Credits: adrfrank (Original Creator)

AppImage Desktop Installer

A Python script that creates desktop entries for AppImage files, either on-demand or automatically.

For automatic appimage installation, it monitors a specified directory (and its subdirectories) for AppImage files and creates corresponding .desktop files, making your AppImages easily accessible from your desktop environment.

For manual appimage installation, the install and uninstall subcommands are provided

Features

adrfrank (Original Creator)

• Automatically creates desktop entries for AppImage files
• Recursively monitors directories for new AppImages
• Extracts application name and icon from AppImages
• Handles AppImage removal by cleaning up desktop entries
• Supports relative and absolute paths
• Creates desktop entries in the user's local applications directory

Klotheju

• Auto-makes AppImages executable (fixes manually having to 'chmod +x' so it creates a '.desktop' file)
• Visual feedback in ~/appimage-watcher.log
• Debug-friendly output

enigma0Z

• Add install/uninstall subcommands
• Add PyPi-ready packaging

Requirements

• Python 3.x
• Linux operating system
• pipx

Installation (developer/tinkerer)

1. Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/enigma0Z/AppImage-Desktop-Installer.git

2. Install using pipx:

pipx install -e ./AppImage-Desktop-Installer

Usage

Monitor a directory (default is ~/Applications)

nohup adi watch > ~/appimage-watcher.log 2>&1 &
echo $! > ~/appimage-watcher.pid

In watch mode, the script will:

• Create desktop entries for existing AppImages in the watch directory
• Monitor the directory for new AppImages
• Create desktop entries for new AppImages automatically
• Remove desktop entries when AppImages are deleted

Manually install an appimage

adi install path/to/the/application.AppImage

Manually uninstall an appimage

adi uninstall path/to/the/installed/application.AppImage

Notes

You can override the default directory of ~/Applications by specifying --install-dir on the CLI

adi --install-dir ~/SomethingElse daemon

Directory Structure

• ~/Applications (default watch directory) - Place your AppImages here
• ~/.local/share/applications - Desktop entries are created here
• ~/.local/share/icons - Application icons are stored here

Customization

You can customize the script (src/appimage_desktop_installer/__init__.py) by modifying:

• USER_APP_DIR: Change the default directory to monitor / where apps are installed by the install subcommand
• DESKTOP_DIR: Change where desktop entries are created
• Desktop entry template in the generate_desktop_file function

License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.