Unable to edit Main Menu

sudo apt-get install --reinstall -y alacarte

Then press ALT+F2 and type:

alacarte

then press ENTER

I tried that but it has not made any difference.

ok type alacarte in terminal and press enter, what is output

john@john-desktop:~$ alacarte
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/alacarte", line 36, in <module>
    main()
  File "/usr/bin/alacarte", line 32, in main
    app = MainWindow(datadir, version, sys.argv)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/Alacarte/MainWindow.py", line 48, in __init__
    self.editor = MenuEditor()
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/Alacarte/MenuEditor.py", line 36, in __init__
    self.__loadMenus()
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/Alacarte/MenuEditor.py", line 63, in __loadMenus
    self.save(True)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/Alacarte/MenuEditor.py", line 67, in save
    fd = open(getattr(self, menu).path, 'w')
IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/home/john/.config/menus/applications.menu'
john@john-desktop:~$

That 'Permission denied' doesn't look too good. I'm new to Linux, what do I have to do to give it permission ?

ok run:

cd /home; sudo chown -R john:john ./john

Does alacarte work ok now?

This is what I get:

john@john-desktop:~$ cd /home; sudo chown -R john:john ./john
[sudo] password for john:
chown: cannot access `./john/.gvfs': Permission denied
chown: changing ownership of `./john/sambaVianiP4/desktop.ini': Permission denied
chown: changing ownership of `./john/sambaVianiP4/Elena/Musica Elena/Buena Vida, La/2003 - ?lbum': No such file or directory
chown: changing ownership of `./john/sambaVianiP4/Elena/Musica Elena/Habana Blues/2005 - Habana Blues/07 - echate p?alla echate p?aca.mp3': No such file or directory
chown: changing ownership of `./john/sambaVianiP4': Permission denied
john@john-desktop:/home$

But alacarte does work ! It also works from the Preferences menu !!

Thanks a lot for your help.

Bye for now,
John.

Do you by any cance use this command:

sudo nautilus

?

*chance

No, I've never used 'sudo nautilus'.

good, using sudo for gui apps can cause this. sudo gedit can also do the same thing. Glad you got the gold.

The command wass failing as you were not the owner of your own data, which you now are :)