Can't find app in menus after installing deb package

[crilleengvall]

What version of electron-installer-debian are you using?
0.6.0

What version of node and npm are you using?
3.10.10

What operating system are you using?
Linux mint

Can you compile the example app successfully?
I can create packages and install the app. And after the app is installed i can find it in the menus.

If not, paste here the output of the following commands:

$ git clone https://github.com/unindented/electron-installer-debian.git
$ cd electron-installer-debian/example
$ DEBUG='electron-installer-debian' npm run build

What did you do? Please include the configuration you are using for electron-installer-debian.
I ran this after packaging the app into the release-builds folder
electron-installer-debian --src release-builds/Electron\ tutorial\ app-linux-x64/ --arch amd64 --config debian.json

my debian.json looks like this:

{
  "dest": "release-builds/installers/",
  "icon": "assets/icons/png/1024x1024.png",
  "bin": "",
  "categories": [
    "Utility"
  ],
  "lintianOverrides": [
    "changelog-file-missing-in-native-package"
  ]
}

What did you expect to happen?
That i could start the app from the menus after installation.

What actually happened?
I'm trying to build a debian package for this application:
https://github.com/crilleengvall/electron-tutorial-app
and write a tutorial about it. The debian package is created and i can install it.
But no app can be found in the menus. But i can start it from:
/usr/lib/electron-tutorial-app by running ./electron-tutorial-app

I have tried the suggestions in this issue but i can't seem to get it to work
#19

The .desktop-file that is generated looks like this:
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Electron tutorial app
Comment=Application for electron tutorials
GenericName=Electron tutorial app
Exec=electron-tutorial-app %U
Icon=electron-tutorial-app
Type=Application
StartupNotify=true
Categories=Utility;

[fcastilloec]

This is not a bug but mainly a problem with your configuration. This question should be asked in the community forums and not filed as an issue. Nonetheless, here's my answer.
First, electron-packager uses the productName first when you don't specify appname to the cli, as it's stated here

If appname is omitted, this will use the name specified by "productName" or "name" in the nearest package.json

So you will have a conflict when creating a link to the executable.
The second problem, is that your debian.json bin is blank, this should point to the executable created by electron-packager.

The proper way to fix this is passing appname to electron-packager and making appname be exactly what the name field in your package.json is, and removing the bin option from your debian.json.

An alternative, that it's not recommended since doesn't follow proper Debian naming guides, is to not pass appname (as you've been doing so far) and set the bin option in debian.json to Electron tutorial app (your productName). If you would have checked what electron-packager was creating, you would have seen that your executable name is Electron tutorial app (which doesn't follow proper Debian naming guideliness).

[crilleengvall]

Thank you @fcastilloec for the help. That solved it!
I wasn't aware that i should post this in the electron forum, i will do that from now on.

[malept]

@fcastilloec we should add a SUPPORT.md like electron-installer-snap.

[ferso]

Thank you @fcastilloec. You answered this not commented problem in every tutorial that i read.