Preinstall dash-to-dock extension in cubic custom distro.

[1] DOWNLOAD THE EXTENSION
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[1a]

On your host machine...

Open a web browser and go to https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/307/dash-to-dock/

Next to "Download", select the gnome shell version (ex. 3.36) and extension version (ex. 68).

(You can check the gnome version using `gnome-shell --version` in Cubic on the Terminal page).

Save the *.zip file (ex. dash-to-dockmicxgx.gmail.com.v68.shell-extension.zip).

ALTERNATIVE DOWNLOAD METHOD
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[1b]

If you want to download the extension from the command line in Cubic, you can use the following command. Note that the "version_tag" value will be different for different versions of the extension.

$ wget https://<email address hidden>?version_tag=15925

[2] INSTALL THE EXTENSION
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[2a]

On Cubic's Terminal page...

Remove Ubuntu Dock:

$ apt purge gnome-shell-extension-ubuntu-dock

[2b]

On your host machine...

Drag the downloaded *.zip file onto Cubic's Terminal page to copy it.

[2c]

On Cubic's Terminal page...

Create the extension directory:

$ mkdir /<email address hidden>

[2d]

On Cubic's Terminal page...

Extract the extension:

$ unzip -qo dash-to-dockmicxgx.gmail.com.v68.shell-extension.zip -d /<email address hidden>

[3] CONFIGURE THE EXTENSION
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[3a]

On Cubic's Terminal page...

Get the original value for "favorite-apps":

$ gsettings get org.gnome.shell favorite-apps

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['ubiquity.desktop', 'firefox.desktop', 'thunderbird.desktop', 'org.gnome.Nautilus.desktop', 'rhythmbox.desktop', 'libreoffice-writer.desktop', 'snap-store_ubuntu-software.desktop', 'yelp.desktop']
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[3b]

On your host machine...

Create a file called "90_ubuntu-custom.gschema.override".

Add the following to the file:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[org.gnome.shell]
enabled-extensions = ['<email address hidden>']
favorite-apps = ['ubiquity.desktop', 'firefox.desktop', 'thunderbird.desktop', 'org.gnome.Nautilus.desktop', 'rhythmbox.desktop', 'libreoffice-writer.desktop', 'snap-store_ubuntu-software.desktop', 'yelp.desktop']

[org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock]
click-action = 'minimize-or-overview'
custom-theme-customize-running-dots = true
custom-theme-running-dots-border-color = '#00bcd4'
custom-theme-running-dots-border-width = 0
custom-theme-running-dots-color = '#00bcd4'
custom-theme-shrink = false
dock-fixed = true
extend-height = true
icon-size-fixed = true
middle-click-action = 'launch'
# running-indicator-style = 'DOTS'
running-indicator-style = 'DEFAULT'
scroll-action = 'cycle-windows'
show-apps-at-top = true
transparency-mode = 'ADAPTIVE'

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Notes:

- List extensions you have installed and want to be *active* for the "enabled-extensions" value. Do not list extensions that are installed but should be inactive by default.

- Reuse the "favorite-apps" value from above. Add or remove items, listing them in the sequence you want them to appear in Dash-to-Dock. Keep 'ubiquity.desktop' in the list.

- Update the settings for Dash-to-Dock in the "org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock" section per your preferences. (There may be other keys and values; these are just examples).

[3c]

On Cubic's Terminal page:

$ cd /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas

[3d]

On your host machine...

Drag the new "90_ubuntu-custom.gschema.override" file onto Cubic's Terminal page to copy it.

[3e]

On Cubic's Terminal page...

$ chown root:root 90_ubuntu-custom.gschema.override

$ glib-compile-schemas /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas

Not working! I followed all the steps you suggested but when i booted in try now mode , there is no dash-to-dock.

Have any other solution ?

No. I do not have another solution.

Check if the extension got installed correctly...

Press <CTRL><ALT><T> to open a terminal window.

$ sudo apt -s install gnome-tweaks

Launch the "Tweaks" application

$ gnome-tweaks

Click on Extensions in the left pane.

Is Dash-to-Dock listed in the right pane?

Is it marked as active/inactive ?

I had booted from my custom distro, now as you directed i installed gnome tweaks in try mode.

When i opened gnome tweaks application, there was not any dash-to-dock extension listed in extensions panel.

Maybe extensions did not installed correctly.

Any suggestion ?

I also ran this command which i think lists all enabled extensions

$ gsettings get org.gnome.shell enabled-extensions

It listed ['<email address hidden>', '<email address hidden>']

So what do you think is it okay ?

I can't figure out whether extension installed correctly or not.

The good news is that your "90_ubuntu-custom.gschema.override" configuration is being loaded.

What is the output of:

$ ls -1 /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/

When i ran this command

$ ls -1 /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/

It listed all the extensions including the <email address hidden> extension.

When i booted from my distro. I used dconf-editor to view some dconf configurations.

Inside it is showing <email address hidden> In enabled-extensions configuration.

But in the tweaks and extensions app, there is not any dash-to-dock extension is listed.

So, what do you think where is the problem ?

All of this is very promising.

I'll customize an ISO and install Dash-to-Dock to see if I missed something in the instructions above.

Just so I can recreate your situation, you are customizing Ubutu 20.04, correct?

I wanted to mention something (you may had already noticed this)...

If you remove the Ubuntu Dock, this also removes the ubuntu desktop packages.

$ apt remove gnome-shell-extension-ubuntu-dock
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  gnome-shell-extension-ubuntu-dock ubuntu-desktop ubuntu-desktop-minimal

(I didn't notice negative consequences of this in my testing).

I discovered a few things:

(1)

There is a small "bug" in the extension. This is why you could not see the extension in the Tweaks or Extensions applications.

The extension's "metadata.json" file does not have the read permissions, preventing Ubuntu from "reading" information about the extension. As a result, the extension is not loaded by Ubuntu.

You might want to open an bug report at https://github.com/micheleg/dash-to-dock/issues to fix this. Indicate that the file "metadata.json" needs to have read permissions for all users, like the other files included in the extension.

Please share the link to the bug report, and I will confirm the bug so it gets fixed for other users.

In the mean time, you can set the correct permissions in step [2e] of Comment #10 above.

(2)

It seems that user extensions are disabled by default.

This can be fixed by adding "disable-user-extensions = false" in the "90_ubuntu-custom.gschema.override" file in step [3b] of Comment #10 above.

(3)

The extension can not be configured in "90_ubuntu-custom.gschema.override".

You must use the extension's *.xml file to configure it in step [4a] of Comment #10 above.

Thanks CUBIC PPA Team for your support. The #10 Answer worked for me.

I really appreciate your work.

Thanks for helping me :)

Thanks Cubic PPA, that solved my question.