Ubuntu 19.10 Software Boutique fail to run

Support & Help Requests
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This was started by a OP's request on #ubuntu (irc) then #ubuntu-mate

Trying to run the Software Boutique results in

software_boutique_2019-10-22_crop

This is from my 19.10 system; note I'm using LXQt/Lubuntu currently, but Ubuntu-MATE is installed too, along with ubuntu-desktop & xubuntu-desktop.... The OP (johnbogle1) appears to be using Ubuntu (GNOME) desktop but I didn't confirm.

How to 'snap' bugs get filed? or is this appropriate?

on my attempts to run I noted the following entry appear in journalctl (which may or may not relate/be helpful)

"Oct 22 14:50:15 d960-ubu2 xdg-desktop-por[6990]: Failed to get application states: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.portal.Error.Failed: Could not get window list: Cannot invoke method; proxy is for the well-known name org.gnome.Shell without an owner, and proxy was constructed with the G_DBUS_PROXY_FLAGS_DO_NOT_AUTO_START flag"

ps: If you want a ubuntu-bug ubuntu-mate-welcome or other, please let me know. here or on irc.

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Normally, you'd file bugs under ubuntu-mate on Launchpad or more directly at GitHub - ubuntu-mate/ubuntu-mate-welcome-legacy: The original Ubuntu MATE Welcome based on WebKitGTK. Debuted in 15.04 until 23.10 (the current version at this time of writing)

But... since you've created the topic and I happen to develop a lot towards this software, let's discuss here!

Version control shows that this message was recently added by @Wimpy to show if it's not running Ubuntu and not running on the MATE desktop environment.

It makes sense, as it was recently discovered the classic snap has issues in how libraries are confined, so there's no guarantee the dependencies are all there for other distros/flavours. It's by pure chance the snap works under Ubuntu MATE.

The workaround is to run Software Boutique under a MATE session.

Or, there is the option to patch it out the check, first by installing the deb packaged version:

snap remove ubuntu-mate-welcome
snap remove software-boutique
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mate-dev/welcome
sudo apt install ubuntu-mate-welcome

Then patch the code - but you'd have to do this each time it updates unless you remove the PPA:

sudo sed -i "s/and desktop == 'mate'//g" /usr/bin/ubuntu-mate-welcome

This version's codebase is clunky and old now, but a lot of technical issues will be resolved in the upcoming 2.0 version.

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3

Thank you @lah7

The OP (johnbogle1) was still listed as being in the room (#ubuntu-mate on irc) when I saw this, so I pointed the user to this link when I saw your reply (then shortly after signed off as it was my bedtime).

I have now tested this and it works perfectly on my 19.10 system (LXQt current desktop). Thank you. (I've also pointed an old askubuntu answer to here as well; https://askubuntu.com/questions/1058304/is-there-a-program-like-fedy-but-for-ubuntu)