TIL - Installing AppImages and running in rofi

28 Nov, 2024

AppImages are portable Linux applications that don't require traditional installation. However, getting them to appear in your application launcher requires a few simple steps.

The Process

1. First, make your AppImage executable:

chmod +x ~/.local/apps/your-app.AppImage

2. Create a desktop entry file in ~/.local/share/applications/:

cat <<EOF > ~/.local/share/applications/app-name.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=App Name
Exec=/path/to/your.AppImage
Icon=app-icon
Categories=Category;
Terminal=false
EOF

3. Update the desktop database:

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

Application Launcher Updates

Different launchers handle new entries differently:

• Rofi: Run rofi -dump-config or restart Rofi
• Polybar: Use polybar-msg cmd restart
• dmenu: No refresh needed, reads entries dynamically

Real Example

Here's a practical example using FreeCAD:

chmod +x ~/.local/apps/FreeCAD_1.0.0-conda-Linux-x86_64-py311.AppImage

cat <<EOF > ~/.local/share/applications/freecad.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=FreeCAD
Exec=/home/manuel/.local/apps/FreeCAD_1.0.0-conda-Linux-x86_64-py311.AppImage
Icon=freecad
Categories=Graphics;Science;Engineering;
Terminal=false
EOF