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Installing and packaging File Minnow

File Minnow uses standard Linux interfaces only: inotify, XDG directories, GTK 3, X11 or Wayland, and D-Bus desktop protocols. It has no hard dependency on a particular distribution, init system or package manager. A .deb package is provided for Debian-based systems; every other distribution can use the portable archive or build from source.

Build from source (any distribution)

You need a current stable Rust toolchain (rustup), a C compiler, pkg-config and the GTK 3 development files:

Distribution Command
Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Pop!_OS sudo apt install build-essential pkg-config libgtk-3-dev
Fedora sudo dnf install gcc pkg-config gtk3-devel
Arch, Manjaro, EndeavourOS sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel gtk3
openSUSE sudo zypper install gcc pkg-config gtk3-devel
Alpine (musl) sudo apk add build-base pkgconf gtk+3.0-dev 
cargo build --release --locked
# Command-line tool and index daemon only, without GTK:
cargo build --release --locked --no-default-features

The binary is target/release/file-minnow.

Install for your user only

install -Dm755 target/release/file-minnow ~/.local/bin/file-minnow
install -Dm644 packaging/file-minnow.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/org.fileminnow.FileMinnow.desktop
install -Dm644 packaging/file-minnow.svg ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/file-minnow.svg
for size in 16 22 24 32 48 64 128 256; do
  install -Dm644 packaging/icons/file-minnow-$size.png ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/${size}x${size}/apps/file-minnow.png
done

Make sure ~/.local/bin is on your PATH. Remove those files to uninstall. Your settings (~/.config/file-minnow) and index (~/.cache/file-minnow) are kept until you delete them.

Debian, Ubuntu and Linux Mint package

cargo build --release --locked
python3 scripts/package.py --format deb
sudo apt install ./dist/file-minnow_*_amd64.deb

For a package that also runs on older releases, build inside the provided Docker image (Ubuntu 22.04 baseline: glibc 2.35, GTK 3.24). The result runs on Linux Mint 21+, Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+ and similar:

docker build --file packaging/Dockerfile --target export --output type=local,dest=dist/build .
python3 scripts/package.py --binary dist/build/file-minnow

The script reads the binary's architecture and required glibc version, and writes the package, a portable archive and dist/manifest.json with checksums. Pass --maintainer 'Name <email>' for a public release. Installing or removing the package never starts the application, enables autostart, or deletes user settings and indexes. Remove it with sudo apt remove file-minnow.

Portable archive (other glibc distributions)

scripts/package.py --format tar produces file-minnow-<version>-linux-<arch>.tar.gz with the same usr/ layout as the package. Run usr/bin/file-minnow directly, or copy the files as in "Install for your user only". The runtime needs GTK 3 (normally installed with any desktop), a user D-Bus session for the tray and portals, and xdg-open.

A glibc build does not run on musl-based systems such as Alpine; build from source there.

Snap

snap/snapcraft.yaml builds a strictly confined snap (core22 base, GNOME extension). .github/workflows/snap.yml builds it in a clean LXD container, installs it and runs a search with it; a published GitHub release also uploads it to the Snap Store when the repository has a SNAPCRAFT_STORE_CREDENTIALS secret. To build it yourself, run snapcraft pack (it needs snapd and LXD or Multipass).

A confined snap works differently from the package:

  • It can index your home folder, except hidden files and folders directly inside it (~/.config, ~/.cache…). Drives under /media, /run/media and /mnt need snap connect file-minnow:removable-media. Recognising network folders and drives being plugged in needs snap connect file-minnow:mount-observe. System folders such as /usr or /etc belong to the snap's own runtime, so indexing them is not useful.
  • Open, Open With, Open Containing Folder and Move to Trash go through the desktop portal (xdg-desktop-portal). Open in Terminal and the file manager's custom actions are not offered, because a snap cannot start the computer's other programs. Properties shows File Minnow's own summary.
  • Start at login works as usual; snapd starts the app with your session.
  • Results in GNOME's overview and KRunner, and adding Search Here to file managers, are not available: a snap cannot install them.
  • Thumbnails are made only for pictures, and kept in the snap's own cache.
  • The index is kept in ~/snap/file-minnow/common/.cache/file-minnow and the settings in ~/snap/file-minnow/current/.config/file-minnow, separate from a package install.

Starting automatically

Choose one of these, or neither:

  • Window in the tray at login. Tick Options → Interface → Start File Minnow at login. This writes ~/.config/autostart/file-minnow.desktop, which starts file-minnow gui --hidden; without a working tray the window stays visible. Untick it to remove the entry.
  • Background index service. The package installs a systemd user unit but does not enable it. Enable it with systemctl --user enable --now file-minnow.service; the window attaches to it when opened. Without systemd, start file-minnow daemon with your session's autostart mechanism.

Enabling both is only useful if you want the index to keep running after the window quits.

File manager integration

The package installs a Search Here with File Minnow entry for folders in Nemo (/usr/share/nemo/actions) and Dolphin (/usr/share/kio/servicemenus). GNOME Files (Nautilus), Caja and Thunar keep such entries per user: add it for your account in Options → Interface, which also covers Nemo and Dolphin for a portable or per-user install. It writes a script to ~/.local/share/nautilus/scripts or ~/.config/caja/scripts, a custom action to ~/.config/Thunar/uca.xml (keeping your other actions), or an action or service menu under ~/.local/share, and removes it again from the same place.

Desktop search (GNOME Shell, KRunner)

The package installs a GNOME Shell search provider (/usr/share/gnome-shell/search-providers/org.fileminnow.FileMinnow.search-provider.ini), a KRunner plugin (/usr/share/krunner/dbusplugins/file-minnow.desktop) and the D-Bus service that starts file-minnow search-provider when the desktop searches (/usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.fileminnow.FileMinnow.SearchProvider.service). Nothing runs until you search, and the provider exits a minute after the last search. Turn the results off in GNOME Settings → Search or in KDE's KRunner settings.

GNOME Shell reads search providers only from the system data folders, so a per-user install cannot offer them there. KRunner and D-Bus also read per-user folders: copy packaging/file-minnow-krunner.desktop to ~/.local/share/krunner/dbusplugins/ and packaging/org.fileminnow.FileMinnow.SearchProvider.service to ~/.local/share/dbus-1/services/, changing its Exec= line to where file-minnow is.

Desktop compatibility

  • Global shortcut. On X11 File Minnow registers the shortcut directly. On Wayland it uses the GlobalShortcuts portal where the compositor provides one; the desktop may ask you to confirm. You can also bind file-minnow toggle to a key in your desktop's keyboard settings.
  • Tray icon. Uses StatusNotifierItem, as on Cinnamon, KDE Plasma, Xfce (with its status notifier plugin), MATE and Budgie. GNOME needs the AppIndicator extension. Without a tray, the window stays available and closing it quits.
  • Wayland window behaviour. Showing and hiding the window from the shortcut is fully verified on X11. On Wayland the compositor decides about focus, and behaviour can vary.