i have linux rh 9 with gnome.

how do i add applications to the sub menus of the main menu?

1. Open up nautilus
2. In the location bar, type "applications://"
3. add symbolic links to the programs you want

how do i make symbolic links? there is nothing in any of the menus that suggest the ability to do so. when i try to open the new launcher selection in the pulldown brought on by the right click, nothing happens, even as root. when i try to copy a launcher, i get an unsupported action.

Oops, sorry, you don't actually want to create symbolic links. Instead:
3. Right click in the window.
4. Choose "Create Launcher" (If you want to create a submenu, go "Create Folder" instead.
5. Fill in the values you want and click OK

When I try to do this (as user or root) I get an error - "Unsupported Opperation."

However if I edit the ".desktop" files in /usr/share/applications, I have no problems and the changes are reflected immediately.

Could someone please explain why this is???

Thanks in Advance
From Ian

Sometimes when installing applications the links are not created by default. To add one manually follow these steps:

$ cd /usr/share/applications
$ sudo nano myapp.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Name = myapp
Comment = My Aplication
Exec = /usr/bin/myapp
Icon = /usr/share/myapp/myapp.png
Terminal = false
Type = Application
Categories = Application;AudioVideo;

Ctrl+O to save the changes
(There are more parameters but im not gonna write them all)

The most important parameters are Exec, Icon, Terminal and Categories.

Exec: The application launcher.

Icon: The icon path

Terminal: true if requires terminal

Categories: This one sets where the launcher will be shown.

Now if you go to Applications->Sound & Video you will see the MyApp launcher.

enjoy!