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I have moved from 18.04 to 20.04 using a clean OS install and then re-installation of all used packages. One of the tricks I've used in the past is to create Web applications in Gnome Web (Epiphany) for frequently used sites. These would appear under 'Show Applications' and could be added to favourites in the dock and integrate with notifications etc.

This has stopped working in 20.04, I guess because the default Epiphany install is via Snap - the web 'applications' I re-created are now not shown at all under applications and can't be run in the same way. I can confirm that if I go to about:applications in Epiphany they are listed and are also in my profile under ~/snap/epiphany/current/.local/share/applications as .desktop files.

My installed versions Ubuntu 20.01.1 LTS Gnome 3.36.3 Epiphany 3.34.4-1-g606db9aec

A workaround to re-create the past functionality would be much appreciated.

Thanks M

SDL Support
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3 Answers3

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You've installed the snap version (either by command, or using a Ubuntu Software and not carefully selecting the non-snap'd version)

1. remove the snap

snap remove epiphany

this will remove

guiverc@d960-ubu2:~$   snap search epiphany
Name      Version               Publisher  Notes  Summary
epiphany  3.34.4-1-g606db9aec9  jbicha     -      Web browser for GNOME

or the version you mention - https://snapcraft.io/epiphany

2. install the standard deb package

sudo apt install epiphany-browser

this will install

guiverc@d960-ubu2:~$   apt-cache search epiphany-browser
epiphany-browser - Intuitive GNOME web browser
epiphany-browser-data - Data files for the GNOME web browser

or https://packages.ubuntu.com/focal-updates/epiphany-browser

guiverc
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1

If you still want to use the snap version, or just don't want to deal with uninstalling/reinstalling. I suggest you symlink the .desktop files from ~/snap/epiphany/current/.local/share/applications to ~/.local/share/applications. To do so, on a terminal do:

cd ~/.local/share/applications
ln -s ~/snap/epiphany/current/.local/share/applications/* .
chmod +x epiphany-*.desktop

The last line is necessary to "trust" the desktop files, and show them as any other application. Without it, it won't work.

Felipe
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Answering in 2024 just in case someone is facing the same issue. In Ubuntu 22.04, I faced the same issue with Epiphany Web Browser that was installed using snap.

With standard deb package, i.e., apt I got older version of the browser where a few features were lacking.

With snap, the 'Install as Web App' option was not working. I tried to solution provided by @Felipe but it didn't work in Ubuntu 22.04. I guess the path/location have changed in U 22.04.

The fix that worked for me was installing the Epiphany Web Browser using flatpak. With flatpak, I got the latest version of the browser where 'Install as Web App' worked smoothly without any extra steps.

Command to install:

flatpak install flathub org.gnome.Epiphany

For more: https://flathub.org/apps/org.gnome.Epiphany

Sandesh Yadav
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