[GUIDE] Create an unity launcher (.desktop file) to Soulseek executable in Ubuntu 14.04

pfrolim's picture


First of all, I made this tutorial for noobs, just like me. Don't fear all these command lines, you will just copy and paste most of them and little will have to be typed. All of this I found out googling. If you want further explanation on some topic, you can do the same. ;) What more can I say? Sorry for any mispelling, english is not my mother language. Good luck!


1) Executable

Probably you have already downloaded a Soulseek client. At time of this writing, I'm using "SoulseekQt-2014-5-4" build, as the last ("SoulseekQt-2013-11-6") version did not worked for me.

Nir (Soulseek creator) said that a new build would come out to Downloads page soon. But until then, you can download that version from this post of him.

Anyway, make sure you have the last build and extract the executable from tgz file to a new directory "Soulseek" in your home (or anywhere you like). My executable is like this:

~/Soulseek/SoulseekQt-2014-5-4

And it's executing normally. Check yours, then close it. Let's go on.


2) Icon

Unity launchers need icons. You will have to provide one. Or better, choose one from this link. ;)

I found a png image that I like, saved it to my soulseek folder (~/Soulseek/) and renamed it to "Soulseek.png". This icon should be square. I'm not sure exactaly what dimensions it must have, but I'm using an 128x128px and it's fine for the purposes of this tutorial.


3) Creating .desktop file

Open Terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and execute:

gedit ~/.local/share/applications/Soulseek.desktop

This will open Gedit with a blank file "Soulseek.desktop". In this document paste the following lines:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Soulseek
GenericName=SoulseekQT
Comment=Client for Soulseek file sharing network.
Type=Application
Categories=Qt;Audio;Network;FileTransfer;Chat;
Terminal=false
Icon=/home/pfrolim/Soulseek/Soulseek.png
Exec=/home/pfrolim/Soulseek/SoulseekQt-2014-5-4

Do NOT forget to substitute "pfrolim" by YOUR user name. If you'd saved Soulseek executable or icon somewhere else, correct these pathes too.

There are many other properties a .desktop file can have, but those will do for a simple launcher. Save this file and and we're ready. At this point you can search "Soulseek" in dash (windows-button) and you should find the application in Unity Launcher now.


4) Making .desktop file executable itself

This is like an optional step but I recommend it. If you'd like that Soulseek could be launched from anywhere besides Unity interface, let's say, from any directory or desktop, then execute:

chmod +x ~/.local/share/applications/Soulseek.desktop

And you're almost done. Now link this file to anywhere you like. For example, I linked it to desktop like this:

ln -s ~/.local/share/applications/Soulseek.desktop ~/Desktop/Soulseek.desktop

And that's all!


Last words: If you have anything to ask or to add to this tutorial, welcome. I did exactly like I describe here and for me this wonderful peace of software is now perfectly integrated to Ubuntu. Happy sharings, everyone.

Thanks! Pinned.

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