xdg-desktop-icon

XDG-DESKTOP-ICON(1)         xdg-desktop-icon Manual        XDG-DESKTOP-ICON(1)

NAME
       xdg-desktop-icon - command line tool for (un)installing icons to the
       desktop

SYNOPSIS
       xdg-desktop-icon install [--novendor] FILE

       xdg-desktop-icon uninstall FILE

       xdg-desktop-icon {--help | --manual | --version}

DESCRIPTION
       The xdg-desktop-icon program can be used to install an application
       launcher or other file on the desktop of the current user.

       An application launcher is represented by a *.desktop file. Desktop
       files are defined by the freedesktop.org Desktop Entry Specification.
       The most important aspects of *.desktop files are summarized below.

COMMANDS
       install
           Installs FILE to the desktop of the current user.  FILE can be a
           *.desktop file or any other type of file.

       uninstall
           Removes FILE from the desktop of the current user.

OPTIONS
       --novendor
           Normally, xdg-desktop-icon checks to ensure that a *.desktop file
           to be installed has a vendor prefix. This option can be used to
           disable that check.

           A vendor prefix consists of alpha characters ([a-zA-Z]) and is
           terminated with a dash ("-"). Companies and organizations are
           encouraged to use a word or phrase, preferably the organizations
           name, for which they hold a trademark as their vendor prefix. The
           purpose of the vendor prefix is to prevent name conflicts.

       --help
           Show command synopsis.

       --manual
           Show this manual page.

       --version
           Show the xdg-utils version information.

DESKTOP FILES
       An application launcher can be added to the desktop by installing a
       *.desktop file. A *.desktop file consists of a [Desktop Entry] header
       followed by several Key=Value lines.

       A *.desktop file can provide a name and description for an application
       in several different languages. This is done by adding a language code
       as used by LC_MESSAGES in square brackets behind the Key. This way one
       can specify different values for the same Key depending on the
       currently selected language.

       The following keys are often used:

       Type=Application
           This is a mandatory field that indicates that the *.desktop file
           describes an application launcher.

       Name=Application Name
           The name of the application. For example Mozilla

       GenericName=Generic Name
           A generic description of the application. For example Web Browser

       Comment=Comment
           Optional field to specify a tooltip for the application. For
           example Visit websites on the Internet

       Icon=Icon File
           The icon to use for the application. This can either be an absolute
           path to an image file or an icon-name. If an icon-name is provided
           an image lookup by name is done in the user's current icon theme.
           The xdg-icon-resource command can be used to install image files
           into icon themes. The advantage of using an icon-name instead of an
           absolute path is that with an icon-name the application icon can be
           provided in several different sizes as well as in several
           differently themed styles.

       Exec=Command Line
           The command line to start the application. If the application can
           open files the %f placeholder should be specified. When a file is
           dropped on the application launcher the %f is replaced with the
           file path of the dropped file. If multiple files can be specified
           on the command line the %F placeholder should be used instead of
           %f. If the application is able to open URLs in addition to local
           files then %u or %U can be used instead of %f or %F.

       For a complete overview of the *.desktop file format please visit
       http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/desktop-entry-spec

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       xdg-desktop-icon honours the following environment variables:

       XDG_UTILS_DEBUG_LEVEL
           Setting this environment variable to a non-zero numerical value
           makes xdg-desktop-icon do more verbose reporting on stderr. Setting
           a higher value increases the verbosity.

EXIT CODES
       An exit code of 0 indicates success while a non-zero exit code
       indicates failure. The following failure codes can be returned:

       1
           Error in command line syntax.

       2
           One of the files passed on the command line did not exist.

       3
           A required tool could not be found.

       4
           The action failed.

       5
           No permission to read one of the files passed on the command line.

SEE ALSO
       xdg-icon-resource(1)

EXAMPLES
       The company ShinyThings Inc. has developed an application named
       "WebMirror" and would like to add a launcher for for on the desktop.
       The company will use "shinythings" as its vendor id. In order to add
       the application to the desktop there needs to be a .desktop file for
       the application:

           shinythings-webmirror.desktop:

             [Desktop Entry]
             Encoding=UTF-8
             Type=Application

             Exec=webmirror
             Icon=shinythings-webmirror

             Name=WebMirror
             Name[nl]=WebSpiegel

       Now the xdg-desktop-icon tool can be used to add the webmirror.desktop
       file to the desktop:

           xdg-desktop-icon install ./shinythings-webmirror.desktop

       To add a README file to the desktop as well, the following command can
       be used:

           xdg-desktop-icon install ./shinythings-README

AUTHORS
       Kevin Krammer
           Author.

       Jeremy White
           Author.

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 2006

xdg-utils 1.0                     01/11/2021               XDG-DESKTOP-ICON(1)