centos 8/GNOME 3: How to add an application to the 'Activities' menu (or a shrtcut to the Desktop)

Shaggy1 · 01-16-2021, 06:13 AM

System info

Code:

$ cat /etc/centos-release
CentOS Linux release 8.3.2011

$ uname -a
Linux localhost.localdomain 4.18.0-240.el8.x86_64 #1 SMP Fri Sep 25 19:48:47 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

GNOME version 3.32.2

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Hi

I have recently installed centos 8, but cannot figure out how to add an application to the 'Activities' menu or simply add a short cut to the Desktop.

Does anyone know how to do this ?

I found a link that suggested you need to add a .desktop file it /usr/share/applications - I did try to do this, but it did not work and I have no idea how to debug it.

shruggy · 01-17-2021, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaggy1

how to add an application to the 'Activities' menu or simply add a short cut to the Desktop.

The apps get added to 'Activities' automatically if GNOME can find their .desktop files.

The desktop in GNOME 3 doesn't allow shortcuts to be added by default. To do this, you should first install gnome-tweaks and gnome-shell-extension-desktop-icons, then enable the extension "Desktop icons" from inside Tweaks.

Quote:

I found a link that suggested you need to add a .desktop file it /usr/share/applications

Yep, that's right.

Instead of /usr/share/applications, the directory can be /usr/local/share/applications or ~/.local/share/applications: they are searched by GNOME for .desktop files as well.

The /usr/share/applications is for applications regularly installed via package management system, /usr/local/share/applications is for all-user applications installed by system administrator from source outside of the package manager, ~/.local/share/applications is for your personal use.

Quote:

I have no idea how to debug it.

.desktop files are checked from the command line with desktop-file-validate.