what's the icon solution in linux ?

carpenter · 2024-05-04 05:02:38

I use cinnamon desktop, how does linux choose icons from /usr/share/icons ? what's the sequence ?

sometimes it choose the icons in /usr/share/icons/hicolor/32x32,

sometimes it choose the icons in /usr/share/icons/hicolor/128x128

sometimes /usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps

sometimes /usr/share/icons/'a folder of the specific theme'/apps/48

very confused

seth · 2024-05-04 07:39:56

"linux" chooses nothing, it's each client by itself.

Most of them will rely on some toolkit, but they can request specific sizes (eg. if you want an icon for a 16x16px button, you don't ask for the 128x128 version unless there's no 16x16 version) and the theme is typically configurable for clients/toolkits as well. /usr/share/icons/hicolor is generally understood to be the fallback theme, but nothing would prevent me to load an icon explicitly from there.

At the end of the day, they're just images.

carpenter · 2024-05-05 18:38:14

seth wrote:

"linux" chooses nothing, it's each client by itself.
Most of them will rely on some toolkit, but they can request specific sizes (eg. if you want an icon for a 16x16px button, you don't ask for the 128x128 version unless there's no 16x16 version) and the theme is typically configurable for clients/toolkits as well. /usr/share/icons/hicolor is generally understood to be the fallback theme, but nothing would prevent me to load an icon explicitly from there.
At the end of the day, they're just images.

thanks, now I got some experience

Last edited by carpenter (2024-05-06 00:45:11)

Lone_Wolf · 2024-05-05 19:32:49

If you're talking about icons for applications that are used for desktop shortcuts , system tray and such :

Those are normally set through .desktop files on a per-application basis. see https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Desktop_entries (especially chapter 3 and 4 ).

carpenter · 2024-05-06 00:44:23

thanks, guys, now I found that linux would choose /usr/share/icons/your theme/** then /usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps then /usr/share/icons/hicolor/32x32 (from smaller size to large size)

and it's important to use ```gtk-update-icon-cache -q -t -f /usr/share/icons/some folder``` to update icons cache.

seth · 2024-05-06 07:03:35

Again: *linux* chooses *nothing* here - the ultimate authority is the actual process, your description is (mostly) correct for generic gtk icon usage, but cannot be generalized.

I assume this is an https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XY_problem ?
What actual situation are you concerned about?
If this is actually an generic inquiry, there simply is no definitive answer to your question. "It depends".

You can however strace any process to see what files it tries to access in what order and infer its particular icon loading strategy from that.
But some clients might also use emojis from fonts as icons or render them on the fly - that will not really show up in a strace.

Arch Linux

#1 2024-05-04 05:02:38

what's the icon solution in linux ?

#2 2024-05-04 07:39:56

Re: what's the icon solution in linux ?

#3 2024-05-05 18:38:14

Re: what's the icon solution in linux ?

#4 2024-05-05 19:32:49

Re: what's the icon solution in linux ?

#5 2024-05-06 00:44:23

Re: what's the icon solution in linux ?

#6 2024-05-06 07:03:35

Re: what's the icon solution in linux ?

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