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Integrate local AppImages into the menu by dragging and dropping them

If you are a user who is used to dragging your local AppImages scattered around the system and if you are a user who likes clutter and wants to place their packages in different places... this option is for you.

The option --launcher allows you to drag and drop a local AppImage to create a launcher to place in the menu, like any other classic AppImage helper would... but in SHELL.

This option also allows you to create a symbolic link with the name you prefer, in "~/.local/bin". Leave blank to let the option create a shell script that calls your AppImage, with extension ".appimage", lowercased.

How to create a launcher for a local AppImage

am --launcher /path/to/File.AppImage

or

appman --launcher /path/to/File.AppImage

In this video I'll integrade Brave AppImage, the first time without a name, and the second time by choosing "brave" (NOTE, the ".appimage" in $PATH is a little shell script that calls the AppImage, not the whole AppImage):

integrate-local-appimages.mp4

Now the binaries are "two", keep read to see how to remove them using "AM" and "AppMan".

How to remove the orphan launchers

In case you move your AppImages somewhere else or remove them, use the following otion -c or clean to get rid of all the orphaned launchers and dead symlinks and scripts you created earlier:

am -c

or

appman -c

In this video I'll remove the AppImage, and then I'll remove the launchers and items in $PATH created in the previous video (see above):

remove-orphan-launchers.mp4

AppImages from external media

Another peculiarity concerns the use of the -c option on launchers created on AppImage packages placed on removable devices:

  • if in the .desktop file belongs to an AppImage placed in /mnt or /media and none of the references are mounted, the option -c will not be able to remove it until you mount the exact device where it was placed in the moment you have created the launcher;
  • if you mount that same device and the AppImage is not where it was when you created the launcher, it will be removed.

This is very useful if you have large AppImage packages that you necessarily need to place in a different partition.

Update scattered AppImages

If a local AppImage supports delta updates, you need to install appimageupdatetool

am -i appimageupdatetool

or locally, with AM

am -i --user appimageupdatetool

or AppMan.

appman -i appimageupdatetool

After that, you can simply run the -u option with the --launcher flag and vice versa, --launcher with the -u flag, to try to update them

am -u --launcher

or

am --launcher -u

or

appman -u --launcher

or

appman --launcher -u

AppImages are not updated directly with -u because I believe it is a user choice to keep an AppImage at a specific version or not.

simplescreenrecorder-2024-12-01_03.34.14.mkv.mp4

Again, these updates only work if the AppImage supports binary deltas!

If you want to be sure to update all AppImages, rely on the -ia and -e options instead.

Back to "Guides and tutorials" Back to "Main Index" "Portable Linux Apps" "AppMan"