deskmenu(1)

💖 deskmenu — the manual, but make it cute 💖

okay bestie, welcome to deskmenu(1) from the General Commands Manual section. yes, it's a real manpage, and yes, we're doing this with personality. buckle up 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

deskmenu — a root menu for X. that's the whole vibe. a menu. on your root window. iconic behavior honestly.

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🦋 SYNTAX 🦋

deskmenu <argument>

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so DeskMenu is a root menu program, and the way you wake it up is by clicking the root window. that's it. that's the summoning ritual. 🪄

it gets configured from a .deskmenurc file sitting in your home directory — go peek at example_rc for more details, bestie, it's all laid out there.

you can also use deskmenu for session management by making it the last line of your .xinitrc and using the --quit command line option. that option adds a quit option to the menu, so you get a lil escape hatch. 💅

⚠️ NOTE: Deskmenu will do nothing unless you have a ${HOME}/.deskmenurc file or a /etc/deskmenurc (/etc/deskmenurc.debian is automatically generated). like literally nothing. it will just sit there. no cap.

also, this manpage is specific to the debian package of deskmenu. iykyk.

💀 IMPORTANT NOTE: You have to set a keycode, when using this version of keylaunch, in your config file. do not skip this. it's giving mandatory.

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

• -b, --button=n — sets which mouse button is used to invoke deskmenu 🖱️
• -f, --file=n — sets which config file will be used for deskmenu 📄
• --quit-menu — display a "Quit-Menu" in the deskmenu 🚪
• --verbose — print more information (chatty mode, love that for us) 🗣️
• -h, --help — display a short help and exit 🫶
• -V, --version — output version information and exit ⭐
• --display — use an alternative display instead of $DISPLAY 🖥️

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🌈 the most common ways of invoking deskmenu 🌈

deskmenu --button=[1...5] --file=/home/user/.deskmenurc.example

that's the classic. the go-to. the main character invocation. 👑

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🎀 FILES 🎀

• ${HOME}/.deskmenurc
• /etc/deskmenurc.debian

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🧚 RCFILE 🧚

here's the whole config vibe, verbatim, every single line, because we do not gatekeep:

# menuitem=label:command
# submenu=label
# menuitem=label:command
# endmenu=
# divider=
# windowlist=label
# workspaces=label
# include=/path/to/include_file
# keycode=modifier+keyname
#   for example Control+Escape
#   this keycode is used as "hotkey"
#   to display the menu.
#

menuitem=Terminal:x-terminal-emulator
divider=
submenu=Programs
menuitem=The Gimp:gimp
menuitem=Netscape:netscape
endmenu=
menu=Multimedia
menuitem=GQmpeg:gqmpeg
menuitem=Audio Mixer:gmix
endmenu=
divider=
include=/etc/extra_menu
divider=
windowlist=Window List
workspaces=Workspaces

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👑 AUTHORS 👑

• Ken Lynch <kenlynch@blueyonder.co.uk> (c) 2001
• Ken stopped developing on Deskmenu in late 2001.
• Stefan Pfetzing <dreamind@dreamind.de> (c) 2002-2010
• The current developer of Deskmenu.

This manpage was written for the Debian GNU/Linux package of this program by Brandon L. Griffith <brandon@debian.org> because the origonal program did not include one. You are free to edit, translate, convert, or otherwise do anything you wish with this manpage. This program was patched with a diff from Martin Hedenfalk <mhe@hjome.se> to allow submenu recursion. Updated and added to the official deskmenu by Stefan Pfetzing <dreamind@dreamind.de>

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💜 SEE ALSO 💜

desklaunch(1) keylaunch(1) oroborus(1) dfm(1)

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and that's the whole page, bestie! this was version 1.3.x of deskmenu(1), dated however long ago this thing was last touched — love that for it, honestly. go click your root window and slay. periodt. 💖✨🎀