MENUFILE
NAME SYNOPSIS DESCRIPTION Examples FORMAT MENU LAYOUT NOTES FILES AUTHOR SEE ALSO
menufile - entry in the Debian menu system
/.menu/*
/etc/menu/*
/usr/lib/menu/*
/usr/lib/menu/default/*
Menu files add entries to the Debian menu system. The system administrator can place menu files in /etc/menu/ to override menu files that packages add to /usr/lib/menu/ . The user can place menu files in /.menu/ to override all other menu files.
This man page may be out of date in some places. Look at /usr/doc/menu/html for more up-to-date info.
The menu files are usually named after the Debian package that contains the programs listed in them. In it, you can list several update-menus(1). (In a menu entry you can specify pseudo-packages that start with
Dosemu could install the following menu file as /usr/lib/menu/dosemu:
?package(dosemu):needs=text section=Apps/Emulators title=
The system administrator wants to override this file to change how dosemu is run, so /etc/menu/dosemu is created:
?package(dosemu):needs=text section=Apps/Emulators title=
A user does not want Dosemu to appear on his menus at all, so he creates an empty file named /.menu/dosemu .
A menu file consists of 0 or more lines of the following format:
?package(package-name):var1=value var2=varlue2 ...
needs=
What type of display will the program run on? This variable must be defined, and should be one of the following:
needs=text
any text display
needs=x11
X11 displays
needs=vc
At the Linux console (i.e.: svgalib programs)
needs=wm
A window manager.
needs=fvwmmodule
A fvwm version 1.x compatible module.
needs=fvwm2module
A fvwm version 2.x compatible module.
section
The section in which the menu entry should appear. See MENU LAYOUT for preferred section names.
icon
An icon for this menu entry. If no icon is available, just don't define this. (icon=
title
The title of the program that will appear on the menus. Keep it short. If two menu entries share the same title and section, the one that bests fits the available display will be used. So in the example above with two menu entries that both have the menu id
command
The command to be executed when this menu entry is selected.
This is the preferred layout of the menus. Currently it is a suggestion only. Use `/' to separate sub-menu names, for example,
Apps -- all normal apps Editors -- editors Emulators -- Dosemu, ... Graphics -- xpaint, xfig, xtiff, Math -- Math apps: gnuplot, octave, oleo,.. Net -- mail, news, web, irc, etc Programming -- debuggers, etc Shells -- Different shells, like bash, zsh, ... Sound -- System -- system administration and monitoring Tools -- other tools: xclock, xmag, xman, Viewers -- Picture viewers, gs, ... Games -- games and recreations Adventure -- walk around virtual space, zork, MOO's, etc Arcade -- (any game where reflexes count) Board -- Like: Gnuchess, pente, gnugo Card -- solitaire, etc Puzzles -- Stuff from xpuzzles, ... Sports -- Games derived from Tetris-like -- games involving falling blocks Toys -- (oneko, xeyes, etc.) Screen -- Lock -- xlock, etc. Screen-saver -- Root-window -- things that fill the root window Window-managers -- (change between fvwm, afterstep, etc) Modules -- fvwm modules, etc. XShells -- shells (like xterm, rxvt, ...)
If you want to specify an icon or hotkey for a sub-menu (for example, the Editors sub-menu), just use the same syntax but leave the command empty:
?package(mypackage):needs=X11 section=Apps icon=icon.xpm hotkey=E title=
Whenever any menu files are changed, you must run update-menus(1)
(Earlier listed files override later files with the same names.)
/.menus/*
Menu files added by the user.
/etc/menu/*
Menu files added by the system administrator.
/usr/lib/menu/*
Menu files provided by other Debian packages.
/usr/lib/menu/default/*
Menu files provided by the menu package.
Joost Witteveen
(Man page by Joey Hess,
update-menus(1), /usr/doc/menu/html/index.html
6 pages link to menufile(5):
