PackageKit VS menulibre

The PackageKit crash is a problem in PackageKit itself. You'll want to get a sybolicated backtrace of the crash and submit a bug report to https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/issues/.

The original patch author described another issue from locked packages being installed as a recommends dependency. https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/pull/557

PackageKit-backend-zypp is weird. Some logic is delegated to libzypp so it's however libzypp supports/implements a feature, OTOH some logic requires the PK backend to reimplement. If it doesn't it results in issues like this one https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/pull/557. I don't think this approach is reliable.

The source code.

ALPM integration is not a direct Arch project and done by third party on an as available basis. It might get improvements it might not. It does look quite active https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/commits/main/backends/alpm FWIW but in general Arch isn't really designed with these things in mind. The other bigger distributions also invest/used to invest a lot of time for package descriptions and the like while explicitly and primarily relies on the appstream database for information which may or may not be up to date.

I think what OP is using for updates is the gnome software application which is based on the more general packagekit framework (KDE's discover uses the same framework). And one feature of packagekit is the ability to install updates at shutdown (Sorry, can't find a better link in a quick search)

Luckily, that's on track to finally being fixed. It's been fixed in PackageKit and should only be a matter of time before GNOME Software picks it up: https://github.com/PackageKit/PackageKit/pull/526

So, that being said, if you have issues, bugs, suggestions and apparent gripes, I would strongly recommend you file reports either with your specific distribution who is responsible for packaging menulibre (i.e. not Xfce) or [open up an issue with Menulibre directly instead of bitching about it here.

The GUI application menulibre can also be used for this process. It's in the AUR

Is this what you did to install RuneLite/get your account hacked? I've not heard of "menulibre" but upon checking its GitHub page it seems legit...

You could take some inspiration from MenuLibre or Alacarte. It would be great to see a modern alternative that follows the GNOME Design Principles and uses GTK4+libadwaita.

I also use MenuLibre to create a shortcut to stop and start PackageKit. I hope the bug gets fixed soon.

Menu Libre/ Menu Editor : Slick GUI app for editing your app icons, names etc.

You can then use MenuLibre (sudo apt install menulibre) to add a shortcut to the launcher.

The mock-up is setting up Workbench as an example of app metadata editing. Ultimately this conceptual tool works like MenuLibre but for AppStream metadata XML files (those *.appdata.xml thingies) instead of XDG desktop files.

Using Pop!_OS 21.10, everything pretty much is left as default except I am using Dash to Panel and ArcMenu. I am currently using the "Plasma" menu layout option in ArcMenu which shows apps you've pinned and allows you to view apps organized by catergory. I'm unsure what the best way to organize each of the menu categories is, however. I have used MenuLibre in the past, but I get weird behavior on Pop!_OS. Here is an example - what is shown in the "Systems Tools" category does not match what I have set via MenuLibre: