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My specs: Ubuntu 20.04.3 with Gnome Shell on Wayland. Notebook Acer Aspire 5 with AMD Ryzen 7 5700U.

For my work, I want to run Firefox through the sandboxing utility firejail. I created a custom *.desktop file to launch the "firejailed" firefox and placed it in ~/local/share/applications.

In the *.desktop file, I specified a custom icon (the blue Firefox icon that is used for the nightly builds) and the custom launcher uses this blue icon. Ok, fine.

When I run the launcher, the "firejailed" Firefox starts and runs correctly but the icon that is displayed in the window overview and in the task bar (or dock) is the standard Firefox icon (orange/yellow) not the blue one I specified.

What I have to do so that the running "firejailed" Firefox is displayed in Gnome Shell with the blue icon?

Here is how my *.desktop file looks like:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.1
Type=Application
Name=Firefox Work
Comment=Web Browser configurated for Work
Icon=firefox-nightly
Exec=firejail --private=/home/nuri/.firejail-firefox/ firefox -no-remote
Actions=
Categories=Network;
StartupNotify=true
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2
  • Check my answer for a similar problem. Note he first "xdg" line
    – kanehekili
    Commented Jan 13, 2022 at 22:20
  • Thanks for your answer but it makes no difference. I add the line "#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open" to the *.desktop file before "[Desktop Entry]". Then I started the firejailed-firefox from the shell and the normal orange icon is displayed :-(
    – nuri
    Commented Jan 14, 2022 at 9:05

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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For those who want to have the practical solution, the working *.desktop file looks now like this:

Version=1.1
Type=Application
Name=Firefox Arbeit
Comment=Web Browser configurated for Work
Icon=firefox-nightly
Exec=firejail --private=/home/nuri/.firejail-firefox/ firefox -no-remote --class=fjfox
Actions=
Categories=Network;
StartupNotify=true
StartupWMClass=fjfox
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1
  • This doesn't work anymore in Ubuntu 22.04, the blue icon is again replaced by the normal Firefox icon when Firefox is running. Any idea?
    – nuri
    Commented Nov 4, 2022 at 10:36
1

Have this specific instance of firefox launch with a specific WMClass by adding the option

--class=CLASS

where CLASS is a name of your choosing, e.g. fjfox.

Then connect your custom .desktop laucher to that WMCLass by adding a line as

StartupWMClass=CLASS

See the answer of nuri for a full example of the desktop file.

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5
  • Thanks vanadium, it works.
    – nuri
    Commented Jan 14, 2022 at 20:50
  • @vanadium does this method work for other programs as well, not only Firefox?
    – raj
    Commented Jan 14, 2022 at 22:24
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    @raj The option --class=CLASS will work with all GTK programs, and also Firefox and LibreOffice, which have a "GTK skin".
    – vanadium
    Commented Jan 14, 2022 at 22:40
  • ...and the same with VirtualBox, but without firejail? (in the Ubuntu dock, I want to see the icon of the app that is running in the virtual Windows 10, not the generic VirtualBox icon). Should I open a new question?
    – nuri
    Commented Jan 15, 2022 at 21:57
  • Do not hesitate to try it out yourself.
    – vanadium
    Commented Jan 16, 2022 at 11:06
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In Ubuntu 22.04 running Wayland, you have to change the .desktop file as above. Use --name instead of --class= in the Exec line.

Version=1.1
Type=Application
Name=Firefox Arbeit
Comment=Web Browser configurated for Work
Icon=firefox-nightly
Exec=firejail --private=/home/nuri/.firejail-firefox/ firefox --no-remote --name fjfox
Categories=Network;
StartupNotify=true
StartupWMClass=fjfox
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