1XDG-DESKTOP-ICON(1) xdg-desktop-icon Manual XDG-DESKTOP-ICON(1)
2
6 xdg-desktop-icon - command line tool for (un)installing icons to the
7 desktop
8
10 xdg-desktop-icon install [--novendor] FILE
11 xdg-desktop-icon uninstall FILE
13 xdg-desktop-icon {--help | --manual | --version}
15
17 The xdg-desktop-icon program can be used to install an application
18 launcher or other file on the desktop of the current user.
19 An application launcher is represented by a *.desktop file. Desktop
21 files are defined by the freedesktop.org Desktop Entry Specification.
22 The most important aspects of *.desktop files are summarized below.
23
25 install
26 Installs FILE to the desktop of the current user. FILE can be a
27 *.desktop file or any other type of file.
28 uninstall
30 Removes FILE from the desktop of the current user.
31
33 --novendor
34 Normally, xdg-desktop-icon checks to ensure that a *.desktop file
35 to be installed has a vendor prefix. This option can be used to
36 disable that check.
37 A vendor prefix consists of alpha characters ([a-zA-Z]) and is
39 terminated with a dash ("-"). Companies and organizations are
40 encouraged to use a word or phrase, preferably the organizations
41 name, for which they hold a trademark as their vendor prefix. The
42 purpose of the vendor prefix is to prevent name conflicts.
43 --help
45 Show command synopsis.
46 --manual
48 Show this manual page.
49 --version
51 Show the xdg-utils version information.
52
54 An application launcher can be added to the desktop by installing a
55 *.desktop file. A *.desktop file consists of a [Desktop Entry] header
56 followed by several Key=Value lines.
57 A *.desktop file can provide a name and description for an application
59 in several different languages. This is done by adding a language code
60 as used by LC_MESSAGES in square brackets behind the Key. This way one
61 can specify different values for the same Key depending on the
62 currently selected language.
63 The following keys are often used:
65 Value=1.0
67 This is a mandatory field to indicate that the *.desktop file
68 follows the 1.0 version of the specification.
69 Type=Application
71 This is a mandatory field that indicates that the *.desktop file
72 describes an application launcher.
73 Name=Application Name
75 The name of the application. For example Mozilla
76 GenericName=Generic Name
78 A generic description of the application. For example Web Browser
79 Comment=Comment
81 Optional field to specify a tooltip for the application. For
82 example Visit websites on the Internet
83 Icon=Icon File
85 The icon to use for the application. This can either be an absolute
86 path to an image file or an icon-name. If an icon-name is provided
87 an image lookup by name is done in the user's current icon theme.
88 The xdg-icon-resource command can be used to install image files
89 into icon themes. The advantage of using an icon-name instead of an
90 absolute path is that with an icon-name the application icon can be
91 provided in several different sizes as well as in several
92 differently themed styles.
93 Exec=Command Line
95 The command line to start the application. If the application can
96 open files the %f placeholder should be specified. When a file is
97 dropped on the application launcher the %f is replaced with the
98 file path of the dropped file. If multiple files can be specified
99 on the command line the %F placeholder should be used instead of
100 %f. If the application is able to open URLs in addition to local
101 files then %u or %U can be used instead of %f or %F.
102 For a complete overview of the *.desktop file format please visit
104 http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/desktop-entry-spec
105
107 xdg-desktop-icon honours the following environment variables:
108 XDG_UTILS_DEBUG_LEVEL
110 Setting this environment variable to a non-zero numerical value
111 makes xdg-desktop-icon do more verbose reporting on stderr. Setting
112 a higher value increases the verbosity.
113
115 An exit code of 0 indicates success while a non-zero exit code
116 indicates failure. The following failure codes can be returned:
117 1
119 Error in command line syntax.
120 2
122 One of the files passed on the command line did not exist.
123 3
125 A required tool could not be found.
126 4
128 The action failed.
129 5
131 No permission to read one of the files passed on the command line.
132
134 xdg-icon-resource(1)
135
137 The company ShinyThings Inc. has developed an application named
138 "WebMirror" and would like to add a launcher for for on the desktop.
139 The company will use "shinythings" as its vendor id. In order to add
140 the application to the desktop there needs to be a .desktop file for
141 the application:
142 shinythings-webmirror.desktop:
144 [Desktop Entry]
146 Encoding=UTF-8
147 Type=Application
148 Exec=webmirror
150 Icon=shinythings-webmirror
151 Name=WebMirror
153 Name[nl]=WebSpiegel
154 Now the xdg-desktop-icon tool can be used to add the webmirror.desktop
156 file to the desktop:
157 xdg-desktop-icon install ./shinythings-webmirror.desktop
159 To add a README file to the desktop as well, the following command can
161 be used:
162 xdg-desktop-icon install ./shinythings-README
164
167 Kevin Krammer
168 Author.
169 Jeremy White
171 Author.
172
174 Copyright © 2006
175xdg-utils 1.0 11/05/2016 XDG-DESKTOP-ICON(1)