NAME
xdg-desktop-icon - command line tool for (un)installing icons to the desktop
SYNOPSIS
xdg-desktop-icon install [--novendor] FILE
xdg-desktop-icon uninstall FILE xdg-desktop-icon {--help --manual --version} | |
DESCRIPTION
The xdg-desktop-icon program can be used to install an application launcher or other file on the desktop of the current user.
An application launcher is represented by a *.desktop file. Desktop files are defined by the freedesktop.org Desktop Entry Specification. The most important aspects of *.desktop files are summarized below.
COMMANDS
install | |
Installs FILE to the desktop of the current user. FILE can be a *.desktop file or any other type of file. | |
uninstall | |
Removes FILE from the desktop of the current user. | |
OPTIONS
--novendor | |
Normally, xdg-desktop-icon checks to ensure that a *.desktop file to be installed has a vendor prefix. This option can be used to disable that check.
A vendor prefix consists of alpha characters ([a-zA-Z]) and is terminated with a dash ("-"). Companies and organizations are encouraged to use a word or phrase, preferably the organizations name, for which they hold a trademark as their vendor prefix. The purpose of the vendor prefix is to prevent name conflicts. | |
--help | Show command synopsis. |
--manual | |
Show this manualpage. | |
--version | |
Show the xdg-utils version information. | |
DESKTOP FILES
An application launcher can be added to the desktop by installing a *.desktop file. A *.desktop file consists of a [Desktop Entry] header followed by several Key=Value lines.
A *.desktop file can provide a name and description for an application in several different languages. This is done by adding a language code as used by LC_MESSAGES in square brackets behind the Key. This way one can specify different values for the same Key depending on the currently selected language.
The following keys are often used:
Value=1.0 | |
This is a mandatory field to indicate that the *.desktop file follows the 1.0 version of the specification. | |
Type=Application | |
This is a mandatory field that indicates that the *.desktop file describes an application launcher. | |
Name=Application Name | |
The name of the application. For example Mozilla | |
GenericName=Generic Name | |
A generic description of the application. For example Web Browser | |
Comment=Comment | |
Optional field to specify a tooltip for the application. For example Visit websites on the Internet | |
Icon=Icon File | |
The icon to use for the application. This can either be an absolute path to an image file or an icon-name. If an icon-name is provided an image lookup by name is done in the users current icon theme. The xdg-icon-resource command can be used to install image files into icon themes. The advantage of using an icon-name instead of an absolute path is that with an icon-name the application icon can be provided in several different sizes as well as in several differently themed styles. | |
Exec=Command Line | |
The command line to start the application. If the application can open files the %f placeholder should be specified. When a file is dropped on the application launcher the %f is replaced with the file path of the dropped file. If multiple files can be specified on the command line the %F placeholder should be used instead of %f. If the application is able to open URLs in addition to local files then %u or %U can be used instead of %f or %F. | |
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
xdg-desktop-icon honours the following environment variables:
XDG_UTILS_DEBUG_LEVEL | |
Setting this environment variable to a non-zero numerical value makes xdg-desktop-icon do more verbose reporting on stderr. Setting a higher value increases the verbosity. | |
EXIT CODES
An exit code of 0 indicates success while a non-zero exit code indicates failure. The following failure codes can be returned:
1 | Error in command line syntax. |
2 | One of the files passed on the command line did not exist. |
3 | A required tool could not be found. |
4 | The action failed. |
5 | No permission to read one of the files passed on the command line. |
SEE ALSO
xdg-icon-resource(1)
EXAMPLES
The company ShinyThings Inc. has developed an application named "WebMirror" and would like to add a launcher for for on the desktop. The company will use "shinythings" as its vendor id. In order to add the application to the desktop there needs to be a .desktop file for the application:
shinythings-webmirror.desktop:
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=Application
Exec=webmirror
Icon=shinythings-webmirror
Name=WebMirror
Name[nl]=WebSpiegel
Now the xdg-desktop-icon tool can be used to add the webmirror.desktop file to the desktop:
xdg-desktop-icon install ./shinythings-webmirror.desktop
To add a README file to the desktop as well, the following command can be used:
xdg-desktop-icon install ./shinythings-README
AUTHOR
Kevin Krammer, Jeremy White. <kevin.krammer@gmx.at> <jwhite@codeweavers.com>