Provided by:
menu_2.1.27_i386 
NAME
menufile - entry in the Debian menu system
SYNOPSIS
~/.menu/*
/etc/menu/*
/usr/lib/menu/*
/usr/share/menu/*
/usr/share/menu/default/*
DESCRIPTION
Menu files add entries to the Debian menu system. The system
administrator can place menu files in /etc/menu/ to override menu files
that packages add to /usr/share/menu/ . The user can place menu files
in ~/.menu/ to override all other menu files.
Please read the Debian menu manual available in
/usr/share/doc/menu/html for the complete specification of menu files.
The menu files are usually named after the Debian package that contains
the programs listed in them. In it, you can list several "menu
entries", that specify a specific item in the menu structure. Each menu
entry specifies what package it depends on, if that package is not
installed, the menu entry will be ignored by update-menus(1). (In a
menu entry you can specify pseudo-packages that start with "local.",
update-menus will always use those menu entries). If you wish to
remove an item from the menu entirely, make an empty menu file with the
same name as the file you want to override.
Examples
Dosemu could install the following menu file as /usr/share/menu/dosemu:
?package(dosemu):needs="text" section="Apps/Emulators" title="Dosemu"
command="dosemu"
?package(dosemu):needs="x11" section="Apps/Emulators" title="Dosemu"
command="xdos"
The system administrator wants to override this file to change how
dosemu is run, so /etc/menu/dosemu is created:
?package(dosemu):needs="text" section="Apps/Emulators" title="Dosemu"
command="dosemu -A"
?package(dosemu):needs="x11" section="Apps/Emulators" title="Dosemu"
command="xdos -A"
A user does not want Dosemu to appear on his menus at all, so he
creates an empty file named ~/.menu/dosemu .
FORMAT
A menu file consists of 0 or more lines of the following format:
?package(package-name):var1=value1 var2=value2 ...
needs= Specify what kind of environment the program require.
This variable must be defined, and should be one of the
following:
needs="text"
Program requires a terminal
needs="x11"
Program requires a X server
needs="vc"
Program requires a Linux console (i.e.: svgalib
programs)
needs="wm"
The program is a window manager.
needs="fvwmmodule"
The program is a fvwm compatible module.
section
The section in which the menu entry should appear. See
MENU LAYOUT for preferred section names.
icon An icon for this menu entry. If no icon is available,
just don’t define this. (icon="none" is also possible,
preferably just leave it out)
title The title of the program that will appear on the menus.
Keep it short. If two menu entries share the same title
and section, the one that bests fits the available
display will be used. So in the example above with two
menu entries that both have the menu id "title", if X is
available, the X11 one will be used, otherwise the text
one will be used. Must be defined.
command
The command to be executed when this menu entry is
selected.
hints A comma-separated list of hints on how grouping menu
entries, see manual.
MENU LAYOUT
The authoritative list of Debian’s menu structure is maintained in the
Debian Menu sub-policy document which is part of the Debian Policy
package. The menu structure below is included only for convenience.
Please do not put your packages into any other sections.
Use ‘/’ to separate sub-menu names, for example, "Apps/Editors" or
"Games/Arcade".
Apps -- Normal apps
Databases -- Interactive database programs
Editors -- Editors
Emulators -- dosemu, ...
Education -- Educational and training programs
Graphics -- Image manipulation
Hamradio -- Anything relating to ham radio.
Math -- Math apps: gnuplot, octave, oleo, ...
Net -- mail, news, web, irc, etc
Programming -- Debuggers, etc
Science -- Scientific programs
Tools -- Other tools: xclock, xmag, xman, ...
Technical -- Technical stuff
Text -- Text oriented tools other than editors
Shells -- Different shells, like bash, zsh, ...
Sound -- Sound players and editors
Viewers -- Picture viewers, gs, ...
System -- System administration and monitoring
Games -- Games and recreations
Adventure -- Walk around virtual space, zork, MOO’s, ...
Arcade -- Any game where reflexes count
Board -- Like: Gnuchess, pente, gnugo
Card -- solitaire, etc
Puzzles -- Stuff from xpuzzles, ...
Sports -- Games derived from "real world" sports
Strategy -- Games involving long term strategic thinking
Simulation -- Flight simulators, etc
Tetris-like -- Games involving falling blocks
Toys -- oneko, xeyes, etc
Screen -- Programs that affect the whole screen
Lock -- xlock, etc
Save -- Screen savers
Root-window -- Things that fill the root window
Window-managers -- Switch between fvwm, afterstep, ...
Modules -- fvwm modules, etc
XShells -- Shells (like xterm, rxvt, ...)
NOTES
If you want to specify an icon or hotkey for a sub-menu (for example,
the Editors sub-menu), just use the same syntax but leave the command
empty:
?package(mypackage):needs="X11" section="Apps" icon="icon.xpm"
hotkey="E" title="Editors"
Whenever any menu files are changed, you must run update-menus(1)
FILES
(Earlier listed files override later files with the same names.)
~/.menu/*
Menu files added by the user.
/etc/menu/*
Menu files added by the system administrator.
/usr/lib/menu/*
Architecture-dependant menu files provided by other Debian
packages.
/usr/share/menu/*
Architecture-independant menu files provided by other Debian
packages.
/usr/share/menu/default/*
Menu files provided by the menu package.
AUTHORS
Joost Witteveen <joostje@debian.org>, based on work by Lars Wirzenius
<liw@iki.fi>. Now maintained by Bill Allombert <ballombe@debian.org>.
(Man page by Joey Hess, <joeyh@debian.org>)
SEE ALSO
update-menus(1), /usr/share/doc/menu/html/index.html