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Enable DBus Activation #1694

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Enable DBus Activation #1694

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47b0572
Enable DBus Activation (#1610)
rubenmvc Feb 18, 2026
5258178
Fixed configuration attribute over configure_file for DBus service (#…
rubenmvc Feb 18, 2026
fe9945c
Fixed SingleMainWindow attribute (#1610)
rubenmvc Feb 19, 2026
9a4729a
Merge branch 'master' into dbus-activation
danirabbit Feb 20, 2026
3424188
Include prefix option when setting BINDIR attribute (#1610)
rubenmvc Feb 24, 2026
4c19841
Merge branch 'master' into dbus-activation
zeebok Apr 20, 2026
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3 changes: 3 additions & 0 deletions data/code.service.in
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
[D-BUS Service]
Name=io.elementary.code
Exec=@BINDIR@/io.elementary.code --gapplication-service
12 changes: 8 additions & 4 deletions data/io.elementary.code.desktop.in.in
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1,17 +1,21 @@
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application

Name=@NAME@
Comment=Edit code files
GenericName=Code Editor
Exec=@EXEC_NAME@ %U
Icon=io.elementary.code
Terminal=false
Categories=Development;GTK;IDE;WebDevelopment;
Keywords=text;IDE;scratch;code;
MimeType=text/plain;inode/directory;
StartupNotify=true
Actions=NewWindow;NewFile;

Icon=io.elementary.code
Exec=@EXEC_NAME@ %U
DBusActivatable=true
SingleMainWindow=true
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StartupNotify=true
Terminal=false

[Desktop Action NewFile]
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@danirabbit danirabbit Feb 24, 2026

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Something else kind of big we forgot! If we're using DBus Activation we also have to make sure that the actions in our desktop file match application actions in Code. Reference here: https://docs.elementary.io/develop/apis/launchers#d-bus-activation

So for this one we need to change this to:

Suggested change
[Desktop Action NewFile]
[Desktop Action new-file]

And then make sure there's an action named new-file in the Application action group. Otherwise the actions fail to launch because there's no action named app.NewFile

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@rubenmvc rubenmvc Feb 24, 2026 •
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Thanks for the clarification! After reading the documentation, I have a few questions in order to properly implement the changes:

  • Should I also modify the values in the "Actions" attribute to match that suggested change in the group, right?

code/data/io.elementary.code.desktop.in.in

Line 13 in d683394

Actions=NewWindow;NewFile;

  • I searched if a "new-file" action is already defined in the source code and the only thing I could find is this, in the FileView. Is this the proper one or should I create another one at Application level?

code/src/FolderManager/FileView.vala

Line 33 in d683394

public const string ACTION_NEW_FILE = "new-file";

  • And finally, you mentioned "NewFile" action to be changed, but not "NewWindow". Should I follow the same approach for this action? In that case, it seems that the action should be named "new-window" and it already exists. Is this OK?

code/src/Application.vala

Line 42 in d683394

{ "new-window", 'n', 0, OptionArg.NONE, null, N_("New Window"), null },

Thanks in advance for your help! :)

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@danirabbit danirabbit Feb 25, 2026

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Yes so the names of both actions in the desktop file need to change so that they match the name of GLib.Actions in Application's action map.

It looks like the current behavior for the NewTab entry is that it activates MainWindow.ACTION_NEW_TAB. So if this can be moved into Application instead that would be ideal.

For NewWindow, it does add_window (new MainWindow (false)) so an action needs to be added for that

What's in Application right now are these option entries but with DBus Activation we need GLib.Actions

Name=New File
Exec=@EXEC_NAME@ --new-tab
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9 changes: 9 additions & 0 deletions data/meson.build
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Expand Up @@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ install_data(
)

config_data = configuration_data()
config_data.set('BINDIR', get_option('bindir'))
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@danirabbit danirabbit Feb 24, 2026

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this needs to also include prefix. Otherwise we get bin/io.elementary.code instead of /usr/bin/io.elementary.code

Suggested change
config_data.set('BINDIR', get_option('bindir'))
config_data.set('BINDIR', get_option('prefix') / get_option('bindir'))

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@rubenmvc rubenmvc Feb 24, 2026

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Already solved, thanks! :)

config_data.set('EXEC_NAME', meson.project_name())

if (branch != '')
Expand All @@ -38,6 +39,14 @@ else
config_data.set('NAME', 'Code')
endif

configure_file(
input: 'code.service.in',
output: meson.project_name() + '.service',
configuration: config_data,
install_dir: get_option('datadir') / 'dbus-1' / 'services',
install: true
)

# Set the executable name and translate the desktop files
desktop_in_file = configure_file(
input: 'io.elementary.code.desktop.in.in',
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