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I'm trying to write a script to setup my desktop environment after a fresh install. One thing I can't figure out is how to pin/unpin items to the Unity Launcher from a bash script. Any ideas?

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  • Have you considered copying the configuration files?
    – ctrl-alt-delor
    Jul 18, 2012 at 15:37
  • Don't know what or where they are?
    – Dave
    Jul 18, 2012 at 15:47
  • They are in your home directory and start with a dot, so are hidden. Type ls -dF .* I don't know which you need, there are files for just about every application you run.
    – ctrl-alt-delor
    Jul 18, 2012 at 16:02
  • The list of items on the launcher is not in a simple configuration file, or a directory full of files itself.
    – dobey
    Jul 18, 2012 at 16:13
  • It is easy to add launchers but the thing is that in every solution available online, you have to do an ugly restart...
    – hytromo
    Aug 3, 2012 at 23:02

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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Use gsettings:

gsettings get com.canonical.Unity.Launcher favorites

Gives you a list of what's on the launcher:

['nautilus-home.desktop', '/opt/google/chrome/google-chrome.desktop', 'apps.desktop', 'geany.desktop', 'libreoffice-startcenter.desktop', 'gnome-terminal.desktop', 'gcalctool.desktop', 'Science.desktop', 'gimp.desktop', 'inkscape.desktop', 'ubuntu-software-center.desktop', 'alarm-clock-applet.desktop']

so you can do something like this in bash:

#!/bin/bash
myfile='firefox.desktop'
list=`gsettings get com.canonical.Unity.Launcher favorites`
newlist=`echo $list | sed s/]/", '${myfile}']"/`
gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Launcher favorites "$newlist"

I tested and it works to add firefox to the launcher, however the icon doesn't display immediately. You'll have to log out/in or do a unity --replace command.

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  • If you want to change the settings for other users, use sudo -u username dbus-launch --exit-with-session gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Launcher favorites "$newlist". See stackoverflow.com/a/23849268/2746945
    – uzhoasit
    May 24, 2014 at 21:20
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Run the following command:

xdg-desktop-menu install --novendor /path/to/app-name.desktop

The app-name.desktop file would look something like this:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=App Name
Comment=A description of the app
Exec=/path/to/app
TryExec=/path/to/app
Icon=/path/to/app-icon.ico
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=App-Category
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  • Thanks for the help, but that doesn't pin it on the Unity launcher.
    – Dave
    Jul 18, 2012 at 19:17
  • unity --replace?
    – SirCharlo
    Jul 18, 2012 at 19:25
  • While this added it in the um... launcher thingy (Dash home) it did not pin it, even with unity --replace. However I could easily pin it after this by dragging it from the dash to the sidebar.
    – dlamblin
    Jan 14, 2013 at 21:01

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