Update Launcher for Intellij IDEA in Ubuntu

To update the launcher when you upgrade IntelliJ:

1. Close all OLD Intellij instances
2. Remove OLD Intellij shortcut from launcher (right click -> Unlock from launcher)

3. Run

   rm ~/.local/share/applications/jetbrains-idea.desktop
   rm ~/.gnome/apps/jetbrains-idea.desktop
   sudo rm /usr/local/bin/idea
   sudo rm /usr/share/applications/jetbrains-idea.desktop
   

4. Open NEW Intellij by going to NEWIntellij home dir and running bin/idea.sh

5. Tools -> Create desktop entry
6. Lock new icon to launcher (right click -> lock to launcher)

If the launcher icon won't remain after closing Intellij

1. rm ~/.local/share/applications/jetbrains-idea.desktop
2. Open Intellij -> Tools -> Create desktop entry
3. Right click on Intellij launcher icon -> lock to launcher

The cause

I am 100% sure you still have a local idea 15.01 launcher in ~/.local/share/applications/jetbrains-idea-ce.desktop.

If you drag the global one (/usr/share/applications/jetbrains-idea-ce.desktop) on to the launcher, you temporarily "force" the Unity Launcher to work with the global one, but the local one overrules the global one on restart (log in).

What to do?

Simply remove the local .desktop file in ~/.local/share/applications, log out and back in.

A simpler manner is:

1. Remove all old IntelliJ shortcuts.
2. Go the new version of your IntelliJ at INTELLIJ_DIRECTORY/bin via command line, and execute ./idea.sh
3. In the IDE, to go Tools -> Create Desktop Entry...
4. Confirm the creation if asked
5. Log off and login
6. In the Unity menu look for IntelliJ, launch it and, on the left side panel where you see your IntelliJ icon, click "Lock to Launcher".

That's it.