Absolute paths to applications in .desktop files



Hi,

the topic was raised on debian-devel and I think we should make sure
that we are not missing anything before someone starts a crusade about
it, so I prefer asking here.

Currently, none of the .desktop files shipped in GNOME modules specify
an absolute path for the executable. However this is desirable for the
following reasons (shamelessly quoting Vincent Lefevre, as I don’t have
much to add):

     1. Each .desktop file is a file associated with /usr/bin/something,
        which is distributed in the same package.
     2. Taking the user's $PATH into account may have unexpected
        effects,   such as running a different version of the program
        which may accept a different set of MIME types, or worse,
        running another program installed it the user’s $HOME/bin
        directory.
     3. In config files, $PATH is generally used when one doesn't know
        the location of the program, for flexibility, but this is not
        the case here (see point 1).

Currently, in Debian, we hardcode the path specifically for gnome-games
– as executables are in /usr/games and some stupid users remove it from
their PATH – but not for the rest, and given the reasons above, I don’t
understand why they are not directly hardcoded upstream.

Am I missing something or is it just about not having too
many .desktop.in.in files?

Cheers,
-- 
 .''`.
: :' :      We are debian.org. Lower your prices, surrender your code.
`. `'       We will add your hardware and software distinctiveness to
  `-        our own. Resistance is futile.

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