Debian Menu System
------------------
Joost Witteveen <joostje@debian.org>
Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>
Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org>
Bill Allombert <ballombe@debian.org>
version 1.4, 31 May 2015
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Abstract
--------
The `menu' package was inspired by the `install-fvwm2-menu' program
from the old `fvwm2' package. However, `menu' tries to provide a more
general interface for menu building. With the `update-menus' command
from this package, no package needs to be modified for every X window
manager again, and it provides a unified interface for both text- and
X-oriented programs.
Copyright Notice
----------------
Copyright (C)1997 Joost Witteveen, Joey Hess, Christian Schwarz.
(C)2002-2005 Bill Allombert.
This manual is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any
later version.
This is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but _without
any warranty_; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or
fitness for a particular purpose. See the GNU General Public License
for more details.
A copy of the GNU General Public License is available as
`/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL' in the Debian GNU/Linux distribution
or on the World Wide Web at `http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html'.
You can also obtain it by writing to the Free Software Foundation,
Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contents
--------
1. Introduction
2. Menu from the viewpoint of a user
2.1. How/when do the window manager startup files get created?
2.2. Tuning of the generated window manager startup files
2.3. Optimization of menu tree: hints
3. The menu file
3.1. Location
3.2. Syntax
3.3. The `title' field
3.4. The `needs' field
3.5. The `section' field
3.6. The `command' field
3.7. The `icon' field
3.8. The `hints' field
3.9. Entries for menu sections.
3.10. Fvwm's task and title bars
4. What packages with applications should do
4.1. Providing a menu file
4.2. Adding a hook for dpkg in your packages
5. What packages with menu managers should do
6. How a user can override the menus
6.1. Configuring the menus
6.2. Specifying that a menu entry should not be displayed
6.3. Including other files
7. The internals of the menu package
7.1. The update-menus program
7.2. The install-menu program
7.3. The install-menu config script definitions
7.4. Hints, tree optimization
8. Variables and functions in the install-menu scripts
8.1. String constants
8.2. Variables
8.3. Functions
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Introduction
---------------
Before the advent of `update-menus', when the sysadmin installed a
package onto a Debian system, they would need to edit various window
manager config 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
menu file or menu-method file is changed. `update-menus' will be ran
automatically when Debian packages that contain menu files are
installed or removed from the system. Users themselves can add/delete
menu items, and should then run `update-menus' as that user, thus
creating window-manager startup files that are used in preference to
the systemwide files.
One problem we ran into with menu-1.x (and before) was that the number
of entries in any submenu vary wildly: on my system there are only two
entries in `/Applications/Editors', while I'm sure that other people
have more like 20 entries there. Many people complained about the
fullness of certain submenus, citing scientific studies or personal
experience to explain why overfull or underfull submenus are a bad
thing. To overcome this, menu-2.0 now can optimize the tree itself,
possibly subdividing for example the `/Applications/Editors' tree in,
say `Editors/Beginner', `Editors/Experienced', or whatever, if there
are many entries in that submenu, or maybe even totally removing
`/Applications/Editors' on systems where there are few editors
installed. To be able to do this, menu follows the information
supplied to it in the `hints' variables (see paragraph below, or the
hints chapter).
Each package that needs to add an entry to the menu tree, includes a
menu file `/usr/share/menu/package-name'. In this file, it will have
one line per menu entry, like this (copied from
`/usr/share/menu/xbase'):
?package(xbase):command="/usr/bin/xedit" needs="X11" \
section="Applications/Editors" title="Xedit" \
hints="Beginner,Small"
This describes the type of interface Xedit needs (X11), the menu
section the menu entry should be in, the menu text, and the command
that should be executed. Also, it tells menu that, if
`/Applications/Editors' is overfull, it could put Xedit in a
`Applications/Editors/Beginner' or `Applications/Editors/Small'
subsection.
Whenever `root' runs `update-menus', it will check all menu files in
`/etc/menu', `/usr/lib/menu', `/usr/share/menu', and run the
installation scripts that display managers like `fvwm2' should provide
in `/etc/menu-methods'.
The menu package itself provides a set of default menu files, for
people to get the idea, and to speed up things a bit. (These files
should be incorporated into the package.)
Note, that substantial and incompatible changes took place with the
menu-1.0 release, while substantial features were added by the release
of menu-2.0. This document describes menu-2.0. Menu-2.0 now doesn't
accept the menu-methods written for menu-0.x, but for most window
managers that still have those old menu-methods, I have put new style
menu-methods in /usr/share/doc/menu/examples. Everything written for
menu-1.0 will work with menu-2.0.
Most notable changes between menu-0.x and menu-1.x are listed in the
file README.changes in the menu package, the features added by
menu-2.0 can be summarised here: hints, and the menu-2 compat mode.
(where lines are finished by a ';' instead of a newline).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Menu from the viewpoint of a user
------------------------------------
2.1. How/when do the window manager startup files get created?
--------------------------------------------------------------
Basically, users don't need to know any of how and when the startup
files are created, but they might be interested to know anyway.
When a package that wants to add something to the menu tree gets
installed, it will run `update-menus' in its `postinst' script.
Update-menus then reads in all menu files in `/etc/menu/',
`/usr/lib/menu', `/usr/share/menu' and `/usr/share/menu/default', and
stores the menu entries of all installed packages in memory. Once
that has been done, it will run the menu-methods in
`/etc/menu-methods/*', and pipe the information about the menu entries
to the menu-methods on stdout, so that the menu-methods can read this.
Each window-manager or other program that wants to have the Debian
menu tree, will supply a menu-method script in `/etc/menu-methods/'.
This menu-method then knows how to generate the startup-file for that
window manager. To facilitate this task for the window-manager
maintainers, menu provides a `install-menu' program. This program can
generate the startupfiles for just about every window manager.
2.2. Tuning of the generated window manager startup files
---------------------------------------------------------
In principle this is a very window-manager specific business. But for
all window managers (and others) applies:
The file to attack is the menu-method in `/etc/menu-methods/$wm', with
`$wm' the name of your window manager. However, if this menu-method
`!include'-s the `menu.h' file (as it should), you can also edit that
file, to make your changes work for every installed window manager.
If the menu-method file of your window manager does `!include' the
`menu.h' file, and makes proper use of the definitions in there, then
you can look at the comments in that `menu.h' file to see how you can
make minor adjustments to the look of your menus in your window
manager.
To generally change the menu tree, see the next section.
2.3. Optimization of menu tree: hints
-------------------------------------
If `hint_optimize=true' has been set in a menu-method script
(actually, that definition should appear in the `!include'-ed `menu.h'
file), then install-menu will try to alter the menu tree, to make
every submenu have about the optimum number of menu entries (as
specified by `hints_nentry=...'). It will do that by removing
under-full submenus (only if the `parent' of that submenu isn't itself
already overfull), and by possibly creating new submenus, using hints.
Note, however, that the optimization of the tree takes in principle
exponential time, so menu speeds up the process, at the expense of
occasionally not finding the best tree. So, the tree you are
presented with may not be optimal. For tuning variables, see the
hint_* variables in the last chapter.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. The menu file
----------------
3.1. Location
-------------
Packages-provided menu files should be in `/usr/share/menu/', unless
the menu files are actually executable binaries, in which case they go
in `/usr/lib/menu/'. System-local menu files should be in
`/etc/menu/'. User-specific menu files should be in `~/.menu/'
3.2. Syntax
-----------
The format is:
?package(package[,package2,...]): \
field1="value1"\
field2="value2"\
Here is an example to describe the syntax of such a file:
?package(gnumeric):\ specifies what packages need to be installed
multiple requirements should be separated by
comma
needs="X11"\ what kind of environment this command expects
section="Applications/Office"\ in what section this menu entry should be
title="Gnumeric"\ the title of the menu entry
command="gnumeric" \ the command to run
hints="Gnome,Spreadsheets" \ some hints about menu placement.
icon="/usr/share/pixmaps/gnumeric.xpm" the path to the icon to use.
A number sign ("#") can be used to include comments. An entry must be
terminated by a newline; however you can use a backslash to escape a
newline.
Values must be quoted with ", and meta-characters (", backslash,
newline) must be escaped with a backslash.
You can include several entries in the same file.
The file must be encoded in 7-bit ASCII. This is necessary to
accomodate window managers that do not support 8-bit encodings.
However the translations are not limited in encoding.
`?package(...)' contains a comma-separated list of packages that need
to be installed for the menu entry to be displayed. That should
include the package containing the menu file and any packages
necessary to run the command not depended on by the package nor
essential. Users can use pseudo-package names starting with
"`local.'" which are assumed to be always installed.
The fields `needs', `section', `title' and `command' are mandatory.
Other fields are optional. Custom fields are supported, so you can
add new fields for you own purpose. If a field is specified multiple
times in a menu entry, the last instance will be used.
3.3. The `title' field
----------------------
The `title' must follow the following requirements:
1. It must be short. There is an optional `longtitle' field for
users that want longer titles.
2. It must be properly capitalized. Use _Emacs_ and not _emacs_.
3. It must be unique. Two entries must not have the same title.
3.4. The `needs' field
----------------------
The following `needs' are documented for use in the Debian menu.
1. `X11': if this program runs under X11.
2. `text': if it runs under a terminal. X11 window managers will
spawn an X terminal emulator.
3. `vc': if it runs under a linux virtual console but not under a X
terminal emulator.
4. `wm': if it is a X11 window manager. The current window manager
will exec(2) this program to avoid "Another window manager is
running" errors.
A menu manager can use a special `needs' value reflecting the menu
manager name for menu entries that must only be displayed in this menu
manager. Examples include `fvwm' modules, `dwww' menu entries.
A program like gnuplot which can be run on X11 as well as on a text
terminal should _not_ have an extra entry with `needs=X11' with an
hard-coded call to an X terminal emulator, because this would defeat
the configuration mechanism of menu that allow to choose which window
manager is called.
On the other hand, if a program (like `emacs') can be run as real X
application as well as in a terminal, two entries should be listed,
otherwise the program will always be run in an `xterm' (or `rxvt').
However, two entries are not allowed to have the same title. The
title must be unique.
3.5. The `section' field
------------------------
The `section' field holds a slash-separated list of hierarchical
sections components.
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 current menu structure was drafted in 2006 by Linas
Zvirblis with input from the debian-devel mailing list.
The menu structure below is included only for convenience and is not
authoritative. If it disagrees with the structure in the Debian Menu
sub-policy, please send a wishlist bug to the `menu' package.
Packages must be placed in leaf sections. Please do _not_ put your
packages into any other sections.
Applications
Normal applications
Accessibility
Tools to aid people with disabilities or for machines
lacking usual input devices.
Examples: gok, yasr, dasher.
Amateur Radio
Anything relating to HAM radio.
Examples: baken, hamsoft, twlog
Data Management
Interactive database programs, collection managers, address
books, bibliography tools, etc.
gaby, alexandria, mdbtools
Editors
Editors, other than office word processors, for text-based
information.
Examples: ksubtile, nano, hexedit
Education
Educational and training softwares.
Examples: gtypist, gcompris, quiz
Emulators
Software that allows you to run non-native software or more
than one OS at a time.
Examples: wine, dosemu, qemu
File Management
Tools for file management, archiving, searching, CD/DVD
burning, backup, etc.
Examples: file-roller, mc, baobab
Graphics
2D and 3D graphics manipulation software.
Examples: gimp, inkscape, imagemagick
Mobile Devices
Software that allows you to interface with mobile devices
(phones, PDAs, etc.).
Examples: kandy, gnokii, gnome-pilot
Network
Network related software. This is a three-level section, do
not put entries directly here.
Communication
Mail, USENET news, chat, instant messaging, IP
telephony, video conferencing software, etc.
Examples: xchat, gaim, mutt
File Transfer
File transfer software such as download managers, FTP
clients, P2P clients, etc.
Examples: amule, gftp, d4x
Monitoring
Network monitoring software
Examples: gip, ettercap, iptstate
Web Browsing
Web browsers, tools for offline browsing, etc.
Examples: elinks, epiphany-browser, webhttrack
Web News
Web feed (RSS, Atom, etc.) and podcast aggregators.
Examples: akregator, kitty, liferea
Office
Office suites, word processors, spreadsheets, CRM, ERP,
financial sofware, etc.
Examples: openoffice.org, tinyerp-client, gnucash
Programming
IDEs, debuggers, etc.
Examples: anjuta, gdb, eclipse
Project Management
Timetable managers, group task trackers, bug tracking
software, etc.
Examples: planner, bugzilla, gnotime
Science
Scientific and engineering-related software.
Astronomy
Astronomy-related software.
Examples: celestia, spacechart, stellarium
Biology
Biology-related software.
Examples: arb, ncbi-tools-x11, seaview
Chemistry
Chemistry-related software.
Examples: chemtool, kalzium, xdrawchem
Data Analysis
Software designed for processing, extracting, and
presenting generic scientific data.
Examples: fityk, ygraph, mn-fit
Electronics
Circuit design tools, simulators and assemblers for
microprocessors, etc
Examples: geda, gnucap, tkgate
Engineering
CAD, UML tools, diagram-drawing and other
engineering-related software.
Examples: tcm, dia, qcad
Geoscience
Geoscience-related software.
Examples: earth3d, qgis, therion
Mathematics
Mathematics-related software.
Examples: gcalctool, snappea, xeukleides
Medicine
Medicine-related software.
Examples: mssstest, gnumed-client, xmedcon
Physics
Physics-related software.
Examples: kxterm, ifrit, paw
Social
Social sciences-related software.
Examples: gnomesword, hanzim, bibletime
Shells
Various shells to be used inside a terminal emulator.
Examples: bash, ksh, zsh
Sound
Sound players, editors, and rippers/recorders.
Examples: beep-media-player, grip, audacity
System
System related software.
Administration
Administrative and system configuration utilities, also
tools for personal user settings.
Examples: gnome-control-center, configure-debian, gksu
Hardware
Tools for manipulating specific hardware, especially
non-standard laptop hardware.
Examples: toshutils, nvclock-gtk, nvtv
Language Environment
This section is reserved for language-env as a special
case.
Monitoring
System information and monitoring tools, log viewers,
etc.
Examples: top, hal-device-manager, gtkdiskfree
Package Management
Package managers and related tools.
Examples: aptitude, deborphan, smartpm
Security
Security, cryptography and privacy related software,
antiviruses, tools to track and report bugs, etc.
Examples: gpgkeys, bastille, avscan
Terminal Emulators
Graphical terminal emulators.
Examples: xterm, gnome-terminal, rxvt
Text
Text oriented tools like dictionaries, OCR, translation,
text analysis software, etc.
Examples: kdrill, stardict, turkey
TV and Radio
TV-in, TV-out, FM radio, teletext browsers, etc.
Examples: gradio, gatos, alevt
Viewers
Software for viewing images, documents and other (non-video)
media.
Examples: gqview, evince, gthumb
Video
Video players, editors, and rippers/recorders.
Examples: istanbul, totem, kino
Web Development
Software for web site editing, web programming, and site
administration.
Examples: bluefish, screem, gphpedit
Games
Games and recreations
Action
Games that involve a lot of action and require fast
reflexes.
Examples: xsoldier, supertux, xmoto
Adventure
Role playing and adventure games, interactive movies and
stories, etc.
Examples: beneath-a-steel-sky, egoboo, kq
Blocks
Tetris-like games involving falling blocks.
Examples: crack-attack, frozen-bubble, netris
Board
Games played on a board.
Examples: phalanx, xshogi, xboard
Card
Games involving a deck of cards.
Examples: pysol, ace-of-penguins, xpat2
Puzzles
Tests of ingenuity and logic.
Examples: xmpuzzles, sgt-puzzles, enigma
Simulation
Simulations of the real world in all detail and complexity.
Examples: flightgear, torcs
Strategy
Games involving long-term strategic thinking.
Examples: wesnoth, widelands, netpanzer
Tools
Server browsers, configurators, editors, and other
game-related tools that are not games themselves.
Examples: xqf, crystalspace
Toys
Amusements, eye-candy, entertaining demos, screen hacks
(screensavers), etc.
Examples: xdesktopwaves, xphoon, xpenguins
Help
programs that provide user documentation
Examples: debian-reference, apt-howto, dhelp
Screen
Programs that affect the whole screen.
Saving
Tools for blanking the screen. Entries of screen hacks and
configuration GUIs should go to other appropriate sections.
Examples: xscreensaver, xlockmore
Locking
Tools for locking the screen.
Examples: xscreensaver, xlockmore
Window Managers
X window managers.
Examples: fluxbox, metacity, waimea
FVWM Modules
FVWM-based window manager modules. As only modules related to
the running window-manager are displayed, do not create
subsections for specific window-managers.
Examples: fvwm, fvwm-gnome, fvwm95
Window Maker
This section is reserved for wmaker as a special case.
All wmaker specific entries must go here.
Users wanting to access some menu entries quickly can also put them in
the root menu. This is done by using _section="/"_. Package-provided
menu entries must never use this feature.
3.6. The `command' field
------------------------
The command field holds the command that should be executed when the
menu entry is selected. Commands will be executed with `sh -c' using
execl("/bin/sh","sh","-c",command)
or the equivalent.
3.7. The `icon' field
---------------------
Please make sure the icons you specify are always available on the
system. So, if you want to have an icon with your menu entry, the
preferred method is to supply the icon with that package. Icons
should generally be installed in the directory `/usr/share/pixmaps'.
Debian package maintainers should ensure that any icons they include
for use in the Debian menus conform to the following points:
1. The icons should be in xpm format.
2. The icons may not be larger than 32x32 pixels, although smaller
sizes are ok.
3. The background area of the icon should be transparent, if
possible.
You can provide both 16x16 and 32x32 pixels icons using the variables
icon16x16 and icon32x32 so that the user can configure menu to use one
or the other.
If you, as a system administrator, don't like the icons in the menus,
simply change the `icon()' function from the file
`/etc/menu-methods/menu.h', and run `update-menus'.
3.8. The `hints' field
----------------------
Hints are used to help menu structure generated menus in a more
optimal way. For example:
?package(emacs20):\
needs="x11"\
hints="Big,Expert,Featureful" \
section="Applications/Editors"\
title="Emacs 20"\
command="/usr/bin/emacs20"\
icon=/usr/share/emacs/20.3/etc/emacs.xbm
The above hints will tell `menu' to consider grouping `emacs' together
with other editors that are marked similar. For example, if `vi' on
your system has a hints="Small,Expert" definition, and there are too
many entries in the `/Applications/Editors' menu entry, then menu will
consider creating a `/Applications/Editors/Expert' submenu, and put
both `vi' and `emacs' in it. (Of course, only if you have
`hint_optimize=true' in your `/etc/menu-methods/menu.h' file).
3.9. Entries for menu sections.
-------------------------------
It is possible to add entries for menu sections, but it is not
mandatory since section entries are created automatically. However,
this allows to specify fields for sections like `icon' and `sort'.
The syntax for menu sections entries is the same as for regular
entries, the `section' field holding the name of the parent section.
For example
?package(local.games): needs="text" title="Games" section="/" sort="001"
will sort `Games' first.
3.10. Fvwm's task and title bars
--------------------------------
The problem with the stuff in the task bar is that all items are
displayed all of the time. So, if 1500 Debian packages all were to
register a button, the buttons would quickly fill the screen, making
the exercise useless. The few applications that are considered
important enough to be listed in the task bar usually vary widely on
each system, making it impossible to select a ``happy few'' apps that
are allowed there on every Debian system. If you (as a local system
administrator) want your `fvwm2' to have a few buttons, you can
install files for those packages in `/menu/$package', containing a
menu entry like this:
?Package(xmball):needs=button\
section=Games/Puzzles\
icon=path-to-pixmap.xpm\
title="Xmball"\
command=/usr/games/xmball
Then, do the following:
cd /etc/menu-methods/
cp fvwm2 fvwm2button
vi fvwm2button
and remove all the "supported" entries, adding the one below. For the
rest, leave everything the same except those listed below.
supported
button="+ Style \"" $title "\" TitleIcon" $icon " Exec " $command "\n"
endsupported
startmenu: "AddToTitlebar \n"
endmenu: "\n"
submenutitle:""
mainmenu:
genmenu: "buttondefs.hook"
(Of course regular users (not system administrators) can also specify
`buttonfiles' in their ~/.menu/ directory).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. What packages with applications should do
--------------------------------------------
4.1. Providing a menu file
--------------------------
A package should provide a menu file `/usr/share/menu/<package-name>'
that contains information about each program it likes to make
available in the menus.
4.2. Adding a hook for dpkg in your packages
--------------------------------------------
The `postinst' script and the `postrm' script of the package should
include the line
if test -x /usr/bin/update-menus; then update-menus; fi
If you are using `debhelper', the program `dh_installmenu' can do it
for you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. What packages with menu managers should do
---------------------------------------------
Each package containing a _menu manager_ (i.e., a program that can
display a menu) should provide a script or program in
`/etc/menu-methods/' that can read the menu files. This script will
be executed by `update-menus', which will feed the menu entries to be
installed to your script via standard input (stdin).
The scripts in `/etc/menu-methods/' should be configuration files, so
the user can tune the behaviour of the script, and they must always
include the `/etc/menu-methods/menu.h' configuration file at the
beginning with the command `!include menu.h' For the same reason,
scripts in `/etc/menu-methods/' are requested to use the following
configurable functions: `title()' for the title (in place of
`$title'), `icon()' for the icon (in place of `$icon'), `term()' for
running `text' command under `X11'. `sections_translations()' for the
list of translations of sections name available. This later one is
only defined if you `!include lang.h'
Good examples for these scripts for nearly all Debian window managers
are included in the `menu' package in `/usr/share/doc/menu/examples'.
Note that while working on your script, you can use the tricks
described in "The internals of the menu package", section "The
update-menus program", to run just your script, instead of having
update-menus run all scripts (can save quite a lot of time).
This script should not be executable in the package. Instead the
`postinst' should add the execute bit and then run `update-menus' (if
it is executable).
Similarly, the `postrm' script when called with option ``remove''
should remove the execute bit and run `update-menus' (if it is
executable).
Here is an example of such a `postrm' script using `sh':
#!/bin/sh
set -e
inst=/etc/menu-methods/#PACKAGE#
case "$1" in
remove)
if [ -f $inst ]; then
chmod a-x $inst
if [ -x /usr/bin/update-menus ]; then update-menus ; fi
fi
;;
purge)
#remove the files that install-menu creates:
rm -rf /var/lib/foo-wm/menu
;;
upgrade);;
*)
echo "postrm called with unknown argument \`$1'" >&2
exit 0
;;
esac
And here is a good example for a `postinst' script:
#!/bin/sh
set -e
inst=/etc/menu-methods/#PACKAGE#
if [ -f $inst ]; then
chmod a+x $inst
if [ -x /usr/bin/update-menus ]; then
update-menus
fi
fi
If you are using `debhelper', the program `dh_installmenu' can help
you do it.
Please, do not make your package _depend_ on the menu package! The
preferred way of telling dpkg that your wm can cooperate with menu is:
Suggests: menu
Please only consider using "depends" if you feel providing reasonable
defaults for systems without `menu' will make life very difficult for
you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. How a user can override the menus
------------------------------------
6.1. Configuring the menus
--------------------------
Users can specify their own menu entries in the `~/.menu' directory.
The files can have an arbitrary file name as long as the new syntax
for the menu entries is used. They should start with either
?package(installed-package):
or
?package(local.mystuff):
if it's something that isn't ``debian-officially'' installed. (Any
``package'' that starts with ```local.''' is considered installed.)
If users want to have their own menu methods, they should create a
`~/.menu-methods' directory and put all their menu methods in it. (If
`~/.menu-methods' exists, `/etc/menu-methods' will not be searched
when a user runs `update-menus').
A system administrator should place system-wide menu entries in
`/etc/menu' (not in `/usr/share/menu/package', since these files will
probably be overwritten by a package upgrade).
6.2. Specifying that a menu entry should not be displayed
---------------------------------------------------------
If a user wants to remove the entries of `package' from the system
menu then this will do the trick:
echo -n > ~/.menu/package
The zero-size file will tell `update-menus' that the corresponding
package should not have any menu entries listed. A system
administrator can remove menu entries system-wide with
echo -n > /etc/menu/package
6.3. Including other files
--------------------------
<Historical comment by Joost:>
<More out of curiosity than anything else, I recently read the KDE
mailing list. In it I saw some discussion about how good the Debian
menu system is (whow, thanks, guys!), but one person found a missing
feature: s/he said you couldn't include other files in the user menu
files. Well, actually, it was already possible, but not very well
documented.>
To include the contents of the file `/usr/share/menu/somefile', add
this to your menu file:
!include /usr/share/menu/somefile
Apart from that, it is of course possible to make the menu entry file
executable (`chmod a+x ~/.menu/package'), and do something like
#!/bin/sh
cat /usr/share/menu/somefile
sed -e "/unwanted_entry/s/?package(/?package(notinstalled./" \
/usr/share/menu/someotherfile
to get the same effect, with the added flexibility of being able to
filter out unwanted lines.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. The internals of the menu package
------------------------------------
7.1. The update-menus program
-----------------------------
On startup, update-menus checks the file `/var/run/update-menus.pid'
and the pid in it. If there's an `update-menus' process with that pid
it kills it. If `/var/lib/dpkg/lock' exists, it checks to see if dpkg
supports triggers. If so, it uses dpkg-trigger to trigger a real
update-menus run later. Otherwise, it forks to background and returns
control to dpkg. The background process checks the
`/var/lib/dpkg/lock' file approx. every two second until the file's
gone.
Once it's decided to run, whether in the background after dpkg exits,
or in the foreground when used with a trigger-capable dpkg,
`update-menus' reads the menu-entry files in the following
directories: `/etc/menu', `/usr/lib/menu', `/usr/share/menu',
`/usr/share/menu/default'. (if a user runs `update-menus', it will
add `~/.menu' to the front of that list). For every menu entry line
in each file it checks if the corresponding package is installed. The
menu entries of all packages marked as installed by dpkg are added
together in one big buffer that is kept in memory (exception:
executable menu entry files are executed, and stdout is placed in the
buffer).
Once it's read all menu entry files, `update-menus' starts all
executable scripts in `/etc/menu-methods/', hands the scripts the
previously created buffer via stdin. (If `update-menus' is run by a
user, it will first try to run the scripts in `~/.menu-methods', and
only if that directory doesn't exist, it will run the scripts in
`/etc/menu-methods').
Note that as an aid to debugging, one can use
update-menus --stdout > /tmp/menu-stdin
and then view the file `/tmp/menu-stdin' to see exactly what
`update-menus' handed the menu-methods on their stdin.
This may also be useful for people writing `/etc/menu-method/*'
scripts: Running `update-menus' every time you changed something in
the script may be quite time-consuming. So, it's much easier to run
`update-menus --stdout' once, and then run
/etc/menu-methods/mymethod < /tmp/menu-stdin
(and, if that also takes too long, just try editing /tmp/menu-stdin,
and removing 90% or so of all entries)
7.2. The install-menu program
-----------------------------
The files `/etc/menu-methods/$wm' are executable config files that
start with the line
#!/usr/bin/install-menu
and thus start that program, handing it the configuration file for the
specific window manager in the first command line argument. This
configuration consists of:
1. the compatibility mode ("menu-1" or "menu-2").
2. where the various files should be stored/read.
3. what "needs" are supported, and what wrapper files should be used
for each "type".
4. how to remove the generated menu files.
See `/usr/share/doc/menu/examples/' of the menu package for more
comments.
Options to `install-menu':
--remove Remove the menu files instead of generating them.
--verbose Output outline of operations that are performed.
Some window managers don't support an `include'-like statement in
their `system.*rc' files (like `m4' or `cpp' preprocessing); they
cannot read the `menudefs.hook' file generated by install-menu from
their `system.*rc' config file. To still be able to use them,
`install-menu' will copy the file `$path/$examplercfile' to
`$path/$rcfile' (with `$examplercfile' and `$rcfile' defined in the
`install-menu' config file, and `$path' either the `$rootprefix' or
`${HOME}/$userprefix', depending on whether root or user executed the
file.), and replace all occurrences of ``install-menu-defs'' with the
`$genmenu' file it just generated.
As an example, consider the following:
`examplercfile=system.foo-wm-example', `rcfile=system.foo-wm',
`genmenu=menudefs.hook' and `rootprefix=/var/lib/foo-wm/menu'. Now,
if `install-menu' gets run, it will first generate the file
`/var/lib/foo-wm/menu/menudefs.hook'. Next, it will line-by-line read
the file `/var/lib/foo-wm/menu/system.foo-wm-example' and copy its
contents to `/var/lib/foo-wm/menu/system.foo-wm', replacing every
occurrence of the string `install-menu-defs' with the contents of the
file `/var/lib/foo-wm/menu/menudefs.hook'.
To activate the file copying in this way, simply define the
`$examplercfile' and `$rcfile' variables in the `install-menu'
configuration file (for example, see `/etc/menu-methods/fvwm'), and
make sure there is a `$path/$examplercfile' (`$path' being either
`$rootprefix', or `$userprefix'.)
If you are writing a menu method, you can use the following to make
debugging it somewhat more easily:
1. use `update-menus --stdout > /tmp/menu-stdin' to create a list of
menu entries in `/tmp/menu-stdin' and then
2. you can run just your menu-method with (if it's called wm):
./wm -v < /tmp/menu-stdin
7.3. The install-menu config script definitions
-----------------------------------------------
The menu-methods in `/etc/menu-methods/*' are basically made up of a
lot of ``tag=string'' definitions, telling `install-menu' how to
generate a `system.${wm}rc' script. This way you can tune the look of
generated `system.${wm}rc' to your needs.
In the following, something like
treewalk="c(m)"
means that the treewalk variable by default has the value "c(m)".
For examples of what these scripts can look like, see
`/usr/share/doc/menu/examples/*'.
`compat="menu-1"'
Two mode are defined:
`"menu-1"'
menu directives are terminated by an end-of-line character.
`"menu-2"'
menu directives are terminated by a semicolon character.
This must be just after the `!include "menu.h"' directive so that
`menu.h' can use its own compat mode.
`outputencoding="UTF-8"'
Set the encoding used for output files. Use `iconv --list' to
get the list of supported encoding. Useful values include
"UTF-8" and "ISO-8859-1". The special value "LOCALE" means that
the current locale encoding will be used. If set to an empty
string, no translations are performed. This is the default.
`outputlanguage=""'
If set to "C" automatic translations will be disabled. Note that
you can still use translate() to perform explicit translation.
`supported'
`endsupported'
Between the `supported' and `endsupported' keywords you define
what "needs" are supported by this window manager. So, the
following is an example for a wm that supports both needs=x11 and
needs=text:
function q($s) = "\"" esc($s,"\\\"") "\""
supported
x11 =" ShowEntry(" q(title()) ", " q($command) ")"
text=" ShowEntry(" q(title()) ", " q(term()) ")"
endsupported
For the variable substitution (and functions, not shown above),
see the next paragraph. In the above example, you'll notice that
for the menu entries that "need=text", the term() function is
used. This is a user-supplied function that will run $command in
a X terminal emulator. Also, as X11 is higher up in the
supported list above than text, a package that supplies both a
"needs=X11" and a "needs=text" entry will have the needs=X11
entry installed, in favour of the needs=text entry. You can
continue lines on the next line with a backslash ("\"), but make
sure you don't add any spaces after the backslash.
`startmenu=""'
`endmenu=""'
`submenutitle=""'
These define what to print for the beginning/end of a menu, and
how to the print a menu entry that pops up another menu. They
are substituted the same way as the "supported" stuff is; see
next paragraph.
`treewalk="c(m)"'
This string defines in what order to dump the `$startmenu',
`$endmenu', and `$submenutitle' (and its children). Each char in
the string refers to:
c : dump children of menu.
m : dump this menu's $submenutitles
( : dump $startmenu
) : dump $endmenu
M : dump all $submenutitles of this menu and this menu's children.
The default is "c(m)". For olvwm, one needs: "(M)"
`genmenu=""'
The menu file to generate (usually something like
`system."$wm"rc'). The file itself may depend on the level or
title that is currently being worked on, like
genmenu="/subdir/" replacewith($section," ","_") "/rc.menu"
(Substitution works just like in the supported stuff, see above).
Note that the files made this way are truncated upon opening, so
if you have a genmenu like the example above, then your
`endmenu=' will override the startmenu stuff (but you probably
only need one of the two anyway).
`rootsection="/Debian"'
the prefix every `$section' variable gets.
`prerun=""'
`postrun=""'
The commands to run before and after, respectively, the actual
generation of the `menudefs.hook' (genmenu) file. Commands will
be executed by `sh'. Example:
prerun="rm -rf " prefix() "/*"
postrun="killall -USR1 fvwm2"
(Substitution works just like the supported stuff, see below).
`preruntest=""'
Just like prerun, but if the return value of the command is
non-zero, menu will quit.
`also_run=""'
If non-zero, install-menus will, after generating the output
files, also load the file also_run, and use the new assignments
to treewalk, genmenu, etc. to generate more output. This second
time, variables like `prerun' and all of the hint stuff are
ignored.
`removemenu=""'
The command to run when the menu-method is invoked with the
option `--remove'. This should remove all the autogenerated menu
files. If this option is not present, then install menu will
remove `genmenu' if it is a constant string and `rcfile' if it is
defined, and try to remove `prefix()' if it is empty.
`onlyrunasroot=false'
`onlyrunasuser=false'
If `onlyrunasroot' is set to true, `install-menu' will quit
silently when run as a user. Similarly for `onlyrunasuser'.
<`onlyrunasroot' is deprecated since it is simpler to just not
define `userprefix'.> On the other hand, `onlyrunasuser' might be
needed if you use `rcfile' since `rootprefix' is used as a
fallback location for the template.
`preoutput="#Automatically generated file. Do not edit (see
/usr/share/doc/menu/html)\n\n"'
`postoutput=""'
Text to put at the beginning resp. end of the generated file
($genmenu).
`command=""'
A command to run instead of `install-menus'. This command used
to be needed to get around limitations due to compatibility
stuff. But that compatibility with pre menu-1 stuff has been
dropped, and isn't needed any more.
Example:
command="cat > /tmp/menu-stdin"
`hotkeyexclude=""'
Keys not to use for hotkey generation. You can use the same
variables and functions here as in for example the startmenu
sections.
Example:
hotkeyexclude="q" $section
`hotkeycase="insensitive"'
can be either "insensitive" or "sensitive". Determines whether
the hotkeys can be of mixed case (`fvwm2' reads the hotkeys
case-insensitive, `pdmenu' case-sensitive). In case of the
titles "Xa" and "xb", hotkey case-insensitive will generate "X"
and "b", whereas case-sensitive would generate "X" and "x".
`sort=$sort ":" $title'
Entries within one menu will be alphabetically sorted by whatever
sort returns. So, if you do `sort=ifelse($command, "1",
"0"):$title', then all submenus will appear above the commands in
a submenu. (A submenu always has `$command=""'). Or, as Joey
Hess writes:
You can add another field to the menu items, with whatever name you like,
let's say it's called priority. Then add this line to
/etc/menu-methods/*:
sort=ifelse($priority, $priority, "9")
This has the result of sorting things so items with a low priority sort to the
top, and items with no priority default to priority 9 and sort to the bottom.
(Note that it compares the strings alphabetically, not numerically.)
`rcfile=""'
If the window manager doesn't support an "include filename" or
"read(filename)" statement in it's config file, you can rename
the wm's config file to `system."$wm"rc-menu', and insert a
"install-menu-defs" line (without the quotes, or whitespace
around it, and "install-menu-defs" must be the only thing on the
line) in the `system."$wm"rc-menu' file. This will then get
replaced by the `$genmenu' file that was just created (see also
`$examplercfile').
`examplercfile=""'
if needed (see `rcfile'), this is the `system.rc"$wm"-menu' file.
In that case, make `rcfile=system.rc"$wm"'.
`rootprefix=""'
The prefix to use when running as root (applies to $genmenu,
$rcfile, $examplercfile and other old cache files). If it is not
defined, the menu-method will be skipped when run as root.
`userprefix=""'
As `rootprefix', but when running as user. userprefix is
relative to the user home directory, unless it start with 2
slashes, in which case it is treated as an absolute path. If it
is not defined, the menu-method will be skipped when run as a
user.
`hint_optimize=false'
If set to true, menu will try to generate an `optimal' tree,
using the variables below. If set to false, menu will keep the
sections as they are specified in the menu entry files (and
ignore any hint stuff).
`hint_nentry=6'
Optimal number of entries in a submenu. It's a float, so you can
set it to 5.5 if you cannot decide between 5 and 6. Also, values
less than 3 probably don't work very well at the moment.
`hint_topnentry=5'
Same as hint_nentry, but for the top level menu. Often here are
other entries, added by the window-manager itself (like Exit,
Xterm, whatever) that menu doesn't know about, so that you may
want to instruct menu to put less entries in the top level menu.
`hint_mixedpenalty=15.0'
Penalty for `mixed' menus. Mixed menus are those with both
submenus and direct commands in them.
`hint_minhintfreq=0.1'
Minimal relative frequency for the hints before they are
considered. Internal variable to speed up the tree generation.
If you find menu slow, increase this value (to, say 0.2 or 0.3).
`hint_mlpenalty=2000'
`max local penalty', while evaluating the possible trees, menu
gives `penalties' for submenus that don't contain the desired
number of submenus. The penalty is sqrt(n_entry_opt-n_entry),
and eventually will be calculated as a sum of all nodes. But to
speed things up, menu will discard possibilities in which any
node has a `local' penalty of more than hint_mlpenalty. Increase
this value if you think menu is overlooking your favorite tree
(also decrease minhintfreq), decrease this value if you think
menu is wasting too much time. Because of hint_max_ntry, the
influence of this variable is nearly zero nowadays.
`hint_max_ntry=4'
menu will recursively, for each node, try the hint_max_ntry best
local menu-divisions.
`hints_max_iter_hint=5'
The search for what hints to use in one menu is rather expensive.
But due to the way things are sorted, menu seems to always find
the `best' match in the first 2% of iterations. Thus, a way to
speed things up is simply to cut of menu searching after `some'
iterations are done. This value controls this, and limits the
number of iterations to
5+hint_max_iter_hint*number_of_possible_hints. Set this value to
negative to disable this.
`hint_debug=false'
Set to true if you want to see loads and loads of debug output.
7.4. Hints, tree optimization
-----------------------------
The hints actually work in a rather strange way: when
`hint_optimize=true' then all `$section' elements are added to the
specified `$hints' variable, and the order (`/Applications/Editors' or
`/Editors/Applications') of the resulting hints is completely ignored.
Then, the hints for each menu entry are handed to the optimization
routine, which will calculate a reasonable tree for those hints. That
tree must comply with the following:
When a user looks for a program "Program" with, say, hints
"Good,Bulky,Heaven", then, while walking through the tree, it should
at every node visited be clear for the user what submenu to select (or
the menu should have "Program" directly in it). So, the top-level
menu may look like
Good
Hell
Microsoft
because then a searcher for a menu entry with hints
"Good,Bulky,Heaven" will know to select the submenu "Good". The
toplevel menu may not look like
Good
Hell
Heaven
as now it isn't clear whether to visit the Good or the Heaven submenu.
That rule allows usually for many different trees, and the task of the
optimization procedure is to select, in a finite amount of time, the
tree that best matches the user's desire about the optimum number of
menu entries.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Variables and functions in the install-menu scripts
------------------------------------------------------
The supported "needs" definitions and "startmenu=", "endmenu=" and
"submenutitle=" are interpreted as follows:
8.1. String constants
---------------------
Anything inside double quotes ("") is interpreted as a string, and is
written verbatim to the output file. Escape sequences like \n, \t,
... will be replaced with their C expansions (but currently \0xx
octal escape sequences are not supported).
8.2. Variables
--------------
Anything matching $[a-z,A-Z,_]* is interpreted as a variable, and the
corresponding definition from the menu entry is substituted.
8.2.1. Special variables
------------------------
The following variables are treated in a special way by install-menus,
either because they are used for other purposes too, or because they
are modified by install-menus (the ones marked with a "!" are
modified by install-menus).
needs:
Used to determine whether the window manager supports this menu
entry.
command:
If this is undefined, this menu entry is taken as defining a
sub-menu. This way you can specify icons of sub-menus.
title!:
Used for sorting (see section). For sub-menu entries (those with
empty command), this is initialised to the last part of the
section. Please, keep the title short (two words at maximum).
The title is for people who already know what program they want
to start. See "longtitle" and "description" below for longer
descriptions.
sort:
Used for sorting (see section). To make sure an entry is at the
beginning, use something with a low ASCII number, like "$". For
sorting at the end, use "|"
section!:
Used to determine the section of the menu entry. The menu
entries that have a empty $command, ie those that define a
submenu, have $title added to the end of $section The menu
entries that have a non-empty $command have their $section
modified to $section/$title, or $section/$sort:$title if $sort is
defined. The menu entries within one submenu are sorted
according to $section. If you want to retrieve the real section
name, see the $basesection variable.
basesection!:
Used to contain the *real* section name. This is useful because
$section will be changed to $section/$title in special cases (see
above). This causes a problem when you want to do
parent($section) because you won't get the real parent section.
Instead you can use $basesection, which will never contain the
title.
hotkey!:
Modified to reflect what install-menus thinks is the most
suitable hotkey for this menu entry. The hotkey= in the menu
entry file is taken as a suggestion, that could be overwritten if
there is another entry with the same hotkey=. To suggest two
possible hotkeys for an entry use hotkey="ab", with "a" being the
most preferred hotkey.
8.2.2. Preferred variables
--------------------------
The following aren't special for install-menus, but it's nice (read:
essential) to use the same variables for the same things. So, I'll
suggest some here. If you want to invent new ones, please do so and
mail them to me so that I can include them here.
icon:
The location of the icon file for this menu entry. If you don't
have an icon file, just leave out the icon= in the menu entry.
icon32x32:
The location of a 32x32 icon file for this menu entry.
icon16x16:
The location of a 16x16 icon file for this menu entry. This
allows users to choose between 16x16 and 32x32 icon.
longtitle:
For people that like descriptive titles (about one line) It is
probably best to include this in your menu entries, while the
window-managers don't (by default) put it in the menus. That
way, people who want descriptive titles can turn them on, but
others don't need to use them.
description:
An even longer description (about 5 lines). For example, a
description of the documentation in the dwww generated html
pages.
8.2.3. Suggested variables
--------------------------
The following variables probably shouldn't appear often (or at all) in
the menu files supplied with packages. They are mostly intended for
use by local system managers. Nevertheless, it is advised that all
Debian systems use the following variable names:
visible
Some apps add entries to utmp the utmp file, so that "who" and
friends know they are running (this is especially true for xterms
etc). If $visible set (to anything other than "" or "none"),
xterms etc will not write logging info to utmp. (may not work
for your window manager).
geometry
For X apps, this will be the size of the (main) window that will
be created (units in either chars or pixels, depending on type of
main window (xterm or graphic)). If you as package maintainer
want to use this, you should probably think about setting this
variable somewhere in an Xresources file.
8.3. Functions
--------------
Anything matching `[a-zA-Z_]+' is taken as a function name, and an
error is generated if the function doesn't exist. The arguments of
the functions can be other functions, string constants or variables.
prefix()
returns the current prefix dir: either $rootprefix, or
$HOME/$userprefix, depending on who runs install-menu
ifroot($rootarg, $userarg)
if(getuid()==0) print $rootarg, else print $userarg
print($arg)
Same as just $arg; if $arg is empty, generate an error.
nstring($n, $string)
write $string $n times. So, nstring(3,"Aa") writes "AaAaAa".
(Useful in combination with level()).
esc($arg1,$arg2)
Print $arg1, but escape all occurrences of characters in $arg2
with a '\' (thus, if arg1="hello", arg2="lo", print "he\l\l\o").
escwith($arg1, $arg2, $arg3)
Same as esc, but use $arg3 as escape sequence.
escfirst($arg1, $arg2, $arg3)
Same as escwith, but only escapes first occurrence of $arg2.
cppesc($arg1)
Escape anything that isn't a letter, number or _ with
$<hex-ascii-code>. So, for example, a '-' is replaced by '$2D'.
This way, $arg1 can be used as a #define in cpp.
tolower($arg)
toupper($arg)
Returns the argument set in lowercases resp uppercases.
replacewith($s, $replace, $with)
Search $s for occurrences of characters from string replace, and
replace them by the corresponding character in $with. Example:
replacewith("hello $world, %dir", "$% ", "123") returns:
"hello31world,32dir"
replace($s, $replace, $with)
Search $s for occurences of $replace and replace them with $with.
Note that the behaviour of this function is quite different than
the replacewith() function.
ifempty($arg1, $arg2)
If $arg1 is empty, print $arg2, otherwise print nothing. For
compatibility, $arg1="none" is interpreted as empty.
ifnempty($arg1, $arg2)
If $arg1 is not empty, print $arg2. For compatibility, the
string "none" is seen as empty.
ifelse($arg1,$arg2,$arg3)
If $arg1 is non-empty, print $arg2, otherwise $arg3. For
compatibility, the string "none" is seen as empty.
ifeq($arg1, $arg2, $arg3)
If ($arg1==$arg2) then print $arg3
ifneq($arg1, $arg2, $arg3)
If ($arg1!=$arg2) then print $arg3
ifeqelse($arg1, $arg2, $arg3, $arg4)
If ($arg1==$arg2) then print $arg3 else print $arg4
cond_surr($arg1, $arg2, $arg3)
If $arg1 is non-empty print $arg2$arg1$arg3, otherwise print
nothing. For compatibility, $arg1="none" is interpreted as
empty.
iffile($arg1, $arg2)
If file $arg1 exists, and can be opened for reading by whoever
started the current process, return $arg2, otherwise return
nothing.
ifelsefile($arg1, $arg2, $arg3)
If file $arg1 exists, and can be opened for reading by whoever
started the current process, return $arg2, otherwise return
$arg3.
catfile($arg1)
Return the contents of file $arg1.
shell($arg1)
Return the output of the shell command $arg1.
forall($array, "var", $exec)
For each element of the column separated array $array, set $var
to that element, and print $exec. Example:
!include lang.h
forall(sections_translations(), "lang", \
" section[" $lang "]=" translate($lang, title()) "\n")
parent($arg)
for $arg a "directory", return parent directory:
parent("/Debian/Applications/Editors") = "/Debian/Applications".
basename($arg)
return the last part of the parent directory:
basename("/Debian/Applications/Editors") = "Applications".
stripdir($arg)
everything after the last slash, i.e. what basename() should
have returned: stripdir("/Debian/Applications/Editors") =
"Editors".
entrycount()
the number of entries in this menu.
entryindex()
returns relative position of this entry. Start with 0, last
entry is entrycount() - 1. BUG: if sort= anything other than
$title, then this entryindex() will return incorrect values.
firstentry($arg)
return $arg if this is the first entry of this menu (that is,
entryindex() = 0). Else, return nothing.
lastentry()
return $arg if this is the last entry in this menu (that is,
entryindex() = entrycount() -1). Else, return nothing.
level()
return nesting of this menu in the total menu tree.
add($arg1,$arg2)
sub($arg1,$arg2)
mult($arg1,$arg2)
div($arg1,$arg2)
returns the sum, difference, product or quotient of $arg1 and
$arg2. Note that the arguments are strings, that are converted
to integers. example: mult("24", entryindex())
rcfile()
examplercfile()
mainmenutitle()
rootsection()
rootprefix()
userprefix()
treewalk()
postoutput()
preoutput()
These functions all output whatever they were defined to be in
the menu-method file.
translate($lang, $text)
Translate $text into $lang using gettext, see `forall' for an
example. Note that currently outputlanguage must be set to "C".
If $lang is the empty string, $text will be translated in the
current locale language. See sections_translations() for a list
of available translations.
implicit concatenation
String constants, variables and functions can be concatenated by
placing them after each other with a space in between, like:
"hello" ifelse($comma, $comma, " sorry" $period " comma not
defined") " world"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Debian Menu System
Joost Witteveen <joostje@debian.org>
Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>
Christian Schwarz <schwarz@debian.org>
Bill Allombert <ballombe@debian.org>
version 1.4, 31 May 2015
Generated by dwww version 1.15 on Sat May 18 07:35:05 CEST 2024.