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<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN"
"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd" [
<!ENTITY version "0.5">
<!ENTITY dtd-version "0.5">
]>
<article id="index">
<articleinfo>
<title>Desktop Application Autostart Specification</title>
<releaseinfo>Version &version;</releaseinfo>
<date>13 February 2006</date>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>John</firstname>
<surname>Palmieri</surname>
<affiliation>
<address>
<email>johnp@redhat.com</email>
</address>
</affiliation>
</author>
<author>
<firstname>Kévin</firstname>
<surname>Ottens</surname>
<affiliation>
<address>
<email>ervin@ipsquad.net</email>
</address>
</affiliation>
</author>
<author>
<firstname>Renato</firstname>
<surname>Caldas</surname>
<affiliation>
<address>
<email>seventhguardian_@hotmail.com</email>
</address>
</affiliation>
</author>
<author>
<firstname>Rodrigo</firstname>
<surname>Moya</surname>
<affiliation>
<address>
<email>rodrigo@gnome-db.org</email>
</address>
</affiliation>
</author>
<author>
<firstname>Waldo</firstname>
<surname>Bastian</surname>
<affiliation>
<address>
<email>bastian@kde.org</email>
</address>
</affiliation>
</author>
</authorgroup>
</articleinfo>
<sect1 id="introduction">
<title>Introduction</title>
<para>
This DRAFT document defines a method for automatically starting
applications during the startup of a desktop environment and after
mounting a removable medium.
</para>
<para>
Some of the file locations in this specification are specified based
on the <ulink url="http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/">
"desktop base directory specification"</ulink>.
</para>
<para>
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL
NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as
described in RFC 2119.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="startup">
<title>Autostart Of Applications During Startup</title>
<para>
By placing an application's .desktop file
in one of the Autostart directories the application will be
automatically launched during startup of the user's desktop environment after the user
has logged in.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Autostart Directories</title>
<para>
The Autostart Directories are $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/autostart as defined
in accordance with the
<ulink url="http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html#referencing">
"Referencing this specification"</ulink> section in the
<ulink url="http://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/">
"desktop base directory specification"</ulink>.
</para>
<para>
If the same filename is located under multiple Autostart Directories
only the file under the most important directory should be used.
</para>
<informalexample>
<para>
Example: If $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is not set the Autostart Directory
in the user's home directory is ~/.config/autostart/
</para>
</informalexample>
<informalexample>
<para>
Example: If $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS is not set the system wide Autostart
Directory is /etc/xdg/autostart/
</para>
</informalexample>
<informalexample>
<para>
Example: If $XDG_CONFIG_HOME and $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS are not set and
the two files /etc/xdg/autostart/foo.desktop and
~/.config/autostart/foo.desktop exist then only the file
~/.config/autostart/foo.desktop will be used because
~/.config/autostart/ is more important than /etc/xdg/autostart/
</para>
</informalexample>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Application .desktop Files</title>
<para>
An application .desktop file must have the format as defined in
the <ulink url="http://standards.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/">
"Desktop Entry Specification"</ulink>. All keys should be
interpreted as defined with the following exceptions in order to
take into account that the .desktop files in an autostart directory
are not shown in a menu.
</para>
<sect3>
<title>Hidden Key</title>
<para>
When the .desktop file has the Hidden key set to true, the .desktop
file MUST be ignored. When multiple .desktop files with the
same name exists in multiple directories then only the Hidden key
in the most important .desktop file must be considered: If it is
set to true all .desktop files with the same name
in the other directories MUST be ignored as well.
</para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>OnlyShowIn and NotShowIn Keys</title>
<para>
The OnlyShownIn entry may contain a list of strings identifying
the desktop environments that MUST autostart this application,
all other desktop environments MUST NOT autostart this application.
</para>
<para>
The NotShownIn entry may contain a list of strings identifying
the desktop environments that MUST NOT autostart this
application, all other desktop environments MUST autostart this
application.
</para>
<para>
Only one of these keys, either OnlyShowIn or NotShowIn, may appear
in a single .desktop file.
</para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>TryExec Key</title>
<para>
A .desktop file with a non-empty TryExec field MUST NOT be
autostarted if the value of the TryExec key does NOT match with
an installed executable program. The value of the TryExec field
may either be an absolute path or the name of an executable
without any path components. If the name of an executable is
specified without any path components then the $PATH environment
is searched to find a matching executable program.
</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Implementation Notes</title>
<informalexample>
<para>
If an application autostarts by having a .desktop file installed
in the system wide autostart directory, an individual user can
disable the autotomatic start of this application by placing a
.desktop file of the same name in its personal autostart directory
which contains the key Hidden=true.
</para>
</informalexample>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="mounting">
<title>Autostart Of Applications After Mount</title>
<para>
When a desktop environment mounts a new medium, the medium may contain
an Autostart file that can suggest to start an application or
an Autoopen file that can suggest to open a specific file located
on the medium.
</para>
<sect2>
<title>Autostart Files</title>
<para>
When a new medium is mounted the root directory of the medium should
be checked for the following Autostart files in order of precendence:
.autorun, autorun, autorun.sh
Only the first file that is present should be considered.
</para>
<para>
The desktop environment MAY ignore Autostart files altogether
based on policy set by the user, system administrator or vendor.
</para>
<para>
The desktop environment MUST prompt the user for confirmation before
automatically starting an application.
</para>
<para>
When an Autostart file has been detected and the user has confirmed
its execution the autostart file MUST be executed with the
current working directory (CWD) set to the root directory of the
medium.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Autoopen Files</title>
<para>
When a new medium is mounted and a) the medium does not contain an
Autostart file or b) a policy to ignore Autostart files is in effect
then the root directory of the medium should be checked for the
following Autoopen files in order of precedence:
.autoopen, autoopen .
Only the first file that is present should be considered.
</para>
<para>
The desktop environment MAY ignore Autoopen files altogether
based on policy set by the user, system administrator or vendor.
</para>
<para>
An Autoopen file MUST contain a single relative path that points to
a non-executable file contained on the medium.
If the file contains a newline or carriage return character then the
newline or carriage return character itself and all characters that
follow MUST be ignored.
</para>
<para>
The relative path MUST NOT contain path components that refer to a
parent directory (../)
</para>
<para>
The relative path MUST NOT point to an executable file.
</para>
<para>
The desktop environment MUST verify that the relative path points to
a file that is actually located on the medium, taking into account any
symbolic or other links and MUST ignore any relative path that
points to a file location outside the medium itself.
</para>
<para>
If the relative path points to an executable file then the desktop
environment MUST NOT execute the file.
</para>
<para>
The desktop environment MUST prompt the user for confirmation before
opening the file.
</para>
<para>
When an Autoopen file has been detected and the user has confirmed
that the file indicated in the Autoopen file should be opened then
the file indicated in the Autoopen file MUST be opened in the
application normally preferred by the user for files of its kind
UNLESS the user instructed otherwise.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
</article>
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