[SOLVED] Getting message "Untrusted application launcer"

[ron_1]

When I click on the PM desktop icon, I get this message:

Untrusted application launcer

The desktop file "palemoon.desktop" is in an insecure location and not marked as executable. If you do not trust this program, click Cancel

Exec = palemoon %u

And then below that I have three options, 1) Launch anyway; 2) Mark Executable; 3) Cancel

So two questions: 1) Does this mean something went wrong during installation? 2) Should I just click "Mark Executable?"
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I'm still learning Linux.

[SvenG]

# 2 Launchers are like scripts and need to be executable.

[ron_1]

Okay, I'll do that and mark this as solved. And I assume that means nothing went wrong with the installation of PM.

[SvenG]

The installer should create a launcher in /user/share/applications that should just work out of the box (e.g. in the "start menu"). If you have taken the content of the desktop file (for example from the PM4Linux install tutorial) and created a new one, you have to make it executable after you saved it else it is just a text file pretending to be a launcher for the system. In theory, the line
Exec = palemoon %u
could contain any type of command for example launch a script that deletes the content in your home folder.

[Night Wing]

I've seen the same prompt when the Pale Moon launcher, the Firefox ESR launcher and the SeaMonkey launcher icons were placed on the Desktop in both linux Mint and linux SolydX on my computers.

It seems this is by design from the linux distro developers. Once you click on "Mark Executable", the prompt never appears anymore.

It seems the developers of linux distros prefer their browser launcher icons to be launched from a menu entry under Internet or being launched from the Panel Taskbar and not from the Desktop.

If the menu entry for the browser is listed under Internet, then you can drag the launcher icon for any browser to the Panel Taskbar. This is it worked for me in both Mint and SolydX.

[SvenG]

It seems this is by design from the linux distro developers. Once you click on "Mark Executable", the prompt never appears anymore.

It seems the developers of linux distros prefer their browser launcher icons to be launched from a menu entry under Internet or being launched from the Panel Taskbar and not from the Desktop.

No, that has nothing to do with where things are stored, it's a security measure. The desktop file (aka. launcher) is potentially harmful, you could for example change
Exec = palemoon %u
to
Exec = rm <some files>
If <some files> are important, you can cause serious damage even without having root access. Or
EXEC = rm -rf "./moonchild productions"
would remove all your Pale Moon profiles.

By making the launcher executable you confirm that you know what the launcher does.