Make neovim wrapper .desktop optional

Development
1

The neovim package installs an nvim.desktop file in .../share/applications/; however, I think this should be optional since it is not necessary if neovim is used only in the terminal. In addition, there are plenty of GUI options for neovim (neovim-gtk, neovim-qt, neovide, etc.)

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Would a PR be accepted making the .desktop install optional? Should I tag someone or start a discussion here or on github?

(First time nixos user here, learning how things are done).

Thanks!

2 Likes
2

Thanks for asking this question! I am not too familiar about PR etiquette with nix, so I will defer to others about that. I suppose the question is: are there parallels in other packages, in which the desktop file is optional?

I am curious, though, what advantages there are in removing this file? Put another way, what is a scenario in which a user would desire its removal? Perhaps it is cluttering up the menus, or it doesn’t work as intended?

3

I doubt there are any conventions about this specific thing since it is such an obscure request. So the decision whether to accept a PR for this feature would fall to the maintainers of the package.

Personally, I would consider the costs compared to benefits (with alternatives in mind) and reject it:

Costs

  • Added complexity to the package expression.
  • People might disable the launcher not realizing that it would also break file associations.

Benefits

  • ÂżOne? user’s non-critical (purely cosmetic) use case would be satisfied.

Alternatives

  • User can ignore the launcher or move it to a separate screen.

  • User can do something like the following in their NixOS configuration to hide the launcher from the Shell:

    { config, lib, pkgs, ... }:
{
  environment.systemPackages = [
    (lib.hiPrio (pkgs.runCommand "nvim.desktop-hide" { } ''
      mkdir -p "$out/share/applications"
      cat "${config.programs.neovim.finalPackage}/share/applications/nvim.desktop" > "$out/share/applications/nvim.desktop"
      echo "Hidden=1" >> "$out/share/applications/nvim.desktop"
    ''))
  ];
}

    Or use NoDisplay instead of Hidden if you want file associations to keep working.

  • Use some Menu editor app to do the same as above non-declaratively.

  • …

7 Likes
4

There are a few “papercuts” for me:

  1. It says “Neovim Wrapper” which is kind of weird. I expect “Neovim”, if anything.
  2. When I double-click it, it opens a very tiny window that is basically unusable (maybe the wrapper doesn’t take my screen resolution into account? See screenshot below.)
  3. I only use vim (or neovim) in CLI scenarios; VSCode covers all of my needs in a graphical context. Having an extra GUI icon for Neovim is not useful to me, so I’m interested in the aesthetics of a clean setup.
  4. EDIT: When I use the app switcher, it shows “xterm” instead of neovim (see additional screenshot below).

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5

Thank you @jtojnar for the Alternatives–very illuminating!

1 Like
6

Could do:

(drv: pkgs.symlinkJoin {
  name = drv.name;
  paths = [ drv ];
  postBuild = "rm -rf $out/share/applications";
}) pkgs.neovim;

I use something similar for the opposite; to remove apps from CLI.

7

Unfortunately, you can only easily override the unwrapped package when using the programs.neovim.package NixOS option, so that will not work.

8

Did you perhaps uninstall Console. GLib will try to open terminal apps in few well known terminal emulators.

You could make it support Black Box with something like (untested):

environment.systemPackages = [
  (pkgs.writeShellScriptBin "xdg-terminal-exec" ''
    exec "${lib.getExe pkgs.blackbox-terminal}" -- "$@"
  '')
];
3 Likes
9

For the record, yes, I did uninstall Console.

Thanks for the assistance. I’ve removed the wrapper on my system via @jtojnar 's hiPrio systemPackages addition. Works well enough for me :slight_smile: