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lubuntu 20.04 Alacarte menu editor doesn't work for me. The changes I make are not saved, or not as I make them. For example, I added a link to alacarte itself in the main menu, but the link appeared in the Other submenu. Same thing with any other app links I create; they all end up in Other. Code::Blocks, I created a folder C++ under Programming and put the CB link there, but it appeared directly under Programming. Also, invoking Alacarte from the menu doesn't work; only typing its name in a terminal does, and I get a message,

[code] Gtk CRITICAL: 28:13:52.528: gtk accel label set accel closure : assertion 'gtk accel group from accel closure (accel closure) != NULL' failed [/code]

Which, as a programmer myself I recognize as an assert that should not be present in software compiled for release. Anyways, maybe lubuntu is forcing its will on the menu... I suspect it's some bad setting; maybe it's accessing the wrong menu file. But the program has NO preferences or settings of any kind. Any idea how to make it work? Sorry I can't figure out the text formatting here.

EDIT: I've just been informed I'm running an incompatible program. I honestly have no idea what qt5 is, or LXQt for that matter. I assumed anything Synaptic showed me would work in my system. I guess this changes my question to ... how do I edit my menu?

DanW58
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    You've got me confused, alacarte (https://packages.ubuntu.com/focal/alacarte) is a GNOME menu editor, GNOME being GTK3 based; where as Lubuntu is LXQt is Qt5 based so has nothing at all to do with GTK3. LXQt can set GTK3 themes only (see appearance in (https://manual.lubuntu.me/stable/search.html?q=gtk3&check_keywords=yes&area=default) but you've got me confused by your post. – guiverc Jul 13 '20 at 01:33
  • Thanks. Edited the question. – DanW58 Jul 13 '20 at 02:07
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    End user programs use libraries, GNOME & GIMP share a toolkit called GTK (originally GTK+ to represent GIMP+GNOME). LXQt uses Qt (version 5) or the Q toolkit as is found in Android phones, many windows programs. It's a library/toolkit system that is part of the software stack between end-user programs and the base operating system. As a programmer I assumed you'd realize the theory of software stacks sorry, but by using the wrong stack the changes made for GTK have ~no influence at all on Qt based systems like LXQt, KDE or other Qt based programs. – guiverc Jul 13 '20 at 02:09
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    Lubuntu 20.04 LTS uses the LXQt desktop, use neofetch to get some details, or lxqt-about --version. synaptic is a GTK program, so was included in Lubuntu releases that used LXDE (or GTK2; GNOME is GTK3), but it was replaced with muon as it's Qt based and thus more efficient. They'll both run equally (synaptic just needing more RAM as it cannot use libraries already in your memory so additional ones are loaded), but the changes they make impact packages on your disk/system, so the results are equal. – guiverc Jul 13 '20 at 02:15
  • As a programmer I loved algorithms and solving intricate problems, but hated libraries. I was once working on a 3d engine and I wrote the whole vector, matrix and quaternion thing from scratch because I could not stand libraries. Right now I feel like writing a menu editor, maybe in assembler... – DanW58 Jul 13 '20 at 02:18
  • Currently there is no Qt based app to change a LXQt menu (see https://github.com/lxqt/lxqt/issues/255), so it's all changes made via editor to files on your system manually... – guiverc Jul 13 '20 at 02:18
  • Too many acronyms, I'm totally lost. Are you saying I should be using muon rather than synaptic? – DanW58 Jul 13 '20 at 02:24
  • Okay, this is going to be my first job, then: write a qt menu editor. – DanW58 Jul 13 '20 at 02:26
  • Because muon is more efficient with your memory, that's why it's recommend and thus included by default. If you've got memory/RAM to spare you're welcome to use synaptic as it's known to you as it's your choice (ie. I mentioned the result was the same anyway). Synaptic uses GTK3 libs meaning they need to be loaded into memory prior to use, muon requires Qt5 libs (already in memory as used by the LXQt desktop)... – guiverc Jul 13 '20 at 02:26
  • :) on Qt Menu editor idea.... If you need help, I'll suggest the #lubuntu( or -devel) channel on IRC (freenode), or via Telegram. (https://lubuntu.me/links/ ; a bot links IRC with telegram). LXQt is found on OFTC (https://lxqt.github.io/) – guiverc Jul 13 '20 at 02:28
  • What about debian "menu"? I'm not sure how to tell if it uses qt5 or gtk3 or what... – DanW58 Jul 13 '20 at 05:29

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