xdgmenumaker(1)

NAME

xdgmenumaker - generate XDG menus

SYNOPSIS

xdgmenumaker [OPTIONS]

DESCRIPTION

xdgmenumaker is a command line tool, written in python, that generates application menus using XDG information, by scanning *.desktop files in all $XDG_DATA_DIRS/applications directories. All applications are sorted according to the main categories as specified by freedesktop.org (http://standards.freedesktop.org/menu-spec/latest/apa.html)

The menu entries that are generated by xdgmenumaker are localised according to the running user locale settings.

xdgmenumaker currently supports generating menus for:

    •   amiwm

    •   blackbox

    •   compizboxmenu

    •   fluxbox

    •   fvwm

    •   icewm

    •   jwm

    •   openbox

    •   pekwm

    •   twm and compatible derivatives such as ctwm and vtwm

    •   windowmaker

xdgmenumaker requires Python 3.x, pygobject and gobject-instrospection, as well as pyxdg. Pillow is an optional dependency (used by the --max-icon-size option).

OPTIONS

-f, --format
    specify the output format to use. Valid options are amiwm, blackbox, compizboxmenu, fluxbox, fvwm, icewm, jwm, openbox, pekwm, twm and windowmaker. Specifying the output format is mandatory.

-i, --icons
    enable support for icons in the menus. This option does not have any effect for amiwm, blackbox or windowmaker menus.

-s, --size
    set the preferred icon size in pixels. The default size is 16. You can set this to any number, but it generally makes sense to use standard icons sizes, like 16, 22, 24, 32 etc. Obviously this has an effect only if the --icons option is used. You have to be careful with the sizes you use; some window managers don't support large icons in the menu.

-n, --no-submenu
    do not create a submenu. Instead, place the application categories menus in the window manager's main menu. This option does not have any effect for openbox or windowmaker menus.

--max-icon-size
    restrict the maximum size for icons to the one specified with the --size option. Any icons that are larger than the specified size will get discarded and will not be used.

--no-svg
    do not use SVG icons even for the WMs that support it. Right now that is only JWM.

--pekwm-dynamic
    create dynamic menus for pekwm. If you want to have dynamically generated menus for pekwm you have to use this option. Do not use it if you want to generate static menus for pekwm. Only works with pekwm of course.

--twm-titles
    display menu titles in TWM menus. Naturally, only has an effect when used with twm.

GENERAL OPTIONS

-h  Prints a usage message briefly summarizing all command-line options and exits.

CONFIGURATION

The terminal emulator to be used for menu entries that state that an application must be launched inside a terminal, can be specified in a ~/.config/xdgmenumaker.cfg configuration file. Here's an example specifying rxvt as the default terminal emulator:
[Terminal]
terminal = rxvt

If no such file is present, or if no terminal is set within the file, xdgmenumaker will default to the one specified in the debian alternatives system on debian and debian-like systems and to xterm in any other case.

Setting the path to a terminal emulator in an XDGMENUMAKERTERM environment variable will override any other setting.

USAGE

AmiWM
    You can generate a menu for AmiWM, running xdgmenumaker like this: $ xdgmenumaker -f amiwm > ~/.amiwm-xdgmenu As AmiWM does not support including other files in its settings file, you'll have to copy the contents of the created file in your ~/.amiwmrc. It should be possible to create a script that would generate the main ~/.amiwmrc file from different "source" files, but I'll leave that as an exercise to the user.

Blackbox
    To generate an application menu for Blackbox, you can run xdgmenumaker like this: $ xdgmenumaker -f blackbox > ~/.blackbox/xdg_menu and then change your main Blackbox menu to include this file as a submenu. For example, add this somewhere in your ~/.blackbox/menu file: [include] (~/.blackbox/xdg_menu) You can add the xdgmenumaker command as another item in your menu, if you want to update it, without having to run the command manually again: [exec] (Update Blackbox Menu) {xdgmenumaker -f blackbox > ~/.blackbox/xdg_menu}

Compiz Boxmenu
    There are two ways to have an xdg menu in compiz-boxmenu. The first one, auto-updates the menu, every time the menu is called. The second one, updates the menu only when the user wants to. Dynamic Menus Edit your ~/.config/compiz/boxmenu/menu.xml file with your favorite text editor and add a block of code like this inside the root <menu> element:
    <item type="launcher">
      <command mode2="pipe">xdgmenumaker -nif compizboxmenu</command>
      <icon>applications-other</icon>
      <name>Applications</name>
    </item>
    Alternatively, you can also run compiz-boxmenu-editor and click the dropdown for new menu files or menu items. Select launcher to create a new launcher. Set the name of the launcher to whatever you want. This will be the display name for the pipe menu. Then enter in: xdgmenumaker -nif compizboxmenu for the command entry. Click the combobox next to the command text box and switch that to "Pipe". Static Menus Edit your ~/.config/compiz/boxmenu/menu.xml file with your favorite text editor and paste the output of: $ xdgmenumaker -if compizboxmenu into ~/.config/compiz/boxmenu/menu.xml. Alternatively, you can also run compiz-boxmenu-editor and click the button that says Generate menu entries from a pipemenu script. In the dialog box that pops up, type in: xdgmenumaker -if compizboxmenu to append the statically generated menu to any menu file you want.

Fluxbox
    To generate an application menu for Fluxbox, you can run xdgmenumaker like this: $ xdgmenumaker -f fluxbox > ~/.fluxbox/xdg_menu and then change your main Fluxbox menu to include this file as a submenu. For example, add this somewhere in your ~/.fluxbox/menu file: [include] (~/.fluxbox/xdg_menu) You can add the xdgmenumaker command as another item in your menu, if you want to update it, without having to run the command manually again: [exec] (Update Fluxbox Menu) {xdgmenumaker -f fluxbox > ~/.fluxbox/xdg_menu}

Fvwm
    To generate an application menu for Fvwm, you can run xdgmenumaker like this: $ xdgmenumaker -f fvwm > ~/.fvwm/xdgmenu and then edit your main Fvwm configuration file and add a line to read that file: read xdgmenu and also include it somewhere in your main menu, for example:
    AddToMenu MenuFvwmRoot  "Root Menu"             Title
    +                       "Applications"          Popup xdgmenu
    You could also put the menus for individual categories in your main menu if you want. Just look in the ~/.fvwm/xdgmenu file for the category names. You can add the xdgmenumaker command as another item in your menu, if you want to update it: + "Update Fvwm Menu" Exec xdgmenumaker -f fvwm > ~/.fvwm/xdgmenu and restart Fvwm to apply the changes. NOTE: If you're going to use the --icons option to include icons in your menus, you might consider using the --max-icon-size option too. Fvwm does not resize icons in its menu and having entries with icons that are too big makes for funny looking menus.

IceWM
    To generate an application menu for IceWM, run xdgmenumaker like this: $ xdgmenumaker -f icewm > ~/.icewm/appmenu or if you want icons in your menu: $ xdgmenumaker -i -f icewm > ~/.icewm/appmenu and you can then edit your ~/.icewm/menu file and add this line somewhere: include appmenu You can add the xdgmenumaker command as another item in your menu, if you want to update it, without having to run the command manually again: prog "Update Menu" _none_ xdgmenumaker -i -f icewm > ~/.icewm/appmenu NOTE: If you don't request icons in the menu, or if an icon is not found for a certain app, the icon name in the menu for that app is set to "_none_". This doesn't actually set the icon for that app to none. IceWM menu entries should always include an icon . So, by pointing it to a non existing icon, you essentially set it to use no icon. If you actually have an icewm icon named "_none_", that one will be used instead.

JWM You can edit your ~/.jwmrc file and add a line that generates the applications menu, like this: <Include>exec: xdgmenumaker -n -i -f jwm</Include> You need to put that line somewhere in the RootMenu section of the ~/.jwmrc file. You can update the menu with: $ jwm -reload Or you can restart JWM and the updated menu should appear. The menu will be recreated every time JWM is started, restarted, or when the menu is reloaded with the above command. You can even add a menu item that will refresh the menu, like this: <Program label="Refresh Menu">jwm -reload</Program>

Openbox
    xdgmenumaker creates pipe-menus for Openbox, which are, by definition, dynamic menus. The simplest way to have an auto-generated "Applications" submenu in the main Openbox menu, you can just add a line like the following one somewhere inside the <menu id="root-menu"> in your ~/.config/openbox/menu.xml file:: <menu execute="xdgmenumaker -i -f openbox" id="xdg-pipe-menu" label="Applications"/> This menu will be generated every time you open the Openbox menu, so it will always be up-to-date. Alternatively, you can create a static menu, which you can then include through a pipe-menu in your main menu too. To do that, run xdgmenumaker like this: $ xdgmenumaker -f openbox > ~/.cache/openbox/apps.menu and you can then edit your ~/.config/openbox/menu.xml file and add this line somewhere in the <menu id="root-menu"> section: <menu execute="cat ~/.cache/openbox/apps.menu" id="applications-pipe-menu" label="Applications"/> You can add the xdgmenumaker command as another item in your menu, if you want to update it, without having to run the command manually again:
    <item label="Rebuild applications menu">
      <action name="Execute">
        <command>xdgmenumaker -i -f openbox > ~/.cache/openbox/apps.menu</command>
      </action>
    </item>

pekwm
    There are two ways to have an XDG menu in pekwm. The first one, auto-updates the menu, every time the menu is called. The second one, updates the menu only when the user wants to. Dynamic Menus Edit your ~/.pekwm/menu file with your favourite text editor and add a line like the following one in the location that you want the dynamically generated menu to appear:
    Entry = "" { Actions = "Dynamic /usr/bin/xdgmenumaker -n -i -f pekwm --pekwm-dynamic" }
    Restart pekwm and the generated menu should appear. The menu will be automatically generated every time you access it, so it will always be up to date. But since xdgmenumaker will run every time you access the menu, the menu might not appear instantly, especially if you are using an older PC. Static Menus Run: $ xdgmenumaker -n -i -f pekwm > ~/.pekwm/appsmenu to create a file with the menu contents. Then edit your ~/.pekwm/menu file to include that menu, by adding a line like the following, in the location that you want the menu to appear: INCLUDE = "/home/your_user_name/.pekwm/appsmenu" Restart pekwm and the generated menu should appear. The menu is static and if you add/remove any applications, you will have to run the xdgmenumaker command and restart pekwm all over again to update it. The advantage is that there will be no delay in displaying the menu.

TWM and Derivatives
    You can create a menu for TWM running xdgmenumaker like this: $ xdgmenumaker -f twm > ~/.twm-xdgmenu If you're using the standard TWM, then unfortunately you'll have to manually copy/paste the contents of the generated ~/.twm-xdgmenu file into your ~/.twmrc. You could then add something like this to your main menu definition:
    "Applications" f.menu "xdgmenu"
    It could be possible to create a script that updates the menus inside the main ~/.twmrc settings file, but I'll leave that as an exercise for the user. If you're using CTWM or VTWM, instead of manually copy/pasting the menu contents into your settings file, you could just add an include line like this:
    sinclude(`/home/george/.twm-xdgmenu')
    Note: In order for this to work with VTWM, vtwm has to be called with the -m switch.

WindowMaker
    There are two ways to have an XDG menu in WindowMaker. The first one, auto-updates the menu, every time the menu is called. The second one, updates the menu only when the user wants to. xdgmenumaker uses utf8 encoding and localised strings by default and has been tested only with wmaker-crm>=0.95.1. No idea if utf8 works properly with older WindowMaker versions. Dynamic Menus Open the WindowMaker preferences tool. In the Application Menu Definition section, add a Generated Submenu in your menu, by dragging it in. Click on the menu item you just dragged in and in the preferences window, in Command, add: /usr/bin/xdgmenumaker -f windowmaker Save and close the preferences window. That command will be run every time you access that submenu, so the application list in there will be always up to date. The downside is that with running this command every time, especially if you are on a very old PC, it might slow things down a bit. Even then it is probably not anything considerable. Static Menus Run: $ xdgmenumaker -f windowmaker > ~/GNUstep/Defaults/xdg_menu Then open the WindowMaker preferences tool and in the Application Menu Definition section, add an External Submenu by dragging it in your menu. Click on the menu item you just dragged in and in the preferences window, in Path for Menu, add the location of the menu file you just created: ~/GNUstep/Defaults/xdg_menu You can add the above mentioned xdgmenumaker command as another item in your menu, if you want to update it, without having to run the command manually again. In the Application Menu Definition section in the WindowMaker preferences window, add a Run Program item in your menu by dragging it your menu. Click on the menu item you just dragged in and in the preferences window, in Program to Run, add the xdgmenumaker command as mentioned above. The downside of this method, is that the menu contents will not be updated when you install a new application or remove one. You will need to run the xdgmenumaker command every time you want the menu to be updated. The upside is that the menu will not be generated every time you access the menu. This might be a better choice for (really) older hardware.

WEBSITE

https://github.com/gapan/xdgmenumaker

AUTHORS

xdgmenumaker was written by George Vlahavas <vlahavas~at~gmail~dot~com>