Packaging guidelines

This section provides a list of categories used on SUSE Linux. They are needed to sort desktop menu entries into submenus. The list is based on the desktop menu specification, see http://freedesktop.org/Standards/menu-spec.

Documentation relates to the Freedesktop Desktop Menu Specification, version 1.1-draft, dated 31 March 2011, with changes made up to Apr 4 April 2014.

For information about packaging desktop file in openSUSE, look at the Packaging Guidelines, section Desktop files.

Some of the categories were renamed in the past. The old names are additionally mentioned as 'obsoletes' in the lists below. They are automatically renamed by the %suse_update_desktop_file macro.

There is no strict hierarchy in the categories. You can list as many categories and subcategories as you want, using ; as a seperator. E.g. if your package is a printing utility, a text editor utility, and helps developing documentation, you could say Categories=Development;Utility;Documentation;Printing;TextEditor

Despite the above, /usr/lib/rpm/brp-suse.d/brp-30-desktop strictly enforces to always have *at least* one category followed by a subcategory. A correct minimal line looks like this:

Categories=Graphics;2DGraphics;

Note that there is no direct mapping from RPM Groups to XDG Categories.

Standard categories

Using recommended categories, you will get a desktop file, that is well sorted in all types of menus and in all GNU/Linux distributions.

Audio

Use these together with the Audio category as in Categories=Audio;Player;. Possible additional main category: AudioVideo. Obsoletes Multimedia.

AudioVideoEditing
HamRadio
Midi
Mixer
Player
Recorder
Sequencer
Tuner

AudioVideo

Use these together with the AudioVideo category as in Categories=AudioVideo;Player;. Possible additional main categories: Audio and/or Video. Obsoletes Multimedia.

AudioVideoEditing
Database
DiscBurning
Midi
Mixer
Music
Player
Recorder
Sequencer
TV
Tuner

Development

Use these together with the Development category as in Categories=Development;IDE;.

Building
Database
Debugger
Documentation — upstream did not assign any main category, SUSE allows it here
GUIDesigner
IDE
Profiling
ProjectManagement
RevisionControl
Translation
WebDevelopment
X-SuSE-Design

Education

Use these together with the Education category, for example, Categories=Education;Astronomy;.

Art
ArtificialIntelligence
Astronomy
Biology
Chemistry
ComputerScience
Construction
DataVisualization
Economy
Electricity
Engineering — upstream did not assign any main category, SUSE allows it here
Geography
Geology
Geoscience
History
Humanities
ImageProcessing
Languages — obsoletes Language and X-KDE-Edu-Language
Literature
Maps
Math
MedicalSoftware
Music
NumericalAnalysis with possible larger category Math
ParallelComputing with possible larger category ComputerScience
Physics
Robotics
Science is now a main category
Spirituality
Sports
Teaching — do not use, not part of upstream spec yet, outside SUSE, only X-KDE-Edu-Teaching is valid

Game

Use these together with the Game category, as in Categories=Game;ArcadeGame;.

ActionGame
AdventureGame
Amusement — upstream did not assign any main category, SUSE allows it here
ArcadeGame
BlocksGame
BoardGame
CardGame
Emulator
KidsGame
LogicGame
PlatformGame — however SUSE allows it here, upstream allows only ArcadeGame
RolePlaying — obsoletes RolePlayingGame
Shooter
Simulation — obsoletes SimulationGame
SportsGame
StrategyGame

Graphics

Use these together with the Graphics category, for example, Categories=Graphics;Viewer;.

2DGraphics with allowed additional keywords RasterGraphics and VectorGraphics
3DGraphics
OCR with possible larger category Scanning
Photography
Publishing
RasterGraphics
Scanning
VectorGraphics
Viewer

Internet

Do not use this category. Use Network instead. It is not part of upstream specification. It was used together with the Network category, as in Categories=Network;Email;.

Dialup — obsoletes DialUp
Email
FileTransfer
HamRadio
InstantMessaging
IRCClient
Monitor
News — obsoletes Newsreader
P2P
RemoteAccess
Telephony — obsoletes Telephone
WebBrowser
WebDevelopment

Multimedia

Do not use this category. Use Audio, Video and/or AudioVideo instead. It is not part of upstream specification. It was used together with the AudioVideo category, for example, Categories=AudioVideo;AudioMixer;.

Midi
Mixer — obsoletes AudioMixer
Music
AudioVideoEditing
Player — obsoletes AudioVideoPlayer
Video;Player — fix the bug that video player goes into audio player section in kickoff menu
Recorder — obsoletes AudioVideoRecorder
DiscBurning — obsoletes Burning
CD
Jukebox
Sequencer
Tuner
TV

Network

Use these together with the Network category, for example, Categories=Network;Email;.

Chat
Dialup
Email
Feed
FileTransfer
HamRadio
IRCClient
InstantMessaging
Monitor
News
P2P
RemoteAccess
Telephony
VideoConference
WebBrowser
WebDevelopment

Office

Use these together with the Office category, for example, Categories=Office;Presentation;.

Calendar
Chart
ContactManagement — obsoletes AddressBook
Database
Dictionary with possible larger category TextTools
Email
Finance
FlowChart
PDA
Photography
Presentation
ProjectManagement
Publishing
Spreadsheet
Viewer
WordProcessor

Science

Use these together with the Science category, for example, Categories=Science;Geology;. In past, this main category was just a part of Education. Now it is main category.

Art
ArtificialIntelligence
Astronomy
Biology
Chemistry
ComputerScience
Construction
DataVisualization
Economy
Electricity
Engineering — upstream did not assign any main category, SUSE allows it here
Geography
Geology
Geoscience
History
Humanities
ImageProcessing
Languages — obsoletes Language and X-KDE-Edu-Language
Literature
Maps
Math
MedicalSoftware
NumericalAnalysis with possible larger category Math
ParallelComputing with possible larger category ComputerScience
Physics
Robotics
Spirituality
Sports

Settings

Use these together with the Settings category, for example, Categories=Settings;HardwareSettings;.

Accessibility
DesktopSettings
HardwareSettings
PackageManager
Printing
Security

System

Use these together with the System category, for example, Categories=System;Emulator;.

Applet — do not use, upstream proposes Utility;Monitor; or Utility;Clock; for applets
Archiving — do not use here, upstream proposes Utility;Archiving;
Backup — not supported any more, use Utility;Archiving;, see below
Database — do not use here, upstream proposes main categories Office, Development or AudioVideo
Documentation — upstream did not assign any main category, SUSE allows it here
Emulator
FileManager
FileTools
Filesystem
HardwareSettings — do not use here, upstream proposes Settings;HardwareSettings;
Monitor
Network is now a main category
PackageManager — do not use here, upstream proposes System;PackageManager;
RemoteAccess — do not use here, upstream proposes Network;RemoteAccess;
Screensaver — do not use, not part of upstream spec
Security
SystemSetup — do not use, not part of upstream spec
Telephony — do not use, use either Utility;TelephonyTools; or Network;Telephony;; obsoletes Telephone
TerminalEmulator
TrayIcon — do not use, not part of upstream spec
X-SuSE-Backup — SUSE specific, not upstreamable, use Utility;Archiving;

Utility

Use these together with the Utility category, as in Categories=Utility;TextEditor;.

Accessibility
Applet — however SUSE allows it here, upstream proposes Monitor or Clock for applets
Archiving with allowed additional keyword Compression
Calculator
Clock
Compression
DesktopUtility — not supported any more, see below
FileTools only possible in combination with FileManager. When used alone it is removed automatically in the build process!
PDA — do not use here, upstream proposes Office;PDA;
Printing — upstream is confusing, SUSE allows it here
Maps
Security — do not use here, upstream proposes Settings;Security; or System;Security;
Shell — do not use; console implementations should use System;TerminalEmulator;, console only applications technology category ConsoleOnly
Spirituality
SyncUtility — not supported any more, see below
Telephony — do not use in this way, use either Utility;TelephonyTools; or Network;Telephony;
TelephonyTools
TextEditor
TextTools — now allowed by brp-30-desktop
TimeUtility — not supported any more, see below
WebUtility — not supported any more, see below
X-SUSE-DesktopUtility — SUSE specific, not upstreamable
X-SUSE-TimeUtility — SUSE specific, not upstreamable
X-SUSE-WebUtility — SUSE specific, not upstreamable
X-SUSE-SyncUtility — SUSE specific, not upstreamable

Video

Use these together with the Video category as in Categories=Video;Player;. Possible additional main category: AudioVideo. Obsoletes Multimedia.

AudioVideoEditing
Player
Recorder
TV

Special categories

These categories define additional information that can help to build better menu.

Adult — Application handles adult or explicit material.
Core — Important application, core to the desktop such as a file manager or a help browser.

Technology categories

In difference to standard categories, technology categories define a technology used for the application (e. g. graphics toolkit). This additional information helps to the system with picking the best default application for particular environment.

GTK
GTK;GNOME
GTK;XFCE
Qt
Qt;KDE
Motif
Java
ConsoleOnly

SUSE categories enforcement

In addition to required desktop rules, upstream also proposes a rule, that each category from the main category has a corresponding additional category, and vice versa. SUSE enforces this rules, as it makes possible to create well structured menus, without items “hanging” in the first menu level.

Examples

Valid examples

Categories=Office;Spreadsheet;: Simple and straightforward. Office is a correct main category for Spreadsheet.

Categories=Office;Spreadsheet;Graphics;2DGraphics;: This is a set of categories for an application that is intended to appear twice in structured menus. Office is a correct main category for Spreadsheet. Graphics is a correct main category for 2DGraphics.

Categories=Audio;Video;Player;: This is a set of categories for an application that could appear twice in structured menus. Player is a correct additional category for both Audio and Video. Well, your could think about adding main category AudioVideo as well.

Invalid examples

Categories=Spreadsheet;: There is no relevant main category for Spreadsheet.

Categories=Graphics;Spreadsheet;: Graphics is an invalid main category for Spreadsheet.

Categories=Graphics;Utility;: Two main categories were picked without any additional categories specified.

Categories=Office;Graphics;Spreadsheet;: Office is a correct main category for Spreadsheet. But there is no additional category for Graphics main category.

SUSE specific categories

In addition to the XDG Categories listed above, there are also some SUSE-specific categories that are not currently part of the specification. Those categories must be prefixed by "X-SuSE-". However, the prefix is not mentioned in the lists because the situation is evolving and the categories are becoming part of the specification. The %suse_update_desktop_file macro adds the prefix where needed.

openSUSE:Packaging desktop menu categories

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