Ubuntu Wiki

In order to make your application appear in the Applications→Add/Remove tool... (gnome-app-install), there are two steps to make:

• add a "X-AppInstall-Package" line to your .desktop

• when package is being installed:
  • place the .desktop into /usr/share/app-install/desktop
  • place the png (svgs render poorly) into /usr/share/app-install/icons
  • and run "sudo update-app-install" to update the database

Setting up the .desktop

The exact syntax for using the X-AppInstall-Package line is documented here, but in short form, you simply add the X-AppInstall-Package=<package name> line to your .desktop. Add/Remove will automatically use the description, name, and icon in it's display.

For bonus points - to make Add/Remove display the usage stats (stars), add the "X-AppInstall-Popcon=<number>" field, where <number> is the amount of installs (available here: http://popcon.ubuntu.com/by_vote)

Updating the database

To update Add/Remove's database, you need to run "sudo update-app-install". After that, your .desktop will appear in it's index as a regular program!

For Repositories

If you have a repository with the proper .desktop files and you'd like those programs be listed in gnome-app-install, such that the user can use Add/Remove to install the programs, this crawler script will help you with setting that up.

Didn't work?

This can be rather tricky for new people, so feel free to contact me.