menufile

MENUFILE(5) File Formats Manual MENUFILE(5)

NAME

   menufile - entry in the Debian menu system

SYNOPSIS

   ~/.menu/*

   /etc/menu/*

   /usr/lib/menu/*

   /usr/share/menu/*

   /usr/share/menu/default/*

DESCRIPTION

   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/share/menu/.  The user
   can place menu files in ~/.menu/ to override all other menu files.

   Please read the Debian menu manual available in /usr/share/doc/menu/html for the complete specification of menu files.

   The menu files are usually named after the Debian package that contains the programs listed in them.  In it, you can list several "menu entries" that specify a specific  item  in  the
   menu  structure.   Each  menu entry specifies which packages it depends on; if that package are not installed, the menu entry will be ignored by update-menus(1).  (In a menu entry you
   can specify pseudo-packages that start with "local."; update-menus will always use those menu entries).  If you wish to remove an item from the menu entirely, make an empty menu  file
   with the same name as the file you want to override.

Examples

   Dosemu could install the following menu file as /usr/share/menu/dosemu:

    ?package(dosemu):needs="text" section="Applications/Emulators" \
   title="Dosemu" command="dosemu"
    ?package(dosemu):needs="X11" section="Applications/Emulators" \
   title="Dosemu" command="xdos"

   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="Applications/Emulators" \
   title="Dosemu" command="dosemu -A"
    ?package(dosemu):needs="X11"  section="Applications/Emulators" \
   title="Dosemu" command="xdos -A"

   A user does not want Dosemu to appear in the menus at all, so the user creates an empty file named ~/.menu/dosemu.

FORMAT

   A menu file consists of 0 or more lines of the following format:

          ?package(package-name):var1=value1 var2=value2  ...

          needs  Specify what kind of environment the program require.  This variable must be defined, and should be one of the following:

                 needs="text"
                        Program requires a terminal

                 needs="x11"
                        Program requires a X server

                 needs="vc"
                        Program requires a Linux console (i.e.: svgalib programs)

                 needs="wm"
                        The program is a window manager.

                 needs="fvwmmodule"
                        The program is a fvwm 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.

          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 best fits the available dis
                 play will be used.  So in the example above with two menu entries that both have the menu id "title", if X is available, the X11 one will be used; otherwise the text one
                 will be used.  Must be defined.

          command
                 The command to be executed when this menu entry is selected.

          hints  A comma-separated list of hints on how grouping menu entries; see the manual.

MENU LAYOUT

   The authoritative list of Debian's menu structure is maintained in the Debian Menu sub-policy document which is part of the Debian Policy package.  The menu  structure  below  is  in‐
   cluded only for convenience.  Please do not put your packages into any other sections.

   Use `/' to separate sub-menu names, for example, "Applications/Editors" or "Games/Arcade".

    Applications
      Accessibility
      Amateur Radio
      Data Management
      Editors
      Education
      Emulators
      File Management
      Graphics
      Mobile Devices
      Network
        Communication
        File Transfer
        Monitoring
        Web Browsing
        Web News
      Office
      Programming
      Project Management
      Science
        Astronomy
        Biology
        Chemistry
        Data Analysis
        Electronics
        Engineering
        Geoscience
        Mathematics
        Medicine
        Physics
        Social
      Shells
      Sound
      System
        Administration
        Hardware
        Language Environment
        Monitoring
        Package Management
        Security
      Terminal Emulators
      Text
      TV and Radio
      Viewers
      Video
      Web Development
    Games
      Action
      Adventure
      Blocks
      Board
      Card
      Puzzles
      Simulation
      Strategy
      Tools
      Toys
    Help
    Screen
      Saving
      Locking
    Window Managers
    FVWM Modules
    Window Maker

NOTES

   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="Applications" \
    icon="/usr/share/pixmaps/icon.xpm" hotkey="E" title="Editors"

   Whenever any menu files are changed, you must run update-menus(1)

FILES

   (Earlier listed files override later files with the same names.)

   ~/.menu/*
          Menu files added by the user.
   /etc/menu/*
          Menu files added by the system administrator.
   /usr/lib/menu/*
          Architecture-dependant menu files provided by other Debian packages.
   /usr/share/menu/*
          Architecture-independant menu files provided by other Debian packages.
   /usr/share/menu/default/*
          Menu files provided by the menu package.

AUTHORS

   Joost Witteveen <joostje@debian.org>, based on work by Lars Wirzenius <liw@iki.fi>.  Now maintained by Bill Allombert <ballombe@debian.org>.

   (Man page by Joey Hess, <joeyh@debian.org>)

SEE ALSO

   update-menus(1), /usr/share/doc/menu/html/index.html

DEBIAN File Formats MENUFILE(5)