Re: hats off + app-finder

[Alan Shutko <ats acm org>]

>>>>> "G" == Greg Fall <gmf@dweezil.dynip.com> writes:

G> Could somebody explain the 5WH about GNOME finding applications,
G> and add any comments w/r/t how it could be improved?

Hmmm... I'm not sure how it could be improved other than getting more
things to use it.  8^)  Here's how it works (and if I am wrong on
something, please correct me.)

Under the share directory, you have "apps".  Under that are a lot of
directories corresponding to panel submenus.  In each directory, there
are multiple .desktop files.  For example, under my Graphics dir are
GIMP.desktop and ee.desktop.  These files list the icon, the program
name, and other properties about the program (including a way to test
if the program is installed).

So, for an app to show up on the GNOME menus once it's installed, all
it should need is for the RPM to include a app.desktop file and put it
in the right place.  For non-GNOME apps, we may want to start
including more and more .desktops somewhere in the GNOME distribution,
so that they'll appear on the menu if they're installed (that test
property I mentioned above).  It's pretty easy to set these things up,
and all you'd need to add is an (optional) icon for each, the .desktop
file, and the category in the menus it should appear.

-- 
Alan Shutko <ats@acm.org> - By consent of the corrupted
Real programs don't eat cache.