Reference

gendesk(1)

generate .desktop files based on command-line arguments (or a PKGBUILD file)

NAME

gendesk - generate .desktop files based on command-line arguments (or a PKGBUILD file)

SYNOPSIS

gendesk [flags or PKGBUILD file]

DESCRIPTION

Supported PKGBUILD variables that will be included in the generated file:

_name

_genericname

_comment

_mimetype

_exec

_categories

Gendesk will try to find the correct icon from the Open Icon Library or else fall back on the default icon.

The correct application category will be guessed if not provided. Supported environment variables:

pkgname

pkgdesc

EXAMPLES

gendesk
Exits with error code 1 if ../PKGBUILD is not found and pkgname is not given and $pkgname is not defined. Will try to use both $pkgname and $pkgdesc.

gendesk PKGBUILD
Looks for a PKGBUILD in the current directory and generates a .desktop file.

gendesk --pkgname test --pkgdesc test
Generates a .desktop file for the name "test" with the description "test".

gendesk /home/user/archpackages/mypackage/PKGBUILD
Generates a .desktop file from the given PKGBUILD.

A package name must be given, either by specifying a PKGBUILD file, using --pkgname or by defining a $pkgname environment variable.

Note that a "-bin", "-git", "-hg" or "-svn" suffix in a package name will be ignored, if present.

OPTIONS

--version

displays the current version information

-h or --help

displays brief usage information

-n

don't attempt to download an icon, if missing

--nocolor

don't use colored text

-q

quiet; don't output text

-f

force; overwrite files if needed

-wm

generate a small desktop file for launching a window manager instead

--pkgname

use this package name for the application (ie. emacs)

--pkgdesc

use this package description for describing the application and try to find a suitable category

--name

use this name for the desktop shortcut (ie. Emacs)

--genericname

use this generic name for the desktop shortcut (ie. Text Editor)

--comment

use this comment for the desktop shortcut (ie. Use this to edit files)

--exec

specify an alternative executable, (ie. /usr/bin/emacs)

--path

specify a starting path for the program, (ie. /usr/share/kotlin)

--icon

specify an icon filename (defaults to the pkgname)

--categories

specify categories (ie. Utility;TextEditor;)

--terminal

specify if the application should be run in a terminal (default is false)

--mimetypes

specify mime-types

--startupnotify

specify if a desktop notification should occur when the application starts (default is false)

--custom

specify an extra line (or several lines) to append at the end

-o or --output

specify the output .desktop filename. For split PKGBUILDs, pass a comma-separated list with one filename per package; mismatched counts are an error. Defaults to PKGNAME.desktop.

WHY

Aims to make it easy for package maintainers to add menu entries for the applications they try to package, without including anything that hasn't been supplied by upstream in the package itself.

BUGS

Only unknown bugs so far. Bugs can be reported at https://github.com/xyproto/gendesk/issues.

VERSION

1.0.15

AUTHOR

gendesk was written by Alexander F. Rødseth <[email protected]>