off, log on. voila.
>>>> 
>>>> I note that the globs file in that location is not the same
>>>> size as the one in /usr/share/mime globs, which is also no
>>>> the same size as the one in /usr/local/share/mime/globs. I
>>>> have no CLUE how it gets generated (unless
>>>> update-mime-database does it, but I don't know when or by
>>>> what agency it gets run.) but after rebooting it has not been
>>>> regenerated, but at least my desktop launchers now work. I
>>>> note that /usr/share/mime/globs contains:
>>>> 
>>>> application/x-desktop:*.desktop
>>>> 
>>>> and that the globs file I renamed in ~/.local/share/mime does
>>>> not contain such a line. without doing further spelunking, I
>>>> can only guess that it is the absence of that line that broke
>>>> my desktop.
>>>> 
>>>> Wonder how the file could have become broken/corrupted? is
>>>> there a more correct method of "fixing" it?
>>> 
>>> So, this afternoon a single update came down, a new selinux
>>> policy file. after installing that update, the problem
>>> (described above) recurred. So, it's some kind of
>>> selinux(-related) issue.
>>> 
>>> If any of you have any further thoughts on this I'd like to
>>> hear them.
>>> 
>>> thanks!
>>> 
>>> Fred
>> 
>> 
>> I would relabel your system
>> 
>> touch /.autorelabel; reboot
>> 
>> And I would bet that fixes your problem.
> 
> I'm not sure that it did. I did what you suggest. rebooted then
> reinserted the glob file (I'd saved it under a different name). it
> immediately seemed to be still working, but the next day the
> problem started occurring again, without having installed any other
> updates.
> 
> Fred


Well you can check if SELinux is involved, by executing

# ausearch -m avc -ts recent

If this returns output it could still be SELinux.
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