[SOLVED] INewly installed apps. stopped showing in OpenBox Debian menu.

I make do with editing ~/.config/openbox/menu.xml and including the apps i want in the root menu but it doesn't seem right. After all, i have "menu" installed and with "update-menus" the newly installed applications should appear in the Debian menu, right?

Openbox 3.6.1

I should mention, it has it's own mind when it comes to showing apps. For eg. My browser, leafpad, pluma, abiword, even the media player, are not showing, while the recently installed GNS3 and VirtualBox are showing under Education and Emulators respectively without any effort on my part. In fact, even the categories for them were created automatically..!

Is noone using Openbox with Debian minimal anymore? Has it gone out of fashion or something?

I am using Bunsenlabs (the successor to CrunchBang) that is based on Debian Stable with Openbox. I always manually edit the menu or use gui editor (obmenu) however there is a thread on the Bunsenlabs forum may be helpful. http://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic.php?id=1753

Originally Posted by mzsade I make do with editing ~/.config/openbox/menu.xml and including the apps i want in the root menu but it doesn't seem right. After all, i have "menu" installed and with "update-menus" the newly installed applications should appear in the Debian menu, right? Openbox 3.6.1 I should mention, it has it's own mind when it comes to showing apps. For eg. My browser, leafpad, pluma, abiword, even the media player, are not showing, while the recently installed GNS3 and VirtualBox are showing under Education and Emulators respectively without any effort on my part. In fact, even the categories for them were created automatically..!

Hi.
Assuming you have "menu" installed and made a proper entry for it, it should act dynamic (while all the ob stuff becomes static).
If you did create a proper entry for the "menu" package, check for errors in .xsession-errors.

PS: If you prefer a clean (and dynamic/pipe) menu showing only desktop apps, try the "lxmenu-data" package. (https://packages.debian.org/jessie/lxmenu-data)
Add it as a pipe menu (use the ob gui tool if preferred and run it with:
obm-xdg /etc/xdg/menus/lxde-applications.menu

you need a dynamically updating menu.
one of those two should be enough:
https://github.com/trizen/obmenu-generator
http://menumaker.sourceforge.net/
although it should really all be there in the debian menu, no idea why you can't find it.

Thanks Ondoho, that menumaker's pretty nifty. But i was hoping to correct whatever was keeping the Debian menu from updating itself (had read something about menu overflow..). Anyway, with a few tweaks to the menu generated by mmaker, i think i can customize it to my liking. What a sweet utility, the things they come up with..pretty soon the average linux user will be as complacent as any Windows user.

Edit: Naah..My own obmenu is highly personalized and was created one bit at a time after months of tinkering with the system and getting comfortable with it. I just cannot do without some of the items in it, and which i found i could not add to the mmaker menu without saturating it to the extent that it stopped working. Nosirree, i will stick with my original, whatever doesn't appear in the Debian menu, i can always add to the root menu as i've done here.
http://i.imgur.com/7G4CcHF.png

Originally Posted by mzsade Edit: Naah..My own obmenu is highly personalized and was created one bit at a time after months of tinkering with the system and getting comfortable with it. I just cannot do without some of the items in it, and which i found i could not add to the mmaker menu without saturating it to the extent that it stopped working.

i'm not sure i understand.
if you have difficulty getting mmaker's menu to show up in your openbox root menu, maybe this can help:

this is how i generate the mmaker menu:

#!/bin/dash
echo '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>\n<openbox_menu>\n<menu id="mmaker" label="MenuMaker">' > ~/.config/openbox/mmaker.xml
/usr/bin/mmaker -c -i -p openbox3 | sed 's/_/ /g' >> ~/.config/openbox/mmaker.xml
echo '</menu>\n</openbox_menu>' >> ~/.config/openbox/mmaker.xml
openbox --reconfigure

and this is the <menu> section of my rc.xml:

<menu>
    <!-- You can specify more than one menu file in here and they are all loaded,
        just don't make menu ids clash or, well, it'll be kind of pointless -->
    <file>mmaker.xml</file>
    <file>menu.xml</file>
    <hideDelay>200</hideDelay>
    <middle>no</middle>
    <submenuShowDelay>100</submenuShowDelay>
    <submenuHideDelay>100</submenuHideDelay>
    <applicationIcons>yes</applicationIcons>
    <manageDesktops>yes</manageDesktops>
    <showIcons>yes</showIcons>
  </menu>

and something like this in my menu.xml:

  <separator/>
    <menu id="mmaker" />
  <separator/>

in this fashion, the mmaker menu shows up as a submenu called "mmaker".

hope this helps.

I didn't have any trouble with mmaker, "mmaker -f OpenBox" did everything automatically and generated a very neat menu with categories covering every application i had installed, from editors, media players, shells, you name it. But it overrode my own personalized menu which if you looked at the screenshot has these items which are absolutely indispensable, reboot, shutdown, the Openbox Restart button, the eject button, the buttons to switch between my ISP's DNS and OpenDNS..and when i try to add these to the mmaker menu, it stops showing everything.
Now about that part where the mmaker menu shows up as part of my openbox root menu, that is a possibility i have yet to explore.Will get back to you about how far i get with it soon. Thanks.

Originally Posted by mzsade I didn't have any trouble with mmaker, "mmaker -f OpenBox" did everything automatically and generated a very neat menu with categories covering every application i had installed, from editors, media players, shells, you name it. But it overrode my own personalized menu

yes, that's what i understood and that is exactly why i posted the example above.

@mzsade,
Are you using upstream openbox or the debian package?

"Menu" and friends work just fine for me and ob's static behavior is as expected (unless you add a proper pipe menu entry for it *inside* your existing config).
Could you post your configs (as ondoho already showed)?

This still looks like a syntax error (something like /debian vs .debian).

/usr/share/doc/menu/html is quite informative. Copied /usr/share/menu/* to /etc/menu. Managed to add to SMPlayer and Abiword to the Debian Menu. Will need some more digesting of the article on my part to add them in the proper categories but i think i've the gist of it now. And Ondoho, that howto you posted didn't work, i got a mmaker.xml file in my .config but that's it. I think i'll stick with the default menu and obmenu and try to work my way with that.
@lens By upstream, do you mean not from the repository? I am on Debian Sid and all my apps. have been installed from the repos.
Hope these are the configs you meant.
~/.config/openbox/menu.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<openbox_menu xmlns="http://openbox.org/"
        xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        xsi:schemaLocation="http://openbox.org/
                file:///usr/share/openbox/menu.xsd">

<menu id="root-menu" label="Openbox 3">
  <item label="Terminal emulator">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>x-terminal-emulator</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
		<item label="File Manager">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>xfe</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
		<item label="Text Editor">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>leafpad</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
                <item label="Abiword">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>abiword</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
                <item label="Web browser">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>x-www-browser</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
                <item label="Blender3D">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>blender</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
                <item label="SMPlayer">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>/usr/bin/smplayer</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
                <item label="Equalizer">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>pulseaudio-equalizer-gtk</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
                <item label="Package Manager">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>gksudo synaptic</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
                <item label="Volume">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>pavucontrol</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
                <item label="Pluma">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>pluma</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
                <item label="OpenDNS">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>gksudo /home/sade/opendns.sh</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
                <item label="MTNLDNS">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>gksudo /home/sade/mtnldns.sh</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
		<item label="WICD">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>wicd-gtk</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
		<item label="Emacs">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>emacs</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
		<item label="Vim-Gtk">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>gvim</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
                <item label="EJECT">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>eject</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
                <item label="Panel">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>tint2</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
                <item label="Kill Panel">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>killall tint2</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
		<item label="Conky">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>conky -q</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
                <item label="Kill Conky">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>killall conky wget sed</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
                <item label="Clear Cache">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>gksudo /home/sade/scripts/clearcache.sh</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
                <item label="No Blank">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>/home/sade/Documents/noblank.sh</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
                <item label="Reboot">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>gksudo reboot</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
		<item label="Shutdown">
			<action name="Execute">
				<execute>gksudo poweroff -i -f</execute>
			</action>
		</item>
  <!-- This requires the presence of the 'menu' package to work -->
  <menu id="/Debian" />
  <separator />
  <menu id="client-list-menu" />
  <separator />
  <item label="ObConf">
    <action name="Execute"><execute>obconf</execute></action>
  </item>
  <item label="Reconfigure">
    <action name="Reconfigure" />
  </item>
  <item label="Restart">
    <action name="Restart" />
  </item>
  <separator />
  <item label="Exit">
    <action name="Exit" />
  </item>
</menu>

/etc/menu-methods/menu.h

#   -*- mode: shell-script; -*-
#The definitions here are used by all window managers that !include menu.h.
#This way, you can set your preferences (like whether to use xterm/rxvt,
#how long do you want your menu titles, etc) for all window-managers.
#
#This file is part of the menu package (version 1.4 and higher).
#For more information, see /usr/share/doc/menu/html

#If you prefer long titles, change the definition below accordingly.

function title()=$title

#function title()=ifelse($longtitle,$longtitle,$title)

#If you don't like to see the icons, (un)comment (out) the lines below:
function icon()=ifelse($icon32x32, $icon32x32, \
                  ifelse($icon16x16, $icon16x16, $icon))
function icon()= ""

#Define the X terminal emulator to use for text apps under X11.
#The following use the x-terminal-emulator alternative.
 
function term()=\
    "x-terminal-emulator " ifnempty($visible,"-ut") \
        ifnempty($geometry,"-geometry ") $geometry \
        " -T \"" esc(title(),"\\\"") "\"" \
        " -e sh -c \"" esc($command,"\\\"") "\""

#The above is more correct but unfortunately, some menu-methods 
#do not support ''.
        
#function term()=\
#    "x-terminal-emulator " ifnempty($visible,"-ut") \
#        ifnempty($geometry,"-geometry ") $geometry \
#        " -T '" escwith(title(),"'","'\\'") \ 
#        "' -e sh -c '" escwith($command,"'","'\\'") "'"

#Examples:
#Use a specially cooked xterm instead:
#function term()=\
#    "xterm -sb -sl 500 -j -ls -fn 7x14 -geometry 80x30"\
#        " -T '" escwith(title(),"'","'\\'") \
#        "' -e sh -c '" escwith($command,"'","'\\'") "'"
 
#Force use of  rxvt:
#function term()=\
#    "rxvt " ifnempty($visible,"-ut") \
#        ifnempty($geometry,"-geometry ") $geometry \
#        " -T '" escwith(title(),"'","'\\'") \
#        "' -e sh -c '" escwith($command,"'","'\\'") "'"
        


# This sort menu entry case-insensitively.
sort=$sort ":" tolower(title())
  
#If you want your submenus to come before the commands themselves
#in the menus (in case of mixed menus):
#
#sort=$sort ":" ifelse($command, "1", "0" ) ":" title()

#Activate menu section translations:
outputlanguage="LOCALE"
#menu-methods need to set 'outputencoding' before translations are really
#enabled.


#The following is for the hints (or optimised tree structure):
# (For more info on these variables, see /usr/share/doc/menu/*)

#If you want menu to optimize the tree, set this to true:
hint_optimize=true
#for more info on the other variables, see /usr/share/doc/menu/
hint_nentry=6
hint_topnentry=5
hint_mixedpenalty=15
#
#The variables below are only useful if you want to speedup
#the finding of the best tree.
hint_minhintfreq=0.1
hint_mlpenalty=2000
hint_max_ntry=4
hint_max_iter_hint=5
hint_debug=false


forcetree
#Due to the existance of both /Apps/System and /System,
#menu gets confused. So, force /System in it's own section
  System
endforcetree

~/.config/openbox/debian-menu.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!-- Automatically generated file. Do not edit (see /usr/share/doc/menu/html) -->

<openbox_menu xmlns="http://openbox.org/"
        xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        xsi:schemaLocation="http://openbox.org/
                file:///usr/share/openbox/menu.xsd">

<menu id='/Debian' label='Debian'>
  <menu id='/Debian/Applications' label='Applications'>
    <menu id='/Debian/Applications/Accessibility' label='Accessibility'>
      <item label='Xmag'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>xmag</execute></action>
      </item>
    </menu>
    <menu id='/Debian/Applications/Editors' label='Editors'>
      <item label='Xedit'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>xedit</execute></action>
      </item>
    </menu>
    <menu id='/Debian/Applications/File Management' label='File Management'>
      <item label='Brasero'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>/usr/bin/brasero</execute></action>
      </item>
      <item label='Xarchiver' icon='/usr/share/pixmaps/xarchiver.xpm'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>/usr/bin/xarchiver</execute></action>
      </item>
    </menu>
    <menu id='/Debian/Applications/Graphics' label='Graphics'>
      <item label='gtk-recordmydesktop' icon='/usr/share/pixmaps/gtk-recordmydesktop.xpm'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>/usr/bin/gtk-recordmydesktop</execute></action>
      </item>
      <item label='The GIMP' icon='/usr/share/pixmaps/gimp.xpm'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>/usr/bin/gimp</execute></action>
      </item>
      <item label='X Window Snapshot'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>xwd | xwud</execute></action>
      </item>
    </menu>
    <menu id='/Debian/Applications/Network' label='Network'>
      <menu id='/Debian/Applications/Network/Communication' label='Communication'>
        <item label='Telnet'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>x-terminal-emulator  -T &quot;Telnet&quot; -e sh -c &quot;/usr/bin/telnet.netkit&quot;</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='Xbiff'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>xbiff</execute></action>
        </item>
      </menu>
      <menu id='/Debian/Applications/Network/File Transfer' label='File Transfer'>
        <item label='Transmission BitTorrent Client (GTK)' icon='/usr/share/pixmaps/transmission.xpm'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>/usr/bin/transmission-gtk</execute></action>
        </item>
      </menu>
      <menu id='/Debian/Applications/Network/Web Browsing' label='Web Browsing'>
        <item label='Lynx'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>x-terminal-emulator  -T &quot;Lynx&quot; -e sh -c &quot;lynx&quot;</execute></action>
        </item>
      </menu>
    </menu>
    <menu id='/Debian/Applications/Science' label='Science'>
      <menu id='/Debian/Applications/Science/Mathematics' label='Mathematics'>
        <item label='Bc'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>x-terminal-emulator  -T &quot;Bc&quot; -e sh -c &quot;/usr/bin/bc&quot;</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='Dc'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>x-terminal-emulator  -T &quot;Dc&quot; -e sh -c &quot;/usr/bin/dc&quot;</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='Gnuplot'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>x-terminal-emulator  -T &quot;Gnuplot&quot; -e sh -c &quot;/usr/bin/gnuplot4-x11&quot;</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='Qalculate'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>/usr/bin/qalculate-gtk</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='Wcalc' icon='/usr/share/pixmaps/wcalc.xpm'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>x-terminal-emulator  -T &quot;Wcalc&quot; -e sh -c &quot;/usr/bin/wcalc&quot;</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='Xcalc'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>xcalc</execute></action>
        </item>
      </menu>
    </menu>
    <menu id='/Debian/Applications/Shells' label='Shells'>
      <item label='Bash'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>x-terminal-emulator  -T &quot;Bash&quot; -e sh -c &quot;/bin/bash --login&quot;</execute></action>
      </item>
      <item label='Dash'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>x-terminal-emulator  -T &quot;Dash&quot; -e sh -c &quot;/bin/dash -i&quot;</execute></action>
      </item>
      <item label='Sh'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>x-terminal-emulator  -T &quot;Sh&quot; -e sh -c &quot;/bin/sh --login&quot;</execute></action>
      </item>
      <item label='tcsh'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>x-terminal-emulator  -T &quot;tcsh&quot; -e sh -c &quot;/bin/tcsh&quot;</execute></action>
      </item>
    </menu>
    <menu id='/Debian/Applications/Sound' label='Sound'>
      <item label='pavucontrol'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>/usr/bin/pavucontrol</execute></action>
      </item>
      <item label='pulseaudio-equalizer'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>/usr/share/pulseaudio-equalizer/pulseaudio-equalizer.py</execute></action>
      </item>
    </menu>
    <menu id='/Debian/Applications/System' label='System'>
      <menu id='/Debian/Applications/System/Administration' label='Administration'>
        <item label='Debian Task selector'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>x-terminal-emulator  -T &quot;Debian Task selector&quot; -e sh -c &quot;su-to-root -c tasksel&quot;</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='Editres'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>editres</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='nitrogen'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>/usr/bin/nitrogen</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='Openbox Configuration Manager' icon='/usr/share/pixmaps/obconf.xpm'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>/usr/bin/obconf</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='Openbox Menu Editor'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>/usr/bin/obmenu</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='Reportbug'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>x-terminal-emulator  -T &quot;Reportbug&quot; -e sh -c &quot;/usr/bin/reportbug --exit-prompt&quot;</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='Reportbug (GTK+)'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>/usr/bin/reportbug --exit-prompt --ui gtk2</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='UNetbootin' icon='/usr/share/pixmaps/unetbootin.xpm'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>/usr/bin/unetbootin</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='Xclipboard'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>xclipboard</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='Xfontsel'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>xfontsel</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='Xkill'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>xkill</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='Xrefresh'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>xrefresh</execute></action>
        </item>
      </menu>
      <menu id='/Debian/Applications/System/Hardware' label='Hardware'>
        <item label='gpointing-device-settings'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>/usr/bin/gpointing-device-settings</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='Xvidtune'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>xvidtune</execute></action>
        </item>
      </menu>
      <menu id='/Debian/Applications/System/Monitoring' label='Monitoring'>
        <item label='GKrellM' icon='/usr/share/pixmaps/gkrellm.xpm'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>/usr/bin/gkrellm</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='Pstree' icon='/usr/share/pixmaps/pstree16.xpm'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>x-terminal-emulator  -T &quot;Pstree&quot; -e sh -c &quot;/usr/bin/pstree.x11&quot;</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='Top'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>x-terminal-emulator  -T &quot;Top&quot; -e sh -c &quot;/usr/bin/top&quot;</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='Xconsole'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>xconsole -file /dev/xconsole</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='Xev'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>x-terminal-emulator -e xev</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='Xload'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>xload</execute></action>
        </item>
      </menu>
      <menu id='/Debian/Applications/System/Package Management' label='Package Management'>
        <item label='Aptitude Package Manager (text)'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>x-terminal-emulator  -T &quot;Aptitude Package Manager (text)&quot; -e sh -c &quot;/usr/bin/aptitude-curses&quot;</execute></action>
        </item>
        <item label='Synaptic Package Manager' icon='/usr/share/synaptic/pixmaps/synaptic_32x32.xpm'>
          <action name='Execute'><execute>x-terminal-emulator -e synaptic-pkexec</execute></action>
        </item>
      </menu>
    </menu>
    <menu id='/Debian/Applications/Terminal Emulators' label='Terminal Emulators'>
      <item label='XTerm' icon='/usr/share/pixmaps/xterm-color_32x32.xpm'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>xterm</execute></action>
      </item>
      <item label='X-Terminal as root (GKsu)' icon='/usr/share/pixmaps/gksu-debian.xpm'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>/usr/bin/gksu -u root /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator</execute></action>
      </item>
      <item label='XTerm (Unicode)' icon='/usr/share/pixmaps/xterm-color_32x32.xpm'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>uxterm</execute></action>
      </item>
    </menu>
    <menu id='/Debian/Applications/Text' label='Text'>
      <item label='HTMLDoc'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>/usr/bin/htmldoc</execute></action>
      </item>
      <item label='WordNet' icon='/usr/share/wordnet/pixmaps/micro-wn.xpm'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>/usr/bin/wnb</execute></action>
      </item>
    </menu>
    <menu id='/Debian/Applications/Video' label='Video'>
      <item label='Cheese'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>/usr/bin/cheese</execute></action>
      </item>
    </menu>
    <menu id='/Debian/Applications/Viewers' label='Viewers'>
      <item label='xCHM' icon='/usr/share/pixmaps/xchm.xpm'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>/usr/bin/xchm</execute></action>
      </item>
      <item label='Xditview'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>xditview</execute></action>
      </item>
    </menu>
  </menu>
  <menu id='/Debian/Games' label='Games'>
    <menu id='/Debian/Games/Toys' label='Toys'>
      <item label='buici clock'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>buici-clock</execute></action>
      </item>
      <item label='Oclock'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>oclock</execute></action>
      </item>
      <item label='Xclock (analog)'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>xclock -analog</execute></action>
      </item>
      <item label='Xclock (digital)'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>xclock -digital -update 1</execute></action>
      </item>
      <item label='Xeyes'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>xeyes</execute></action>
      </item>
      <item label='Xlogo'>
        <action name='Execute'><execute>xlogo</execute></action>
      </item>
    </menu>
  </menu>
  <menu id='/Debian/Help' label='Help'>
    <item label='Info'>
      <action name='Execute'><execute>x-terminal-emulator  -T &quot;Info&quot; -e sh -c &quot;info&quot;</execute></action>
    </item>
    <item label='Xman'>
      <action name='Execute'><execute>xman</execute></action>
    </item>
  </menu>
  <menu id='/Debian/Window Managers' label='Window Managers'>
    <item label='Openbox' icon='/usr/share/pixmaps/openbox.xpm'>
      <action name='Restart'><execute>/usr/bin/openbox</execute></action>
    </item>
  </menu>
</menu>

</openbox_menu>

Originally Posted by mzsade And Ondoho, that howto you posted didn't work

never a good answer.

if you showed me what you did, and what you got, i might be able to help.

maybe you executed the first script with bash instead of dash? with bash, you would need to use "echo -e" instead of "echo".

You're right, i did use Bash, sorry, force of habit, at that point i felt i was making some headway with the Debian menu and the temptation of staying with the defaults was too great so i kindof rushed through your instructions, and i'm sure they'd have worked just fine had i followed them precisely. However, as i said, i think i have a grip on the Debian menu, to the extent that if an installed package does not automatically create an entry for it, i can create one manually for it. The only area in which i am stumped is creating the label "Office". I have labels for every category in my Debian menu except for that. This should have been created when i installed Libre Office but wasn't. Adding the label manually to /var/lib/debian-menu.xml doesn't work, it gets automatically removed. Apart from that, it's all good. If you have any thoughts on this please do share, your input has always been educational for me and i greatly appreciate it.

Edit: It occurred to me to try installing some lightweight office application besides Abiword (i had already removed LibreOffice, had no use for such an elaborate office suite, just needed a writer), so i decided to install grisbi, some obscure personal accounting software and lo and behold, i got the label "Office" in my Debian Menu and Abiword was neatly placed in there alongwith this grisbi. I owe it to this "grisbi" to at least check it out.