DESKTOP.ECLASS

Section: eclass-manpages (5)
Updated: Dec 2025
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NAME

desktop.eclass - support for desktop files, menus, and icons

SUPPORTED EAPIS

7 8

FUNCTIONS

make_desktop_entry [--eapi9] <command> [options]

Make a .desktop file and install it in /usr/share/applications/.

--eapi9:    Switch to getopts style arguments instead of order based
            As the naming implies, this is off by default for EAPI=[78],
            but mandated by future EAPI.
command:    Exec command the app is being run with, also base for TryExec
---         Options:
name:       Name that will show up in the menu; defaults to PN
            with --eapi9: must not contain arguments, use --args for that
icon:       Icon to use with the menu entry; defaults to PN
            this can be relative (to /usr/share/pixmaps) or
            a full path to an icon
categories: Categories for this kind of application. Examples:
            https://specifications.freedesktop.org/menu-spec/latest/apa.html
            if unset, function tries to guess from package's category
entry:      Key=Value entry to append to the desktop file;
            with --eapi9: multiple allowed; old style: a printf string
---         Additional parameters available using --eapi9:
args:       Arguments (binary params and desktop spec field codes) to add
            to Exec value, separated by a space if multiple
desktopid:  <desktopid>.desktop will be created. Must be same as "app id"
            defined in code (including reverse qualified domain if set);
            defaults to <command>
comment:    Comment (menu entry tooltip), defaults to DESCRIPTION

Example usage:

Deprecated, in order:
  <command> [name] [icon] [categories] [entries...]
New style:
  --eapi9 <command> [-a args] [-d desktopid] [-C comment] [-i icon]
  --eapi9 <command> [-n name] [-e entry...] [-c categories]

make_session_desktop <title> <command> [command args...]

Make a GDM/KDM Session file. The title is the file to execute to start the Window Manager. The command is the name of the Window Manager.

You can set the name of the file via the ${wm} variable.

domenu <menus>

Install the list of .desktop menu files into the appropriate directory (/usr/share/applications).

newmenu <menu> <newname>

Like all other new* functions, install the specified menu as newname.

doicon [options] <icons>

Install icon into the icon directory /usr/share/icons or into /usr/share/pixmaps if "--size" is not set. This is useful in conjunction with creating desktop/menu files.

 options:
 -s, --size
   !!! must specify to install into /usr/share/icons/... !!!
   size of the icon, like 48 or 48x48
   supported icon sizes are:
   16 22 24 32 36 48 64 72 96 128 192 256 512 1024 scalable
 -c, --context
   defaults to "apps"
 -t, --theme
   defaults to "hicolor"

icons: list of icons

example 1: doicon foobar.png fuqbar.svg suckbar.png
results in: insinto /usr/share/pixmaps
            doins foobar.png fuqbar.svg suckbar.png

example 2: doicon -s 48 foobar.png fuqbar.png blobbar.png
results in: insinto /usr/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps
            doins foobar.png fuqbar.png blobbar.png

newicon [options] <icon> <newname>

Like doicon, install the specified icon as newname.

example 1: newicon foobar.png NEWNAME.png
results in: insinto /usr/share/pixmaps
            newins foobar.png NEWNAME.png

example 2: newicon -s 48 foobar.png NEWNAME.png
results in: insinto /usr/share/icons/hicolor/48x48/apps
            newins foobar.png NEWNAME.png

ECLASS VARIABLES

_DESKTOP_IDS = (): Internal array containing any app-ids used by make_desktop_entry() calls. Lets us keep track of/avoid duplicate desktop file names.

MAINTAINERS

base-system@gentoo.org

REPORTING BUGS

Please report bugs via https://bugs.gentoo.org/

FILES

desktop.eclass

This document was created by man2html, using the manual pages.
Time: 03:27:01 GMT, December 10, 2025