Launch Application from Any Terminal or Create Shortcut in Linux

This post though created using Ubuntu, should be applicable to all *nix distros.

If you install or compile a non-native linux application (third party app), there are times when the installation would not create a shortcut for itself in your start menu and you have to launch the application by going to its directory.

To fix this problem you have two options

1. Create a shortcut (symbolic link) for the application in /usr/local/bin: This enables you to launch the application from any terminal window.
2. Once you have created the shortcut in /usr/local/bin you can add a Desktop or Start Menu launcher / shortcut.

For step 1: Run the command

cd /usr/loca/bin

Now in the code below replace the “absolute_path_to_the_application_executable” and “name_of_the_shortcut” with appropriate details of your application.

ln -s /absolute_path_to_the_application_executable name_of_the_shortcut

For Step 2: To add a new shortcut entry in the start menu, right click on the Main menu bar and select Edit Menus.

This would open the Menu Editor similar to the one shown below

Now to add a new entry select the category you want to add to and then click on +New Item

Now enter the details of the application you want to create a shortcut for. Thats it!

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