AppImages are great: a single runtime containing all of the dependencies needed for an app to run in a double-click binary that can be run from anywhere on your system.
Therein lies the rub.
If I download an AppImage for software like Audacity, Kdenlive, etc., it’s almost always to my Downloads folder.
To run it, I navigate to the folder I downloaded it to, right-click on the binary, give it permission to execute, and double-click on it to run.
But if I don’t manually create a .desktop file for the AppImage it will not show in the Ubuntu app launcher/menu for quick, no-fuss launching.
In 2022 I featured a small tool what was able to integrate AppImages on Ubuntu more easily.
With that tool installed, the first time you run a new AppImage it can automatically create a system shortcut and move the runtime to a (safe) directory of your choosing.
Sadly, that tool is no longer under active development (it hasn’t been updated since 2022, though it still works in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS if you download the DEB installer from the ‘continuous release’ section of the the GitHub project page).
But you shouldn’t do that.
Why?
Because there’s a fantastic new replacement that does all of the above plus a fair bit more besides.
Gear Lever – Essential for AppImage Users
Lorenzo Paderi’s Gear Lever is a simple, straightforward app to streamline managing, configuring, and even updating AppImages on Ubuntu and other Linux distributions.
It will organise and move AppImage runtimes for you; create desktop entries with app metadata and icons to make it easy to launch apps and pin them to the dock; update AppImages in-place, roll back to an older version, or keep multiple versions around to run side-by-side.
All super handy features, and the app looks great too!
Using it couldn’t be easier: install Gear Lever, then open it, drag and drop an .appimage runtime on to the main window, and details on the runtime appear. Click ‘move to app menu’ button to “integrate” the AppImage with your system, i.e., app launcher shortcut.
You can then get fancy. Perhaps group your AppImage shortcuts in their own folder in the application grid. I like to do this, as I group most apps by their respective source (not that I use anything other than search to launch things, but it looks nicer).
Features of Gear Lever at-a-glance:
- Integrate AppImages into the app launcher/menu
- Drag and drop AppImages from your file manager
- View AppImage details, including hash and version number
- Keep AppImages organised in a custom folder
- Manage updates: replace or keep multiple versions
- Set/customise environment variables for each AppImage
Sound good? Try it out!
Source code is available on Github (easily compiled using GNOME Builder), or for the low-effort route, you can fetch the latest release as a Flatpak from Flathub.
• Get Gear Lever on Flathub
Thanks Valencia