XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP

[Marty Jack]

On 07/19/2011 09:08 AM, Michael Terry wrote:
> On 07/14/2011 11:36 AM, Michael Terry wrote:
>> Hello!  I've seen the idea of a XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP environment variable tossed around a few times on this mailing list, but I don't see it in any spec.
> 
> So XFCE and LXDE are already using it, xdg-utils wants to use it, and Unity provides a use case for its adoption in GNOME libraries.
> 
> Looking at their code, XFCE and LXDE do different things when it's set to the empty string, but that would still match my suggested "undefined behavior" for that case.
> 
> 
> Any thoughts on the addition of a "DesktopName" key for XSession .desktop files?
> 
> 
> Is the next step to add my behavior proposal as a mini-spec on the XDG site or is this email thread sufficient to define use of the variable?  (I don't think any changes have been proposed from the original email.)
> 
> -mt
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Without loss of generality the Exec key can point to a script that sets any environment variable one might want.  There is no chance of convincing all DMs to upgrade to do this based on a new key in the XSession file, nor is this special purpose mechanism needed.

Speaking of which I have never come across any specification that documents XSession files.  The things I know are that they are in /usr/share/xsessions, that Type=Application and Type=XSession are allowed, and that Exec works.  Apparently in KDM you can customize the search path.  It would make sense if Comment and Icon and TryExec worked as well but I do not know if those are implemented in all the places that process these.

It would be good to have that written down as well.

As a general proposition {Not,Only}ShowIn is not proving to be a good idea.  Many of the problem reports we have in LXDE with menu items not showing up are traced to OnlyShowIn=some other desktop.