gnome-desktop-item-edit(1) User Commands gnome-desktop-item-edit(1)NAMEgnome-desktop-item-edit - GNOME Desktop file editor
SYNOPSISgnome-desktop-item-edit [--create-new] filename
DESCRIPTIONgnome-desktop-item-edit is the GNOME Desktop file editor, which you can
use to create or edit the .desktop (known as desktop) file. GNOME uses
a standard desktop file specification as proposed by freedesktop.org.
A desktop file consists of a number of name-value pairs that define how
a desktop should organize a particular application. As this is defined
as an open standard, integration of applications into GNOME Desktop is
relatively straightforward.
A basic entry in the desktop file must start with a tag called [Desktop
Entry]. It can then have a number of name-value pairs as defined by the
standard. The minimum entries are as follows:
Name the name of the application
Comment a textual description of the application which
is displayed as a tooltip message by gnome-
panel. When set appropriately, the comment can
be localized within the same file.
Exec the name of the actual executable
Icon the file name of the icon image
Type the desktop file type
Categories a multi-string field which is used by gnome-
panel to group applications into the appropri‐
ate categories.
These desktop files provide the information to gnome-panel, which
places the application in the appropriate locations on the panel.
In a similar manner, the GNOME file manager (Nautilus) uses information
from the desktop files to display the 'applications:///' view.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
--create-new Creates a new .desktop file.
OPERANDS
The following operands are supported:
filename The name of the desktop file to be edited or
viewed.
EXAMPLES
Example 1: Editing an existing .desktop file
example% gnome-desktop-item-edit fullpath/filename
This command invokes the launcher dialog and loads the contents of the
specified desktop file into the relevant fields.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 Application exited successfully
>0 Application exited with failure
FILES
The following files are used by this application:
/usr/bin/gnome-desktop-item-edit
Executable for GNOME Desktop file editor
/usr/share/applications/
Location of system desktop files
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│Availability │gnome/gnome-panel │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│Interface stability │Volatile │
└─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
SEE ALSOgnome-panel(1), nautilus(1), attributes(5)
Latest version of the GNOME Desktop User Guide for your platform.
NOTES
Written by Ghee Teo, Sun Microsystems Inc., 2003.
SunOS 5.11 2 Oct 2003 gnome-desktop-item-edit(1)