gendesk(1)
| gendesk(1) | gendesk(1) |
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 <xyproto@archlinux.org>
| 29 May 2026 |