Ren'Py Desktop File Generator

A SH script to generate .desktop files for the Ren'Py visual novel engine (GitHub).

Key Features

• Generate desktop files for your Ren'Py games
• Install the generated files or create them in the current directory
• Create a desktop file that searches for the most recent version for you (by default, when all versions are installed to the same directory)
• Rudimentary GUI and desktop file for drag and drop support (needs zenity)
• Searches for icons automatically if none were given (and ability to download ones)
• Handles all that pesky (believe me) icon stuff for you while adhering to the specification (needs ImageMagick)
• Install for your user or system wide
• The game directory can be determined from many sources

Usage

To use the script clone this repository or download the latest release as a tar.gz or zip archive. In case you downloaded a zip you may have to make the files renpy_desktop_generator.sh, renpy_desktop_generator.desktop and make_absolute.sh executable (e.g. with chmod +x renpy_desktop_generator.sh).

After that you can execute the file renpy_desktop_generator.sh from your file manager or the console.

If the script does not have the permissions to edit a file, it will try to acquire them using sudo.

Console Usage

You can provide the script with a direct path to the game start script (usually called NAME.sh), a path to your Ren'Py game's directory (as well as subdirectories), or an icon file.

The script will search for the game directory from these sources (in that order). If no argument is given, the current directory will be used.

To install the script you can add the directory to the PATH. Alternatively, you can create a link to the script in a directory that is already in the PATH with a name of your choosing.

$ sudo ln -s ./renpy_desktop_generator.sh /usr/local/bin/rdg

or if you have enabled local installations

$ ln -sr ./renpy_desktop_generator.sh ~/.local/bin/rdg

Desktop File Usage

Due to the wonders of modern technology you can also drag and drop the game start script (usually called NAME.sh), the game directory or the game's icon file on the desktop file. When you drop multiple files onto the desktop file, the best matching location will be chosen.

The desktop file expects renpy_desktop_generator.sh to be in the same directory before make_absolute.sh has been run. The specification demands that the paths to scripts that should be executed are absolute. Because of this file managers might refuse to execute it or assume an incorrect current working directory.
If the desktop file does not work, try running make_absolute.sh. Some file managers assume their working directory (the directory from which they were started) as relative location for renpy_desktop_generator.sh. After making the paths absolute, renpy_desktop_generator.sh should not be moved to a different location.
You may also want to install the desktop file to have access to its actions. To do that see desktop-file-install.
If you want to still use the terminal interface after you called the script, e.g. because you don't want to install zenity, you can set the Terminal field in the desktop file to true. Please keep in mind that the used terminal may be not your default terminal or may even be hard-coded. The terminal might also quit immediately because the script did not wait for user input.

Please note that this feature may is not supported by all file managers. Sometimes, activating running executable files will help. I made some tests and got the following results:

Name	Desktop Environment	Status
caja	MATE (Mint)	✔️ Works
deepin-file-manger	Deepin	✔️ Works
dolphin	KDE	➖ Works (only full path)
liri-files	Liri	❌ Does not work.
GNOME Files (nautilus)	GNOME (Ubuntu)	❌ Does not work. (Maybe that's a bug?)
nemo (nautilus fork)	Cinnamon (Mint)	✔️ Works
thunar	Xfce (Mint)	✔️ Works
xfe		❌ Does not work.

Some file managers also support starting the script directly. In this case you should be asked for a starting point for the game directory search using zenity.

Dependencies

This script was written with GNU/BSD tools in mind. It will most likely not work in other environments. If you find a way to make it work, please contact me.

Mandatory Dependencies

All of these should already be installed on a normal system.

/bin/sh basename cat cd command cp cut dirname eval exit file find grep head ln
id mkdir mkfifo mv printf read readlink return rm sed set shift sudo sort test
tr trap unset

Highly Recommended Dependencies

• ⚠️ If you want to use the script without a terminal (e.g. running it from the file manager or desktop file), the GUI tool zenity should be installed on your system. Otherwise, the script will silently log to the system log and choose some defaults that you may not want.
  In the case that you cannot or don't want to do this you may want to set Terminal=true in renpy_desktop_generator.desktop.
• For the correct handling of icons either the ImageMagick suite or FFmpeg must be installed. FFmpeg should be pre-installed on most systems because it's a dependency of most browsers and media applications. If the icon is not in .png format, some launchers might not support it.
  If you have an Apple Icon Image format file, icns2png must be installed.
  At least one of these programs should be installed.

Optional Dependencies

These are not required but add more features to the script:

Name	Purpose
base64	Used in current version search script (to escape escaping hell).
curl/wget	Download fallback icon.
desktop-file-install	Check and install the generated desktop file.
env	Used in current version search script.
icns2png	Handle the Apple Icon Image format correctly.
logger	Log to the system log.
magick/ffmpeg	Extract and convert icons to correct format.
magick/ffprobe	Identify icon (container) metadata.
mktemp	Ensure no naming conflicts for temporary files.
uniq	Used in current version search script.
update-desktop-database	Check the installed generated desktop file and make it findable.
xargs	Used in current version search script.
zenity	Create a rudimentary GUI.
$PAGER/less	Pager to display the help.

Full Documentation

The full documentation can be found in the Wiki or by starting the script with the --help option. The desktop file also provides an action to display the help but to access that you most likely have to install it.

Examples and Customization

Show all the options you have with -h (--help)

$ ./renpy_desktop_generator.sh -h

Force the use of the GUI with -g (--gui)

$ ./renpy_desktop_generator.sh ../../path/to/your/vn -g

Install without any prompts with version search support with -i (--install) and -v (--current-version-search)

$ ./renpy_desktop_generator.sh ./TSR/game/gui/window_icon.png -iv

If the script cannot determine the name of the game correctly or the name is not descriptive, you can use the -N (--display-name) option

$ ./renpy_desktop_generator.sh ./EchoRoute65.sh -N "Echo: Route 65"

Desktop files provide a keyword feature to add more meta data that can be used for searches. You can add additional keywords by using the -k (--keywords) option

$ ./renpy_desktop_generator.sh ./Arches.sh -k 'horror' 'echo' 'sequel'

By default, NAME will be added as a keyword so that the game can be found by searching for it even if -N was used.

This script was originally only to generate desktop files for the visual novel PASSWORD by Grizz. If you want to recreate the original behaviour, you could do the following (-V, --no-current-version-search)

$ cd ./path/to/your/password/installation
$ ./path/to/renpy_desktop_generator.sh -V

Make the script talk a lot (verbosity: ‘debug’). This is good if you want to see the changes to your file system and what will be executed with sudo with -l and -L (--log-level, --gui-log-level)

$ ./renpy_desktop_generator.sh ../../path/to/your/vn -l 4 -L 4

If you want to avoid checking for optional dependencies and thus make the script less verbose, you can either set CHECK_OPTIONAL_DEPENDENCIES=false at the start of the script or export RENPYDESKGEN_CHECK_OPTIONAL_DEPENDENCIES=false beforehand.

Older Versions and Credits

This script is based on a script by 🐲Shin from the PASSWORD Discord server. This version can be found here.

Other versions can be found in the release section or in the commit history.

Used Specifications

• Desktop Entry Specification 1.5
• Icon Theme Specification 0.13
• Desktop Menu Specification 1.1
• XDG Base Directory Specification 0.7