Score:4

Ubuntu

How to add a folder with .desktop files?

Sebastián Castro

11/17/22, 10:14 PM

I know that if you want to add a .desktop entry it must be added in /usr/share/applications, however, what I want is to add an extra folder where it can host .desktop files.

If I run update-desktop-database you can see that programs like snapd or flatpak create their own directories where they host their .desktop

The databases in [/usr/share/ubuntu/applications, /home/cactus/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share/applications, /var/lib/flatpak/exports/share/applications, /usr/local/share/applications, /usr/share/applications, /var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications] could not be updated.

My idea is to add a folder /opt/applications where I can save .desktop of my self-compiled applications.

1041

3 + 0

gnome

command-line

launcher

appmenu

Score:10

Ubuntu

steeldriver

11/18/22, 12:06 AM

According to GNOME Desktop System Administration Guide Customizing Menus : Desktop Entry Files

Desktop entry files must reside in the $XDG_DATA_DIRS/applications directory and must have a .desktop file extension. If $XDG_DATA_DIRS ¹ is not set, then the default path is /usr/share is used. This also implies that user specific desktop entries may be located at $XDG_DATA_HOME/applications which is searched first. If $XDG_DATA_HOME is not set, then the default path ~/.local/share is used. Desktop entries are collected from all directories in the $XDG_DATA_DIRS environment variable. Directories which appear first in $XDG_DATA_DIRS are given precedence when there are several .desktop files with the same name.

^{¹ $XDG_DATA_DIRS is the environment variable defined in the XDG base directory specification.}

So if $XDG_DATA_HOME does not say otherwise, you can place per-user .desktop files in ~/.local/share/applications. If you want a system-wide custom location, you should be able to add it to $XDG_DATA_DIRS ex.

XDG_DATA_DIRS=/opt:$XDG_DATA_DIRS

0 + 2

Sebastián Castro

11/18/22, 1:13 AM

That works perfect. What I did was add the following in /etc/profile: "XDG_DATA_DIRS=/opt:$XDG_DATA_DIRS". Now all applications in /opt/applications are loaded by gnome, and I can see them in the launcher. Many thanks!

vanadium

11/19/22, 9:38 AM

A more elegant approach rather than directly editing a system file that may be overwritten by an update would be to add a one-liner script in /etc/profile.d. All these scripts are sourced by /etc/profile

Score:5

Ubuntu

Nmath

11/17/22, 10:35 PM

You can use ~/.local/share/applications under your user's home folder to keep .desktop files that you want to have available for that user only.

0 + 2

Sebastián Castro

11/18/22, 1:18 AM

Thanks very much for the answer, but that's not what I want to do. My idea is to have the applications isolated, to be able to copy them easily from one computer to another. However, the answer below is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks again.

muru

11/19/22, 8:17 AM

@SebastiánCastro you can put a directory *inside* `~/.local/share/applications` (e.g., `~/.local/share/applications/my-special-applications`). Personally, I'd do that instead of modifying environment variables - you just need to copy the directory in the new system's `~/.local/share/applications`.

Score:2

Ubuntu

vanadium

11/18/22, 9:37 AM

Not a fundamental answer to your actual question (i.e., how to add your custom directory to host .desktop launchers), but I suggest you could use /usr/local/share/applications for launchers of your self compiled applications that should be available system wide.

This directory is configured by default in Ubuntu in XDG_DATA_DIRS, and its purpose is exactly for what you are looking for, i.e., make your manually installed .desktop files available in the menu systems of any user.