Manual: desktop-file-edit
DESKTOP-FILE-INSTALL(1) General Commands Manual DESKTOP-FILE-INSTALL(1)
NAME
desktop-file-install, desktop-file-edit - Installation and edition of desktop files
SYNOPSIS
desktop-file-install [--dir=DIR] [-m MODE|--mode=MODE] [--vendor=VENDOR] [--delete-original] [--rebuild-mime-info-
cache] [EDITOPTION]... FILE...
desktop-file-edit [EDITOPTION]... FILE
DESCRIPTION
The desktop-file-install program is a tool to install, and optionally edit, desktop files. The desktop-file-edit proā
gram is a tool to edit a desktop file. They are mostly useful for developers and packagers.
Various options are available to edit the desktop files. The edit options can be specified more than once and will be
processed in the same order as the options passed to the program.
desktop-file-install and desktop-file-edit will always try to validate the resulting desktop file. A failure to valiā
date might lead to the abortion of the installation of the desktop files.
The list of registered categories and desktop environments is defined in the Menu specification: http://freedeskā
top.org/wiki/Specifications/menu-spec.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
--dir=DIR
Install desktop files to the DIR directory.
-m, --mode=MODE
Set the permissions of the destination files to MODE.
--vendor=VENDOR
Add a vendor prefix to the desktop files. If a file already has this prefix, nothing happens; else, the file
will be named VENDOR-FILE. For example: if VENDOR is freedesktop.org and FILE is specification.desktop, the
result file will be freedesktop.org-specification.desktop.
--delete-original
Delete the source desktop files, leaving only the target files. Effectively "renames" the desktop files.
--rebuild-mime-info-cache
Rebuild the MIME types application database after installing the desktop files. See update-desktop-database(1)
for information about this database.
EDIT OPTIONS
The following edit options are supported:
--set-key=KEY
Set the KEY key to the value passed to the next --set-value option. A matching --set-value option is mandaā
tory.
--set-value=VALUE
Set the key specified with the previous --set-key option to VALUE. A matching --set-key option is mandatory.
--set-name=NAME
Set the name (key Name) to NAME. If a name was already set, it will be overridden. Localizations of the old
name will be removed.
--copy-name-to-generic-name
Copy the value of the Name key to the GenericName key. Note that a desktop file requires a Name key to be
valid, so this option will always have an effect.
--set-generic-name=GENERIC-NAME
Set the generic name (key GenericName) to GENERIC-NAME. If a generic name was already set, it will be overridā
den. Localizations of the old generic name will be removed.
--copy-generic-name-to-name
Copy the value of the GenericName key to the Name key, if the GenericName key is present.
--set-comment=COMMENT
Set the comment (key Comment) to COMMENT. If a comment was already set, it will be overridden. Localizations
of the old comment will be removed.
--set-icon=ICON
Set the icon (key Icon) to ICON. If an icon was already set, it will be overridden. Localizations of the old
icon will be removed.
--add-category=CATEGORY
Add CATEGORY to the list of categories (key Categories). If CATEGORY was already present in the list, this opā
eration is a no-op. A non-registered category should be prefixed with X-.
--remove-category=CATEGORY
Remove CATEGORY from the list of categories (key Categories). If CATEGORY was not present in the list, this
operation is a no-op.
--add-mime-type=MIME-TYPE
Add MIME-TYPE to the list of MIME types (key MimeType). If MIME-TYPE was already present in the list, this opā
eration is a no-op.
--remove-mime-type=MIME-TYPE
Remove MIME-TYPE from the list of MIME types (key MimeType). If MIME-TYPE was not present in the list, this
operation is a no-op.
--add-only-show-in=ENVIRONMENT
Add ENVIRONMENT to the list of desktop environments where the desktop files should be displayed (key
OnlyShowIn). If ENVIRONMENT was already present in the list, this operation is a no-op. A non-registered deskā
top environment should be prefixed with X-. Note that an empty OnlyShowIn key in a desktop file means that the
desktop file will be displayed in all environments.
--remove-only-show-in=ENVIRONMENT
Remove ENVIRONMENT from the list of desktop environments where the desktop files should be displayed (key
OnlyShowIn). If ENVIRONMENT was not present in the list, this operation is a no-op.
--add-not-show-in=ENVIRONMENT
Add ENVIRONMENT to the list of desktop environments where the desktop files should not be displayed (key Notā
ShowIn). If ENVIRONMENT was already present in the list, this operation is a no-op. A non-registered desktop
environment should be prefixed with X-. Note that an empty NotShowIn key in a desktop file means that the
desktop file will be displayed in all environments.
--remove-not-show-in=ENVIRONMENT
Remove ENVIRONMENT from the list of desktop environments where the desktop files should not be displayed (key
NotShowIn). If ENVIRONMENT was not present in the list, this operation is a no-op.
--remove-key=KEY
Remove the KEY key from the desktop files, if present.
ENVIRONMENT
Some environment variables change the behavior of desktop-file-install:
DESKTOP_FILE_VENDOR
This variable can be used as an alternative to the --vendor option. If the --vendor option is used, this enviā
ronment variable will be ignored.
DESKTOP_FILE_INSTALL_DIR
This variable can be used as an alternative to the --dir option. If the --dir option is used, this environment
variable will be ignored.
RPM_BUILD_ROOT
This variable is set when building RPM packages. If the --dir option and the DESKTOP_FILE_INSTALL_DIR environā
ment variable are not used, it will automatically be prepended to the default install directory to install the
desktop files appropriately when building packages.
BUGS
If you find bugs in the desktop-file-install program, please report these on https://bugs.freedesktop.org.
SEE ALSO
desktop-file-validate(1) update-desktop-database(1)
FREEDESKTOP.ORG DESKTOP-FILE-INSTALL(1)