UPDATE-MENUS(1) General Commands Manual UPDATE-MENUS(1)
NAME
update-menus - generate Debian menu system
SYNOPSIS
update-menus [-v] [-d] [-h|--help] [--version] [--menufilesdir <dir>]
[--menumethod <method>] [--nodefaultdirs] [--stdout]
DESCRIPTION
Before the advent of update-menus, when the system administrators in-
stalled a package onto a Debian system, they would need to edit various
window manager configuration files to make the new program show up on,
for example, fvwm's menus. The menus could easily become out of sync
with what programs were actually available, with some menu items that
didn't work, and other programs that lacked a menu entry. update-menus
and Debian's menu package aim to solve this problem.
update-menus automatically generates menus of installed programs for
window managers and other menu programs. It should be run whenever a
menufile(5) or menu-method file is changed. update-menus will be run
automatically when Debian packages that contain menu files are in-
stalled on or removed from the system.
update-menus uses the package-supplied menu entry files (in
/usr/share/menu) for its information about the menus (but this can be
overruled by the system administrator/user; see below). If a menu entry
file is executable, update-menus executes the menu entry file, and uses
its stdout to generate the menu database.
OPTIONS
-v Verbose output. Shows all arguments to the /etc/menu-methods
programs.
-d Debug output. Generates loads of unintelligible output.
-h, --help
Display usage help and exit.
--menufilesdir <dir>
Adds directory <dir> to the list of directories to search for
menu files in.
--menumethod <method>
Process only the menu method <method> instead of all the menu
methods found.
--nodefaultdirs
Disables the search of menu entries in system menu directories.
--nodpkgcheck
Do not discard menu entries for packages that are not installed
according to dpkg.
--remove
Remove the menus by calling the menu-methods with --remove.
--stdout
Output the menu list in a format suitable as input for install-
menu or a menu method file.
--version
Output version information and exit.
CONFIGURATION
There are several ways to tune the operation of update-menus:
per menu entry, in /etc/menu/$package
In these directories the system administrator or user can over-
ride the default menu files (If a file /etc/menu/$package ex-
ists, than the corresponding /usr/share/menu/$package file isn't
read any more). Users who want to override the system wide de-
faults put their files in ~/.menu. See also menufile(5)
per window-manager in /etc/menu-methods/$wm
In these configuration files, one can tune generated sys-
tem.${wm}rc files for each individual window manager. For exam-
ple, one can specify that the wm should ignore any icons that
the packages may supply, or set the default wrapper for text-
only applications (usually, an xterm is started to run a text-
only application like vi). Users who want to override the system
wide defaults put their files in ~/.menu-methods. For more info,
see /usr/share/doc/menu/html.
globally, in /etc/menu-methods/translate_menus
This file contains translations that will be performed for all
menu entries and all window managers. You can specify things
like: `All sections that start with "Games" should be mapped to
"Applications/Games"', or `menuentry "gnuplot" should have a ti-
tle of "GnuTeken"'. Look at the default /etc/menu-methods/trans-
late_menus for an example. Users who want to override the system
default translate file, put one in ~/.menu-methods/trans-
late_menus. Note: This should not be used for a full transla-
tion of the menu. Use po files as explained in the source pack-
age.
error report configuring, in /etc/menu-methods/menu.config
This file contains general information for the overall behaviour
of update-menus. At the moment you can only configure how ver-
bose the output of update-menus is, and where it sends the out-
put. The amount of information is specified by `verbosity=VAL'.
Use VAL=quiet to stop update-menu from reporting anything but
the most important errors, VAL=normal, VAL=verbose, VAL=debug
for progressively more output.
To specify where the output should go, use `method=stdout',
`method=stderr', or `method=syslog facility priority'. `Facil-
ity' is one of auth, authpriv, authcron, authdaemon, authkern,
authlocal0, authlocal1, authlocal2, authlocal3, authlocal4,
authlocal5, authlocal6, authlocal7, authlpr, authmail, authnews,
authsyslog, authuser, authuucp. `priority' is one of emerg,
alert, crit, err, warning, notice, info, debug.
FILES
Menu files: (Earlier listed directories override those listed later.)
~/.menu/*
Menu files added by the user. (Isn't read if root runs
update-menus)
/etc/menu/*
Menu files added by the system administrator.
/usr/lib/menu/*
Architecture-dependant menu files provided by other De-
bian packages.
/usr/share/menu/*
Architecture-independant menu files provided by other De-
bian packages.
/usr/share/menu/default/*
Menu files provided by the menu package.
Menu methods:
/etc/menu-methods/
Executable configuration files that are added by window
managers and other menu programs, these files are run by
update-menus to generate menus for the different pro-
grams. Also in this directory is the translate_menus
file, used for local configuration of the shape of the
menu trees.
~/.menu-methods/
For users to override the system-defaults of /etc/menu-
methods. If this directory exists, no files in
/etc/menu-methods are read any more.
DISTRIBUTION
Distribution is subject to the GNU General Public License.
BUGS
update-menus may not work properly when run by a normal user, to gener-
ate menus for that user. This is usually because the window manager
doesn't expect the system.${wm}rc files in the directory (usually
~/.${wm}, configurable in /etc/menu-methods). If you see such a thing,
and you find a solution, please mail <menu@packages.debian.org>. It
should work OK for fvwm and fvwm2: I usually test the package first as
an ordinary user.
AUTHORS
Joost Witteveen <joostje@debian.org>, original idea by Lars Wirzenius
<liw@iki.fi>. Now maintained by Bill Allombert <ballombe@debian.org>.
THANKS
To Joey Hess, for a lot of good ideas and pre-release testing, and to
Tom Lees for a update-menus in pure C (of which I only used one func-
tion, but that's life).
Man page by Joey Hess, <joeyh@debian.org>
SEE ALSO
menufile(5), /usr/share/doc/menu/html
DEBIAN Debian Utilities UPDATE-MENUS(1)
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