Changing the location of the group mode shortcut

By default, the group mode shortcuts are stored in the IBM® Installation Manager application data location. To copy shortcuts to a different location, you must first set environment variables before you install Installation Manager on Linux, UNIX, and z/OS® computers. This task is designed for moving shortcuts to a location that is accessible by all of the users in a group. However, you can set environment variables before you install Installation Manager in administrator or nonadministrator modes to change shortcut locations.

Before you begin

About this task

Installation Manager supports only submenus and desktop icons for GNOME2 and KDE3 desktop environments. Installation Manager supports creation of submenus in accordance to the desktop menu specifications provided by freedesktop.org, see http://standards.freedesktop.org/menu-spec/1.0/.
Note: Shortcuts are not visible on AIX® or other platforms where GNOME2 or KDE3 are not used as the desktop environment.

Procedure

To set environment variables before you install Installation Manager or using the installer:

  1. Open a command-line utility.
  2. Define the environment variable $XDG_CONFIG_HOME with a value to a writable directory location for the menu files. Example: $export XDG_CONFIG_HOME=/var/shortcuts
  3. Define the environment variable $XDG_DATA_HOME with a value to a writable directory location for the desktop and directory files. Example: $export XDG_DATA_HOME=/var/shortcuts

What to do next

Install Installation Manager in group mode. For more information about installing in group mode silently, see Install Installation Manager silently.

If you did not set the environment variables before you install Installation Manager, you can copy the shortcuts from their default location to a different location. Choose a location that is suitable to your desktop environment and is accessible by all users.

Default locations for group mode shortcuts on supported platforms:
  • Menu (.menu) files:

    /application_data_path/desktop/.config/menus/applications-merged
    and
    /application_data_path/desktop/.config/menus/kde-applications-merged

  • Desktop (.desktop) files:

    /application_data_path/desktop/.local/share/applications

  • Directories (.directory) files:

    /application_data_path/desktop/.local/share/desktop-directories


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