[Bug]: Unable to create start menu entries

[jedikosh]

Describe the bug

I am unable to create start menu entries.

Ran: flatpak override com.usebottles.bottles --user --filesystem=xdg-data/applications

Restarted the Bottles. Attempted to add the entry and pressed create. No start menu entry.

To Reproduce

Unsure how to create error as the process has not worked.

Package

Flatpak from Flathub

Distribution

Linux Mint 22.3

Debugging Information

Official Package: true
Version: '62.0'
DE/WM: cinnamon
Display:
    X.org: true
    X.org (port): :0
    Wayland: false
Graphics:
    vendors:
        nvidia: &id002
            vendor: nvidia
            envs:
                __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD: '1'
                __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME: nvidia
                __VK_LAYER_NV_optimus: NVIDIA_only
            icd: /usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/nvidia_icd.json
            nvngx_path: /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/GL/nvidia-580-126-09/lib/nvidia/wine
        intel: &id001
            vendor: intel
            envs:
                DRI_PRIME: '1'
            icd: /usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/intel_hasvk_icd.x86_64.json:/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/intel_icd.x86_64.json:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/GL/vulkan/icd.d/intel_hasvk_icd.x86_64.json:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/GL/vulkan/icd.d/intel_icd.x86_64.json:/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/GL/vulkan/icd.d/intel_hasvk_icd.i686.json:/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/GL/vulkan/icd.d/intel_icd.i686.json
    prime:
        integrated: *id001
        discrete: *id002
Kernel:
    Type: Linux
    Version: 6.17.0-14-generic
Disk:
    Total: 12521463808
    Free: 12521275392
RAM:
    MemTotal: 23.3GiB
    MemAvailable: 18.4GiB
Bottles_envs: null

Troubleshooting Logs

Additional context

No response

[Simon-Spettmann]

I have the same issue now. At first it worked without issues, but after a few hours it didn't work anymore for some reason. I don't remember changing or updating anything significant, so I am unsure as to what caused this.

---

Steps to reproduce:

• $ flatpak run com.usebottles.bottles
• Open Bottles, open Bottle, choose program and click on kebab menu, select "Add Desktop Entry"

Debugging Information (shortened):

WARNING: The convert command is deprecated in IMv7, use "magick" instead of "convert" or "magick convert"

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/app/share/bottles/bottles/backend/utils/manager.py", line 241, in prepare_install_cb
    ret = portal.dynamic_launcher_prepare_install_finish(result)
gi.repository.GLib.GError: g-io-error-quark: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.portal.Error.InvalidArgument: Dynamic launcher icon failed validation (36)

---

System Information:

foo@bar:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:	Ubuntu
Description:	Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS
Release:	24.04
Codename:	noble

foo@bar:~$ echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP
ubuntu:GNOME

foo@bar:~$ flatpak --version
Flatpak 1.14.6

foo@bar:~$ flatpak info com.usebottles.bottles

Bottles - Run Windows software

          ID: com.usebottles.bottles
         Ref: app/com.usebottles.bottles/x86_64/stable
        Arch: x86_64
      Branch: stable
     Version: 62.0
     License: GPL-3.0-only
      Origin: flathub
  Collection: org.flathub.Stable
Installation: system
   Installed: 499.7 MB
     Runtime: org.gnome.Platform/x86_64/49
         Sdk: org.gnome.Sdk/x86_64/49

      Commit: 6083cfca76e8a5e320c0b1c20b3519b11e8bbb3e34911744b179f0b28a803f27
      Parent: bfb08031e32421c6d31662c05cc621b85075450422af4ac8e437f994685d515c
     Subject: Merge pull request #522 from flathub/pr/ci-manifest/master (cc52885678d4)
        Date: 2026-02-16 14:54:38 +0000

foo@bar:~$ flatpak info --show-permissions com.usebottles.bottles
[Context]
shared=network;ipc;
sockets=x11;wayland;pulseaudio;
devices=all;
features=devel;multiarch;per-app-dev-shm;
filesystems=xdg-data/applications;

[System Bus Policy]
org.freedesktop.UDisks2=talk

[Environment]
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/app/lib:/app/lib/i386-linux-gnu
GST_PLUGIN_SYSTEM_PATH=/app/lib/gstreamer-1.0:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gstreamer-1.0:/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/gstreamer-1.0
PATH=/app/bin:/app/utils/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/lib/extensions/vulkan/MangoHud/bin/:/usr/bin:/usr/lib/extensions/vulkan/OBSVkCapture/bin/:/usr/lib/extensions/vulkan/gamescope/bin/

foo@bar:~$ flatpak run com.usebottles.bottles 
12:00:23 (INFO) Launching with URI: None 
12:00:23 (INFO) [Activate] request received. 
12:00:23 (INFO) Bottles Started! 
12:00:25 (INFO) Performing Bottles checks… 
12:00:25 (INFO) Dxvks found:
	 - dxvk-2.7.1
 
12:00:25 (INFO) Vkd3ds found:
	 - vkd3d-proton-3.0
 
12:00:25 (INFO) Nvapis found:
	 - dxvk-nvapi-v0.9.1
 
12:00:25 (INFO) Latencyflexs found:
	 - latencyflex-v0.1.1
 
12:00:25 (INFO) Runners found:
	 - soda-9.0-1
	 - caffe-9.7
	 - lutris-ge-lol-p8-12
	 - ge-proton10-31
	 - wine-ge-proton8-26
	 - kron4ek-wine-11.2-amd64
	 - kron4ek-wine-proton-10.0-4-amd64
	 - sys-wine-11.0
 
12:00:25 (INFO) Bottles found:
	 - EA App
	 - Ubisoft Connect
	 - Epic Games
	 - Battle.net
 
12:00:25 (INFO) [Eagle] Reloading YARA rules... 
12:00:25 (INFO) [Eagle] YARA rules loaded 
12:00:25 (INFO) Catalog installers loaded 
12:00:25 (INFO) Catalog dependencies loaded 
12:00:25 (INFO) Catalog components loaded 
12:00:28 (INFO) Setting Key sync=fsync for bottle EA App… 
12:00:28 (INFO) There is no running wineserver. 
12:00:32 (INFO) Using Wine path converter -- --unix 
12:00:32 (INFO) Executing command: /home/<redacted-user>/.var/app/com.usebottles.bottles/data/bottles/runners/soda-9.0-1/bin/wine64 winepath --unix 'C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\EA Desktop\EA Desktop\EALauncher.exe' 
fsync: up and running.
WARNING: The convert command is deprecated in IMv7, use "magick" instead of "convert" or "magick convert"

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/app/share/bottles/bottles/backend/utils/manager.py", line 241, in prepare_install_cb
    ret = portal.dynamic_launcher_prepare_install_finish(result)
gi.repository.GLib.GError: g-io-error-quark: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.portal.Error.InvalidArgument: Dynamic launcher icon failed validation (36)

foo@bar:~$ ls -la ~/.local/share/applications
total 8
drwx------  2 <redacted-user> <redacted-user> 4096 Feb 19 12:15 .
drwx------ 26 <redacted-user> <redacted-user> 4096 Feb 19 12:15 ..

[Simon-Spettmann]

Traceback source:

Bottles/bottles/backend/utils/manager.py

Lines 240 to 262 in be31a10

	def prepare_install_cb (self, result):
	ret = portal.dynamic_launcher_prepare_install_finish(result)
	id = f"{config.get('Name')}.{program.get('name')}"
	sum_type = GLib.ChecksumType.SHA1
	exec = "bottles-cli run -p {} -b '{}' -- %u".format(
	shlex.quote(program.get('name')), config.get('Name')
	)
	portal.dynamic_launcher_install(
	ret["token"],
	"{}.App_{}.desktop".format(
	APP_ID, GLib.compute_checksum_for_string(sum_type, id, -1)
	),
	"""[Desktop Entry]
	Exec={}
	Type=Application
	Terminal=false
	Categories=Application;
	Comment=Launch {} using Bottles.
	StartupWMClass={}""".format(
	exec, program.get("name"), program.get("name")
	)
	)
	SignalManager.send(Signals.DesktopEntryCreated)

The creation of start menu entries has been reworked last week in fd81efc and merged with #3948 as requested in #1366

[Simon-Spettmann]

This might be caused by Ubuntu deciding to use Apparmor to restrict the creation of user namespaces in bubblewrap:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apparmor/+bug/2069526

Can someone confirm this?

[ignapk]

Hi @jedikosh and @Simon-Spettmann, thanks for putting the time to file this bug report and investigating it.

I have tested your system configurations and have found that both Linux Mint 22.3 and Ubuntu 24.04 use outdated versions of xdg-desktop-portal, 1.20.0 and 1.18.4, that suffer from a bug affecting the dynamic launcher portal functionality. The issue was fixed in 1.20.1 version, released on May 15 2025. You can confirm the currently installed version of the xdg-desktop-portal by running /usr/libexec/xdg-desktop-portal --version in terminal.

While we figure this out in Bottles, if your versions are indeed earlier than 1.20.1, I'd suggest upgrading to a newer version of your distribution when it possible, and if not, file a report in the distribution appropriate channels.

[jedikosh]

Up-to-date Linux Mint 22.3 uses xdg-desktop-portal 1.20.0. A workaround is to create the shortcuts in an earlier version of Linux Mint without updates applied. This should give time for Bottles to sort through the issue. Thank you for your replies.

[electroniumez]

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/app/share/bottles/bottles/backend/utils/manager.py", line 241, in prepare_install_cb
ret = portal.dynamic_launcher_prepare_install_finish(result)
gi.repository.GLib.GError: g-io-error-quark: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.portal.Error.InvalidArgument: Dynamic launcher icon failed validation (36)

I get this error on some of my games that I added them through "add shortcut +"

but the menu entry of other games works fine

how can I fix this problem? I can't add my games to menu

ubuntu 25.10
xdg-desktop-portal 1.20.3

[SarreqTeryx]

I'm having the (probably) same (maybe only similar) issue under FluffLinux (arch based). I hit "Add Desktop Entry", but all I get is this popup:

Operating System: Fluff Linux
KDE Plasma Version: 6.6.0
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.23.0
Qt Version: 6.10.2
Kernel Version: 6.18.9-arch1-2 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 8 × Intel® Core™ i7-8550U CPU @ 1.80GHz
Memory: 64 GiB of RAM (62.5 GiB usable)
Graphics Processor: Intel® UHD Graphics 620
Manufacturer: HP
Product Name: HP Spectre x360 Convertible 15-ch0xx

edit 2026-02-26
Same issue in Garuda (also arch based), same system

Operating System: Garuda Linux
KDE Plasma Version: 6.6.1
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.23.0
Qt Version: 6.10.2
Kernel Version: 6.18.9-zen1-2-zen (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 8 × Intel® Core™ i7-8550U CPU @ 1.80GHz
Memory: 64 GiB of RAM (62.5 GiB usable)
Graphics Processor 1: Intel® UHD Graphics 620
Graphics Processor 2: NVIDIA GeForce MX150
Manufacturer: HP
Product Name: HP Spectre x360 Convertible 15-ch0xx

[xmha97]

Having the same issue here. +1

[ignapk]

Traceback (most recent call last): File "/app/share/bottles/bottles/backend/utils/manager.py", line 241, in prepare_install_cb ret = portal.dynamic_launcher_prepare_install_finish(result) gi.repository.GLib.GError: g-io-error-quark: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.portal.Error.InvalidArgument: Dynamic launcher icon failed validation (36)

I get this error on some of my games that I added them through "add shortcut +" but the menu entry of other games works fine

how can I fix this problem? I can't add my games to menu

ubuntu 25.10 xdg-desktop-portal 1.20.3

Hi, could you give more information which particular games/applications were those?

[electroniumez]

they are games that I installed them with dvd, and added the exe of them into bottle (with all flatpak privilages)
before update 62 I was able to add them into app menu
now, after adding a new game, I discovered I can't add it to app menu
then tried to do same for all of games that I had, and saw some work some not
I guess the newer desktop entry creator can't extract the icon of them and fail

[enveeed]

I'm having the (probably) same (maybe only similar) issue under FluffLinux (arch based). I hit "Add Desktop Entry", but all I get is this popup:

Same issue here, on a similar setup. The popup has no way to interact with it (clicking or dragging anything does nothing) except for just closing it.

The window class seems to be xdg-desktop-portal-kde org.freedesktop.impl.portal.desktop.kde so it seems to be some functionality of the KDE desktop portal implementation, but its not clear at all what it is for.

[ignapk]

@SarreqTeryx @enveeed this dialog is implemented by the specific desktop environment you're using, and it seems that for some reason on your setups the buttons at the bottom are missing. As a workaround, you can press enter and the entry installation should proceed as normal. Please report this in your distributions channels and/or https://bugs.kde.org/

[ignapk]

they are games that I installed them with dvd, and added the exe of them into bottle (with all flatpak privilages) before update 62 I was able to add them into app menu now, after adding a new game, I discovered I can't add it to app menu then tried to do same for all of games that I had, and saw some work some not I guess the newer desktop entry creator can't extract the icon of them and fail

What we need is a way to reproduce those failures, as you noticed this happens only for a subset of your games and for that we need a .exe that we can test it. Would you be able to send such .exe or point to a particular game/app where you notice this issue?

[SarreqTeryx]

they are games that I installed them with dvd, and added the exe of them into bottle (with all flatpak privilages) before update 62 I was able to add them into app menu now, after adding a new game, I discovered I can't add it to app menu then tried to do same for all of games that I had, and saw some work some not I guess the newer desktop entry creator can't extract the icon of them and fail

What we need is a way to reproduce those failures, as you noticed this happens only for a subset of your games and for that we need a .exe that we can test it. Would you be able to send such .exe or point to a particular game/app where you notice this issue?

BabelMap v16.0.0.6 https://babelstone.co.uk/Software/BabelMap.html