ID: I202607081052
Status: idea
Tags: Linux, Arch Linux, appimage

installing an appimage

An appimage is a file that you can run, it is kinda like how windows has an .exe. You can put the appimage anywhere and run it, but your system (think of your applist / rofi) won’t recognize it. In order to fix this you’ll have to add an .desktop file.

Step 1 - Executable

you need to make your appimage exacutable, you can do this via the terminal:

chmod +x /path/to/your.AppImage

or with Dolphin file explorer by right clicking and in the properties.

Step 2 - Create the file

First we need to make the directory where we’ll need to put the file, this directory probably already exists, but here is the command:

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/applications

Then we’ll create a file, Create ~/.local/share/applications/name.desktop, in my case this will be ~/.local/share/applications/bruno.desktop. And put the following in it:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=My App Name
Exec=/full/path/to/your.AppImage
Icon=myapp
Categories=Development;
Terminal=false

Key fields:

• Name= - What shows in rofi
• Exec= - Full path to your AppImage (must be absolute path)
• Icon= - Icon name (optional, but useful)
• Terminal= - Set to true if it needs a terminal
• Categories= - App category (Development, Multimedia, Graphics, etc.)

Example

In this example I’ll be using bruno since that was my 1st use for this.

I have created ~/.local/share/applications/bruno.desktop with the following content:

[Desktop Entry] Type=Application Name=My App Name Exec=/home/pye/appimage/bruno_3.5.1_x86_64_linux.AppImage Icon=myapp Categories=Development; Terminal=false

Step 3: update desktop database

update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications

and that should be it.

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References