j4-dmenu-desktop
j4-dmenu-desktop is a replacement for i3-dmenu-desktop. It's purpose is to find .desktop files and offer you a menu to start an application using dmenu. Since r2.7 j4-dmenu-desktop doesn't require i3wm anymore and should work just fine on about any desktop environment.
You can also execute shell commands using it.
Project status
I consider j4-dmenu-desktop pretty much feature complete since a few years: larger new features need a compelling reason and a good patch. Preferably discuss it before putting more work into it.
Build requirements
- Compiler with basic C++11 support (GCC 4.77 or later required, Clang works, too)
- CMake
Building is the usual cmake/make thingy:
cmake .
make
sudo make install
Distribution packages
Archlinux 
The package is provided by the AUR. You can install it with an AUR helper of your choice: j4-dmenu-desktop-git or j4-dmenu-desktop. Else, you may install it manually by invoking the following commands as a regular user. (to build packages from the AUR, the base-devel package group is assumed to be installed)
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/j4-dmenu-desktop.git
cd j4-dmenu-desktop
makepkg -si
or for the latest:
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/j4-dmenu-desktop-git.git
cd j4-dmenu-desktop-git
makepkg -si
FreeBSD
j4-dmenu-desktop is now available in the FreeBSD Ports Collection. A prebuilt package can be installed via
pkg install j4-dmenu-desktop
Gentoo
j4-dmenu-desktop is available in Portage for the amd64 and x86 architectures. You can install it via
echo "x11-misc/j4-dmenu-desktop ~amd64 ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.accept_keywords
emerge --ask x11-misc/j4-dmenu-desktop
The package is also provided by the gentoo-el overlay. You can install it with the following commands as root. (you need to have layman installed and configured)
layman -a gentoo-el
echo "=x11-misc/j4-dmenu-desktop-9999 **" >> /etc/portage/package.accept_keywords
emerge x11-misc/j4-dmenu-desktop
Ubuntu
The package is now in the apt repository. You can install it via
sudo apt-get install j4-dmenu-desktop
Debian
j4-dmenu-desktop is in Debian stable:
sudo apt install j4-dmenu-desktop
Nix / NixOS
j4-dmenu-desktop is in nixpkgs:
nix-env --install j4-dmenu-desktop
# Or use pkgs attribute of the same name in NixOS configuration
Invocation
Usage:
j4-dmenu-desktop [--dmenu="dmenu -i"] [--term="i3-sensible-terminal"]
j4-dmenu-desktop --help
Options:
--dmenu=<command>
Determines the command used to invoke dmenu
Executed with your shell ($SHELL) or /bin/sh
--use-xdg-de
Enables reading $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP to determine the desktop environment
--display-binary
Display binary name after each entry (off by default)
--no-generic
Do not include the generic name of desktop entries
--wrapper=<wrapper>
A wrapper binary. Useful in case you want to wrap into 'i3 exec'
--term=<command>
Sets the terminal emulator used to start terminal apps
--usage-log=<file>
Must point to a read-writeable file (will create if not exists).
In this mode entries are sorted by usage frequency.
--wait-on=<path>
Must point to a path where a file can be created.
In this mode no menu will be shown. Instead the program waits for <path>
to be written to (use echo > path). Every time this happens a menu will be shown.
Desktop files are parsed ahead of time.
Perfoming 'echo -n q > path' will exit the program.
--no-exec
Do not execute selected command, send to stdout instead
--help
Display this help message
Environment variables
- $SHELL is respected, and if absent /bin/sh is used
- XDG-spec variables (XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP, XDG_DATA_HOME, HOME) are respected
FAQ / RAQ / RMR
Case insensitivity?
Add the -i option to the dmenu command
I want it to display normal binaries, too, yes?
You can put this in a script file and use it instead of calling j4dd directly:
j4-dmenu-desktop --dmenu="(cat ; (stest -flx $(echo $PATH | tr : ' ') | sort -u)) | dmenu"
Exchanging the cat and (stest ... sort -u) parts will swap the two parts (j4dd's output and the list of binaries).
Get the output into a pipe / launching a program by arbitrary user input
How much faster is it?
% time i3-dmenu-desktop --dmenu="cat"
[{"success":true}]
i3-dmenu-desktop --dmenu="cat" 0.37s user 0.02s system 96% cpu 0.404 total
% time ./j4-dmenu-desktop --dmenu=cat
./j4-dmenu-desktop --dmenu=cat 0.01s user 0.01s system 107% cpu 0.015 total
More than 25 times faster :)