gendesk(1) gendesk(1)

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

gendesk [flags or PKGBUILD file]

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

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.

displays the current version information
displays brief usage information
don't attempt to download an icon, if missing
don't use colored text
quiet; don't output text
force; overwrite files if needed
generate a small desktop file for launching a window manager instead
use this package name for the application (ie. emacs)
use this package description for describing the application and try to find a suitable category
use this name for the desktop shortcut (ie. Emacs)
use this generic name for the desktop shortcut (ie. Text Editor)
use this comment for the desktop shortcut (ie. Use this to edit files)
specify an alternative executable, (ie. /usr/bin/emacs)
specify a starting path for the program, (ie. /usr/share/kotlin)
specify an icon filename (defaults to the pkgname)
specify categories (ie. Utility;TextEditor;)
specify if the application should be run in a terminal (default is false)
specify mime-types
specify if a desktop notification should occur when the application starts (default is false)
specify an extra line (or several lines) to append at the end

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.

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

1.0.8

gendesk was written by Alexander F. Rødseth <xyproto@archlinux.org>

20 May 2024