Atom Icon on Ubuntu 18.04

support
#1

I’m using Atom on Ubuntu 18.04 for a while now. It’s installed it via Ubuntu Software Center.

Today, I’ve noticed that the green-white Atom icon is replaced with the generic icon.

I’ve checked and there are 3 atom.png files on my machine (in snaps/atom/…). I’ve reinstalled Atom, but the problem remains.

It seems that Atom itself is working fine.

ms1

#2

What happens if you try to customize / change the icon?
As a Windows user I had to web search the term:
“customize icons ubuntu 18.4”

It seems to deliver answers.
An interesting link seems to be:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1045773/desktop-icons-on-ubuntu-18-04-no-longer-displayed-properly

#3

I tried but couldn’t do it. Everything was fine with the atom.desktop file.

#4

It seems that the Atom version shared via Ubuntu Software and Snap Store is problematic.

I have sort of “solved” the problem:

  • I’ve uninstalled Atom via Snap Store.
  • I’ve installed Atom downloaded directly from atom.io. At that point I had the working installation with the icon.
  • I’ve installed Atom via Ubuntu Software. At that point I had two working installations, both with the icons. They shared settings and packages.
  • I’ve uninstalled both, removed files, cache, etc., and installed Atom from Ubuntu Software. Again working installation, but no icon.
  • Finally, I’ve removed the installation from Ubuntu Software and installed the one from atom.io. It’s OK so far.
#5

It’s relevant to note that the Snap release isn’t officially supported by the Atom developers. Since Atom is open source, it’s easy to redistribute it on other platforms and the devs don’t have to personally support all of the potential ways that someone could download it. That also means that things could go wrong in an unofficial distribution like the one in Arch community or on Snap (this has happened on Arch, and it took a few months for new versions of Atom to actually work on all updated Arch distros, which was annoying since part of the ethos of Arch involves constant updates) that aren’t going wrong with a core distribution, and since there’s a third-party developer in the chain, it’s impossible for an Atom dev or community member to account for everything that went into compiling the code you downloaded.

Atom stores all of its configurations and packages in the ~/.atom/ directory, so unless you specifically override that folder (by putting a .atom/ directory in the folder that contains the atom/ program directory to use the mobile mode), all instances of Atom on your computer should look and feel exactly the same.

1 Like