How to build a desktop shortcut / multiple firefox profiles

[frank105]

I feel close to my answer - but missing just a bit.
Anyway - here it is: I have Pop_OS 21.10 running on my laptop. I want to add a "desktop icon" to launch a second Firefox profile for my wife when she uses my laptop. I know "desktop icon" is sort of windows jargon - but I think you understand.

So far I have a text file named Firefox.wife on my desktop. In there is:

firefox -p Wife

"Wife" matches the second profile I made in Firefox. I made the file "executable" in Nautilus/properties. Double clicking it brings up a warning "Do you want to Run or display it's contents. I have to click execute.

Anyway - I just want to skip this step to make it simpler for her.
Bonus points for adding the icon to the bottom launcher bar I think called "Favorites". Currently I have an icon down there that opens my FF profile. \

Thanks in advance,
Frank

[Frogs Hair]

This post could offer some suggestions.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/6601...refox-profiles

[frank105]

Honestly - that is the thread I followed to get this far

But I think it is old news when we get down to the area:

Search for the line:

Actions=NewWindow;NewPrivateWindow; and add new context menu action identifiers like this (example names, but only used within the file, you won't see them anywhere else):

That didn't really seem to do anything. But I may not have completely understood it. But I did find a reference saying that everything changed after that version... but I didn't get an answer there either. I know the command lines so I think I might be making this harder than it has to be.

I think all I need to know is: How do you turn a text file into an always understood to execute file?

Anyway - thanks a bunch for reaching out.

[yancek]

I'm not familiar with Pop OS but if you are using Nautilus/Gnome, the links below should help. If you want a desktop icon, it does need a .desktop extension. This is all expained in the links below.

https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-creat...al-fossa-linux

https://fostips.com/app-icons-to-desktop-ubuntu-21-04/

[frank105]

https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-creat...al-fossa-linux

Thanks - that was all I needed!!

So yes - for anyone following me looking to do something similar in Pop_OS there are a few changes.
For more help go to the links Yancek provided. But in general it is really easy.
With your favorite text editor create a file named Firefox.desktop with the following lines:

#!/usr/bin/ xdg-open
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=/usr/bin/firefox -p Wife
Name=Firefox for Wife
Comment=Firefox
Icon=/usr/share/app-install/icons/firefox.png

So specifically my changes from the link are-
Line 1 - You need to find the proper location in your system of xdg-open
Line 6 - Change to match the location of the executable. If you don't know where it is - just type >which firefox in the command line and it tells you.
Line 6 - So Firefox has switches to select profiles. As I mentioned in my opening of the question - I already built the profile named Wife. The "-p " switch is the select profile so just use the profile name you are trying to start.
Line 7 - Change this to whatever you like. It is the text that shows up under the icon.
Line 8 - Unimportant
Line 9 - For bonus points - connect it to a good looking icon. I just did a search for firefox.png and put the path in here.

After you build the file - then right click on the file on your desktop and select "Allow Launching".

That (I think) should work for almost all Debian based distros.

Thanks Yancek and everyone.

Frank