Jun 28, 2026, 1:24 AM@mcc .desktop files are usually placed in menus and autostart directories separate from the thing they're running: You don't normally see them in the directory with an application, because they don't work very well with relative paths. I think that's deliberate for security. :-\ You're usually better just using a shell script. But you can be hacky and do:
Exec=sh -c "exec $(dirname %k)/script.sh"
To run script.sh relatively from a .desktop file... Looks a bit ropey though.
Jun 28, 2026, 1:29 AM@kbm0 My application is already a shell script; that's the problem. GNOME Nautilus won't run shell scripts
Jun 28, 2026, 1:33 AM@mcc They seem to have been deliberately removing the ability to "accidentally" run things from Linux file managers for a while now. Xfce's Thunar still lets you run shell scripts.
The concept of bundling an application as a folder with some sort of launcher in it doesn't seem to have ever become a thing in Linux. They seem to want you to install things on the path. And as for icons...
Jun 28, 2026, 1:55 AM@kbm0 but how do I install without running a script :( I'm gonna make an elf launcher for one sh file
Jun 28, 2026, 2:24 AM@mcc Urgh. Apparently there is a preference in Nautilus to configure whether it should run scripts or not. I have never used Gnome myself.