Re: resending... desktop files not working for recent ubuntu?

[Alexis <flexibeast@gmail.com>]

Rustom Mody <rustompmody@gmail.com> writes:

> Apologies for second copy 1st doesnt seem to have appeared
>
> --------------------------------------------- I have this 
> emacs.desktop file put in ~/.local/share/applications
>
> --------------- [Desktop Entry] Name=EmacsClient 
> GenericName=Text Editor Comment=Edit text 
> MimeType=text/english;text/plain;text/x-makefile;text/x-c++hdr;text/x-c++src;text/x-chdr;text/x-csrc;text/x-java;text/x-moc;text/x-pascal;text/x-tcl;text/x-tex;application/x-shellscript;text/x-c;text/x-c++;
>
> Exec=emacsclient -n -a emacs %F Icon=python Type=Application 
> Terminal=false Categories=Development;TextEditor; 
> StartupWMClass=Emacs
>
> --------------- Currently this laptop is on ubuntu 16.4 (xenial) 
> -- vanilla unity desktop It used to work ok in earlier ubuntus 
> Now on 16.4 it shows 2 emacs icons when editing a file via 
> emacsclient Clicking the second icon shows no effect After about 
> 10 seconds it disappears
>
> Dont know when it stopped working because frankly I am not much 
> of a nautilus -> click -> emacsclient type of user
>
> Current generation -- my students -- however default to this 
> kind of usage And so they default to one or both of - gedit by 
> default - dozens of emacses open for each file they clicked

Shouldn't you specify '' (i.e. the empty string) as the -a 
argument in the Exec option? From the man page for emacsclient(1):

    -a, --alternate-editor=EDITOR 

    if the Emacs server is not running, run the specified editor 
    instead.  This can also be specified via the 
    `ALTERNATE_EDITOR' environment variable.  If the value of 
    EDITOR is the empty string, run `emacs --daemon' to start 
    Emacs in daemon mode, and try to connect to it.


Alexis.