GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 595236
empathy does not show up in gnome-session-properties
Last modified: 2011-08-29 10:12:28 UTC
Hi, I want my friends to know when I am online, so I want empathy to start up whenever I log in to my desktop. However, I couldn't find an entry for Empathy in gnome-session-properties. Please add one, it may be disabled by default but I want to be able to easily select Empathy for autostart. [Alternatively there could be a "start on log in" option in the preferences menu, but I prefer to have similar settings in a central place like gnome-session-properties.] Thanks, Fabian [I already filed this as Debian Bug #540650.]
What should we do to have Empathy listed in gnome-session-properties?
Add a .desktop file in /usr/share/gnome/autostart.
Seems that desktop file can point to a gconf key to enable/disable it. So we can easily make it configurable from empathy. That's great :D
When I log out from my session without closing my apps like rhythmbox, gvim, firefox or pidgin, in the next login they will be auto started. However, this does not work with empathy. Rhythmbox and pidgin are NOT listed in the g-session-p list! I think all that is necessary here is to get empathy behave like rhythmbox or pidgin in this sense. Somehow, gnome-session does not seem to have any idea about empathy, while it does about, if not all, most of other gnome apps... It seems like the programs listed in g-s-p are more essential system-level programs, rather than user applications like empathy. Just establish the link between empathy and gnome session management.
This is also reported downstream in Launchpad/Ubuntu/Empathy at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/empathy/+bug/478178
I think that the Importance should be raised from 'Normal enhancement', this is a problem, not an RFE. Also Can someone mark this as triaged?
Let's do this for 2.30.
(In reply to comment #4) > When I log out from my session without closing my apps like rhythmbox, gvim, > firefox or pidgin, in the next login they will be auto started. However, this > does not work with empathy. You are ralking about "session saving" which is a feature I intentionally do not use. I don't want the current state of opened windows to be remembered when I log out and restored when I log back in (i.e. this is not what this bug report is all about, it should however be possible also with empathy, though). I just want to be able to select if empathy should be started whenever I log in.
Fabian, you just have to dragndrop empathy (a launcher, or the entry in the applications menu) to the list of gnome-session-properties. Is it enough for you?
I agree. There is no reason to put Empathy by default in this list.
@Frederic: I've been using gnome for years and it never occured to me to try drag'n'drop. I think that is a great solution, but not very 'discoverable'. And as far as I can see this is not mentioned in the manual of 'Startup Programs Tab' which is what this is called in Ubuntu at least. I will file this issue as a new documentation bug.
I've created a documentation bug #603928 for my comment above.