Add a .desktop file

[FSMaxB]

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It would be great to add a .desktop file by default when installing the GUI version. Look here for an example.

This would also require installing an icon to /usr/share/pixmaps. Preferably U.svg.

[bcpierce00]

Happy to consider a PR.

[FSMaxB]

I don't understand how make install works for unison to be honest. Usually there is DESTDIR that can be set for installation directory. But unison doesn't seem to do that. It uses "$(HOME)" instead.

Maybe that should be fixed first. (DESTDIR could be set to $(HOME) by default to preserve the existing behavior.

[bcpierce00]

I don't think that many people use "make install," other than me. :-|

Your proposed refinement sounds good.

[FSMaxB]

Actually I gave up for now. This is more complicated than I expected.

[FSMaxB]

It would be easier if:

• unison would build executables with different names for different UISTYLE. e.g. unison-text unison-gtk2
• there was a way to know what has been built when running make install, which could just be the filenames from the build step
• unison wouldn't try to build the code again when running make install

[bcpierce00]

These also seem like reasonable refinements. One could retain backward compatibility by copying the latest-built binary (unison-text or whatever) to 'unison'.

The reason we never did something like this is that there are actually just three UI configurations (text, GTK, and the OSX native one); of these, the build and install procedure for the third is separate from the other two, while the GTK configuration supersedes the text one (i.e., it can be used in both ways).

[Vladimir-csp]

The one from Debian is better IMHO, it properly utilizes GenericName, although needs version string removed or scripted:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Unison
Comment=GTK interface for the unison file synchronization tool 2.48.4
GenericName=File synchronization tool
Exec=unison-2.48.4-gtk
Terminal=false
X-MultipleArgs=false
Type=Application
Icon=unison-gtk.svg
Categories=Utility;FileTools;GTK;
StartupWMClass=Unison-gtk
StartupNotify=true