1XDG-DESKTOP-ICON(1) 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
35 file to be installed has a vendor prefix. This option can be
36 used to 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.
42 The purpose of the vendor prefix is to prevent name conflicts.
43 --help Show command synopsis.
45 --manual
47 Show this manualpage.
48 --version
50 Show the xdg-utils version information.
51
53 An application launcher can be added to the desktop by installing a
54 *.desktop file. A *.desktop file consists of a [Desktop Entry] header
55 followed by several Key=Value lines.
56 A *.desktop file can provide a name and description for an application
58 in several different languages. This is done by adding a language code
59 as used by LC_MESSAGES in square brackets behind the Key. This way one
60 can specify different values for the same Key depending on the
61 currently selected language.
62 The following keys are often used:
64 Value=1.0
66 This is a mandatory field to indicate that the *.desktop file
67 follows the 1.0 version of the specification.
68 Type=Application
70 This is a mandatory field that indicates that the *.desktop file
71 describes an application launcher.
72 Name=Application Name
74 The name of the application. For example Mozilla
75 GenericName=Generic Name
77 A generic description of the application. For example Web
78 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
86 absolute path to an image file or an icon-name. If an icon-name
87 is provided an image lookup by name is done in the user's
88 current icon theme. The xdg-icon-resource command can be used to
89 install image files into icon themes. The advantage of using an
90 icon-name instead of an absolute path is that with an icon-name
91 the application icon can be provided in several different sizes
92 as well as in several differently themed styles.
93 Exec=Command Line
95 The command line to start the application. If the application
96 can open files the %f placeholder should be specified. When a
97 file is dropped on the application launcher the %f is replaced
98 with the file path of the dropped file. If multiple files can be
99 specified on the command line the %F placeholder should be used
100 instead of %f. If the application is able to open URLs in
101 addition to local files then %u or %U can be used instead of %f
102 or %F.
103 For a complete oveview of the *.desktop file format please visit
105 http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Standards/desktop-entry-spec
106
108 xdg-desktop-icon honours the following environment variables:
109 XDG_UTILS_DEBUG_LEVEL
111 Setting this environment variable to a non-zero numerical value
112 makes xdg-desktop-icon do more verbose reporting on stderr.
113 Setting a higher value increases the verbosity.
114
116 An exit code of 0 indicates success while a non-zero exit code
117 indicates failure. The following failure codes can be returned:
118 1 Error in command line syntax.
120 2 One of the files passed on the command line did not exist.
122 3 A required tool could not be found.
124 4 The action failed.
126 5 No permission to read one of the files passed on the command
128 line.
129
131 xdg-icon-resource(1)
132
134 The company ShinyThings Inc. has developed an application named
135 "WebMirror" and would like to add a launcher for for on the desktop.
136 The company will use "shinythings" as its vendor id. In order to add
137 the application to the desktop there needs to be a .desktop file for
138 the application:
139 shinythings-webmirror.desktop:
141 [Desktop Entry]
143 Encoding=UTF-8
144 Type=Application
145 Exec=webmirror
147 Icon=shinythings-webmirror
148 Name=WebMirror
150 Name[nl]=WebSpiegel
151 Now the xdg-desktop-icon tool can be used to add the webmirror.desktop
154 file to the desktop:
155 xdg-desktop-icon install ./shinythings-webmirror.desktop
157 To add a README file to the desktop as well, the following command can
160 be used:
161 xdg-desktop-icon install ./shinythings-README
163
166 Kevin Krammer, Jeremy White.
167 <kevin.krammer@gmx.at>
168 <jwhite@codeweavers.com>
169xdg-utils 1.0 06/24/2007 XDG-DESKTOP-ICON(1)