Home / ubuntu / Questions / 165147
Accepted
Dave
Asked: 2012-07-19 07:31:46 +0800 CST

Bash script to add/remove desktop launchers to Unity launcher?

  • 772

I'm trying to write a script to setup my desktop environment after a fresh install. One thing I can't figure out is how to pin/unpin items to the Unity Launcher from a bash script. Any ideas?

unity

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Use gsettings:

    gsettings get com.canonical.Unity.Launcher favorites

    Gives you a list of what's on the launcher:

    ['nautilus-home.desktop', '/opt/google/chrome/google-chrome.desktop', 'apps.desktop', 'geany.desktop', 'libreoffice-startcenter.desktop', 'gnome-terminal.desktop', 'gcalctool.desktop', 'Science.desktop', 'gimp.desktop', 'inkscape.desktop', 'ubuntu-software-center.desktop', 'alarm-clock-applet.desktop']

    so you can do something like this in bash:

    #!/bin/bash
myfile='firefox.desktop'
list=`gsettings get com.canonical.Unity.Launcher favorites`
newlist=`echo $list | sed s/]/", '${myfile}']"/`
gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Launcher favorites "$newlist"

    I tested and it works to add firefox to the launcher, however the icon doesn't display immediately. You'll have to log out/in or do a unity --replace command.

    • 8

  2. Run the following command:

    xdg-desktop-menu install --novendor /path/to/app-name.desktop

    The app-name.desktop file would look something like this:

    [Desktop Entry]
Name=App Name
Comment=A description of the app
Exec=/path/to/app
TryExec=/path/to/app
Icon=/path/to/app-icon.ico
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=App-Category
    • 1