Appimage2menu – script to integrate appimages in the antiX menu

[Member PPC]

After several attempts, I think I’m getting close to a finished script to integrate appimages into the antiX menu.

Anyone interested, please test the script- it creates, the relevant .desktop file in /usr/share/applications/, with the prefix “appimage_”, so you can easily delete them if necessary. (lets hope the forum does not mangle the code)

Dependency: 7z (to extract the files from inside the appimage)

Usage:

[script_name] [path_to_appimage_to_integreate_in_the_menu]
if asked to, enter your root password (it’s needed to copy the .destop file to /usr/share/applications/ )

#!/bin/bash

#script to generate a valid .desktop file to launch an appimage
# dependencies: 7z

#use appimage for the terminal:

#Clean temp folder:
rm -rf /tmp/appimage/*

#Check if an appimage file was provided:
var="$@"
if [ -n "$var" ]; then
    echo "This script is being run on a appimage file..."
else
    echo "There was no appimage file to add to the menu"
    exit
fi

#Start main script:
for FILE1 in "$@"
do

	###make sure that the appimage is executable
	chmod a+x $FILE1
 
	###### extract .desktop from appimage: 
	7z e $FILE1 usr/share/applications/ -y
	echo $FILE1 > /tmp/appimage_path -y
	### extract png icon from appimage:
	#list appimage's contents
	7z l $FILE1 > /tmp/list.txt -y
	#find lines that contain only ".png" and "usr/share":
	grep -n ".desktop" /tmp/list.txt > /tmp/lines_with_desktop.txt
	grep -n ".png" /tmp/list.txt > /tmp/lines_with_png.txt
	grep -n "usr/share" /tmp/lines_with_png.txt >/tmp/lines_with_png_and_usr_share.txt
	var=$(cat /tmp/lines_with_png_and_usr_share.txt)
	#strip everything up to "usr":
	var=$(echo "${var#*usr}")
	echo $var
	icon_path=$(echo usr$icon)

	#.desktop file(s) location inside appimage:
	echo .desktop files inside appimage:
	desk_file=$(cat  /tmp/lines_with_desktop.txt| awk '{print $NF}')
	echo $desk_file

	#extract the .desktop file:
	eval 7z e $FILE1 $desk_file -o/tmp/appimage
	echo $FILE1 > /tmp/appimage_file_path.txt

done

#Make sure that only the real appimage remains (the bigger one)
cd /tmp/appimage
file=$(du -ah *.desktop | sort -hr | head -n 1| awk '{print $2;}')
  echo  $file is a real .desktop file 
  cat /tmp/appimage/$file
  echo The file name will be appimage_$file
    sleep 2
    
    echo appimage_$file > /tmp/appimage/name
    cat /tmp/appimage/$file > /tmp/appimage/real.desktop
  
 # Now the real usefull work: substitute, the Exec command inside the .desktop file!
 # get the first line that contains "Exec=" (because there can be several EXEC's)
 original_exec1=$(grep "^Exec=" /tmp/appimage/real.desktop | head -n1)
 original_exec=$(echo $original_exec1 | awk '{print $1;}')
 new_exec1=$(cat /tmp/appimage_file_path.txt)
 new_exec=$(echo Exec=$new_exec1)

	echo old exec is $original_exec
	echo new exec is: $new_exec
	
#Alter path of the extracted .desktop file to launch the appimage itself:
appimage_location=$(cat /tmp/appimage_path)
original="Exec=$original_exec"
sed -i "s:$original_exec:$new_exec :" /tmp/appimage/real.desktop

name=$(cat /tmp/appimage/name)
cp /tmp/appimage/real.desktop /tmp/appimage/$name

#Get appimage's icon:
icon=$(cat /tmp/appimage/$name| grep "Icon="| cut -d'=' -f2) ###| cut -d'.' -f1)
icon1="$icon.png"
icon2="$icon.svg"
cd $HOME
touch ./appimage_icons
cd $HOME/appimage_icons
7z e $FILE1 $icon1
7z e $FILE1 $icon2

#replace icon on the generated .desktop file with the extracted one -- add -i !!!!
sed -i "s:Icon=.*:Icon=$HOME/appimage_icons/$icon :" /tmp/appimage/$name

#copy the generated .desktop file to the /usr/share/applications folder
########To do: check sudo then, if needed, use gksu, instead of sudo 
sudo cp /tmp/appimage/$name /usr/share/applications/$name

#clean up:
rm -rf /tmp/appimage/*

###Update antiX menu
sudo desktop-menu --write-out-global

###TO DO: Yad window asking user to test the new desktop, if it does not work, delete it...

###end of script

Edit: I tested this script even further and it has yet to fail to work – it always adds the correct .desktop file to the menu… But getting the correct icon for it is still a bit hit or miss- I notice it usually works fine with .svg icons, not really that well with .png one… I’ll try to take a look a it today…

• This topic was modified 4 months, 3 weeks ago by PPC.
• This topic was modified 4 months, 3 weeks ago by PPC.
• This topic was modified 4 months, 3 weeks ago by PPC.

[Member oops]

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::

… Nice and useful script PPC … What works great here (even under MX linux)

[script_name] [path_to_appimage_to_integreate_in_the_menu]
from: /MyDir/otter-browser-0.9.99.3-rc12-x86_64.AppImage
to: /usr/share/applications/appimage_otter-browser.desktop

… But for me, it is better to keep the same name as the original Appimage: so : “appimage_otter-browser-0.9.99.3-rc12-x86_64.desktop”

[Desktop Entry]
# Name=Otter Browser
Name=appimage_otter-browser-0.9.99.3-rc12-x86_64
...

Edit: and maybe an option can be added for a firejail launcher ?, like :
firejail –appimage MyAppimage –> /usr/share/applications/appimage_firejail__otter-browser-0.9.99.3-rc12-x86_64.desktop

• This reply was modified 4 months, 3 weeks ago by oops.
• This reply was modified 4 months, 3 weeks ago by oops.
• This reply was modified 4 months, 3 weeks ago by oops.

[Member oops]

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For info,
An Appimage can already do that:

https://gitlab.com/posktomten/appimagehelper/-/wikis/Help
https://gitlab.com/posktomten/appimagehelper/-/wikis/DOWNLOADS

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