Subject: bug#12932: 24.2; Installing GNOME .desktop file to incorrect location

From: Glenn Morris <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:06:23 -0500

I guess we could add an explicit configure option for where the desktop
file will be installed ($desktopdir in current Makefile), and leave the
default as it is now. I doubt the option will see much use though.

But the freedesktop spec does mention (obliquely) /usr/local:

http://specifications.freedesktop.org/menu-spec/menu-spec-latest.html

Install Locations

    If an application is intended to be installed by root on a system
    wide basis then /usr/share is recommended to be used as value for
    datadir and /etc/xdg is recommended to be used as value for
    sysconfdir. In case the /usr/share hierarchy is not writable it is
    recommended to use /usr/local/share as value for datadir instead.
                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

So, again, it seems like a Gnome bug to me if it doesn't check in
/usr/local as well as /usr (I didn't check whether or not it actually does).

See also

  http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html

  If $XDG_DATA_DIRS is either not set or empty, a value equal to
  /usr/local/share/:/usr/share/ should be used.

Maybe your XDG_DATA_DIRS is set wrongly?

Of course, this doesn't help people who install with --prefix != /usr/local