Why not just delete the app launcher icon without replacing it? That way, we can eliminate the app launcher resource and not have the Chrome icon do different things depending on the user state (i.e. some Chrome icons launch the browser, others launch chrome://apps).

> Why not just delete the app launcher icon without replacing it?

Because:
 - A user might want to keep it, and be surprised when it suddenly disappears
 - A user might have deleted their Chrome shortcut from the taskbar when getting the app launcher: deleting the app launcher shortcut would remove all ways for them to access Chrome from their taskbar

The chrome-icon-doing-different-things would only occur for the case where a user has deleted their Chrome taskbar pin. We'd effectively be restoring a regular Chrome shortcut for them, except it would open `chrome://apps` by default.

We could take advantage of the other bug you're fixing right now : migrate it to a normal Chrome icon (and let Windows merge it with the other one if there is one)? Is the merging deterministic (i.e. keeps position in taskbar of non-merged shortcut, etc.)?

Note: this could conflict with profile shortcuts (where there sometimes are Chrome shortcuts but none with the default AppUserModelId).

I'm worried that the Chrome shortcut now *means* different things in different states for the user. To some, it'll mean "open the home page" and for others it'll mean "open chrome://apps".

>> - A user might have deleted their Chrome shortcut from the taskbar when getting the app launcher: deleting the app launcher shortcut would remove all ways for them to access Chrome from their taskbar

Do we have a sense of how big of a problem this is?

>> - A user might want to keep it, and be surprised when it suddenly disappears

I think a cleaner solution in this case is simply to keep the launcher icon around for one release (and have it open chrome://apps). Then, in the next release, we can remove it.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I didn't mean to make the AL shortcut look like Chrome's but still point to open chrome://apps. What I meant is what you propose except that at the remove step we remove all AL shortcuts except on surfaces (desktop/taskbar) that have zero Chrome shortcuts where we migrate the AL shortcut to a basic Chrome shortcut.

I'm also inclined to say that since only 0.99% of users use the AL and likely many less have only an AL shortcut that it might not be worth the complexity to do an advanced delete/replace.

>> I'm also inclined to say that since only 0.99% of users use the AL and likely many less have only an AL shortcut that it might not be worth the complexity to do an advanced delete/replace.

+1. My hunch is given the limited percent of the user base that actively uses AL, let's keep the complexity low.

Moving this nonessential bug to the next milestone.

For more details visit https://www.chromium.org/issue-tracking/autotriage - Your friendly Sheriffbot

Hi all, what's the plan here? There's still a lot of code and resources in chrome/browser/ui/app_list --- is it possible to remove some or all of it?

A lot of chrome/browser/ui/app_list is still needed on ChromeOS. 

But yeah - there's more to do. I think  Issue 600915  is the bug. Mac and Windows got the purge, but Linux still has some stuff. And pulling that thread will probably unravel a sleeve or two. matt/calamity: wanna tackle it?

E.g. chrome/browser/ui/views/app_list/linux/ (and parent folder) should be deleted. And these look obsolete:
app_list_positioner.cc, fast_show_pickler.cc, profile_loader.cc, app_list_shower_views.cc, app_list_service_views.cc  (the last two have Ash-specific implementations in c/b/ui/ash/app_list)

ui/app_list is getting moved to ash, so that should sort itself out.

Not sure about chrome/browser/ui/app_list. c/b/u/v/app_list is JUST linux so I'll kill it now.

> E.g. chrome/browser/ui/views/app_list/linux/ (and parent folder) should be deleted. And these look obsolete:
> app_list_positioner.cc, fast_show_pickler.cc, profile_loader.cc, app_list_shower_views.cc,
> app_list_service_views.cc  (the last two have Ash-specific implementations in c/b/ui/ash/app_list)

Yes to all, except profile_loader (that is used by app_list_service_impl on Chrome OS).

CL: https://codereview.chromium.org/2582743002

>Yes to all, except profile_loader (that is used by app_list_service_impl on Chrome OS).

AppListServiceAsh overrides ShowForProfile(Profile*) and _ignores_ the profile argument. So I think we can rewrite

void AppListServiceImpl::Show() {
  profile_loader_->LoadProfileInvalidatingOtherLoads(
      GetProfilePath(profile_store_->GetUserDataDir()),
      base::Bind(&AppListServiceImpl::ShowForProfile,
                 weak_factory_.GetWeakPtr()));
}

to be

void AppListServiceImpl::Show() {
  ShowForProfile(nullptr);
}

and everything would still work (with ProfileLoader purged).

(or, after review, I guess we'd have remove AppListServiceImpl::Show() and rename AppListServiceAsh::ShowForProfile(Profile*) to be AppListServiceAsh::Show()

The following revision refers to this bug:
  https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git/+/b21a894a060c42ae2c216032317063f44694f86a

commit b21a894a060c42ae2c216032317063f44694f86a
Author: mgiuca <mgiuca@chromium.org>
Date: Wed Dec 21 22:44:10 2016

Remove obsolete app_list Linux code.

Also removes other app_list files that are no longer used due to having
removed app_list on non-Chrome-OS platforms.

BUG= 614575 

Review-Url: https://codereview.chromium.org/2582743002
Cr-Commit-Position: refs/heads/master@{#440248}

[modify] https://crrev.com/b21a894a060c42ae2c216032317063f44694f86a/chrome/browser/apps/custom_launcher_page_browsertest_views.cc
[modify] https://crrev.com/b21a894a060c42ae2c216032317063f44694f86a/chrome/browser/ui/BUILD.gn
[modify] https://crrev.com/b21a894a060c42ae2c216032317063f44694f86a/chrome/browser/ui/app_list/app_list_controller_browsertest.cc
[delete] https://crrev.com/518b1431485d71a8d53f2d6ebfdcbb82cad718bc/chrome/browser/ui/app_list/app_list_controller_delegate_views.cc
[delete] https://crrev.com/518b1431485d71a8d53f2d6ebfdcbb82cad718bc/chrome/browser/ui/app_list/app_list_controller_delegate_views.h
[delete] https://crrev.com/518b1431485d71a8d53f2d6ebfdcbb82cad718bc/chrome/browser/ui/app_list/app_list_positioner.cc
[delete] https://crrev.com/518b1431485d71a8d53f2d6ebfdcbb82cad718bc/chrome/browser/ui/app_list/app_list_positioner.h
[delete] https://crrev.com/518b1431485d71a8d53f2d6ebfdcbb82cad718bc/chrome/browser/ui/app_list/app_list_positioner_unittest.cc
[modify] https://crrev.com/b21a894a060c42ae2c216032317063f44694f86a/chrome/browser/ui/app_list/app_list_service_impl_browsertest.cc
[delete] https://crrev.com/518b1431485d71a8d53f2d6ebfdcbb82cad718bc/chrome/browser/ui/app_list/app_list_service_views.cc
[delete] https://crrev.com/518b1431485d71a8d53f2d6ebfdcbb82cad718bc/chrome/browser/ui/app_list/app_list_service_views.h
[delete] https://crrev.com/518b1431485d71a8d53f2d6ebfdcbb82cad718bc/chrome/browser/ui/app_list/app_list_service_views_browsertest.cc
[delete] https://crrev.com/518b1431485d71a8d53f2d6ebfdcbb82cad718bc/chrome/browser/ui/app_list/app_list_shower_views.cc
[delete] https://crrev.com/518b1431485d71a8d53f2d6ebfdcbb82cad718bc/chrome/browser/ui/app_list/app_list_shower_views.h
[delete] https://crrev.com/518b1431485d71a8d53f2d6ebfdcbb82cad718bc/chrome/browser/ui/app_list/fast_show_pickler.cc
[delete] https://crrev.com/518b1431485d71a8d53f2d6ebfdcbb82cad718bc/chrome/browser/ui/app_list/fast_show_pickler.h
[delete] https://crrev.com/518b1431485d71a8d53f2d6ebfdcbb82cad718bc/chrome/browser/ui/app_list/test/fast_show_pickler_unittest.cc
[delete] https://crrev.com/518b1431485d71a8d53f2d6ebfdcbb82cad718bc/chrome/browser/ui/views/app_list/OWNERS
[delete] https://crrev.com/518b1431485d71a8d53f2d6ebfdcbb82cad718bc/chrome/browser/ui/views/app_list/linux/OWNERS
[delete] https://crrev.com/518b1431485d71a8d53f2d6ebfdcbb82cad718bc/chrome/browser/ui/views/app_list/linux/app_list_linux.cc
[delete] https://crrev.com/518b1431485d71a8d53f2d6ebfdcbb82cad718bc/chrome/browser/ui/views/app_list/linux/app_list_linux.h
[delete] https://crrev.com/518b1431485d71a8d53f2d6ebfdcbb82cad718bc/chrome/browser/ui/views/app_list/linux/app_list_linux_unittest.cc
[delete] https://crrev.com/518b1431485d71a8d53f2d6ebfdcbb82cad718bc/chrome/browser/ui/views/app_list/linux/app_list_service_linux.cc
[delete] https://crrev.com/518b1431485d71a8d53f2d6ebfdcbb82cad718bc/chrome/browser/ui/views/app_list/linux/app_list_service_linux.h
[modify] https://crrev.com/b21a894a060c42ae2c216032317063f44694f86a/chrome/test/BUILD.gn

You started fixing this bug over two years ago. Are you still working on it? You can update the status to "archived", "wontfix", or "closed". You can remove yourself as owner and change status to "untriaged", but if this is still a real bug, please do not sit on it.

I think the last vestiges of the non-Ash App Launcher were removed in r544472