How do you create an executable script to run from an icon?

[suse_tpx60s]

There are a few scripts I would like to be able to run from my desktop.

An example is:

#! /bin/sh
#
# This script forces a full battery charge and keeps it charged above 95%
#
echo 95 > /sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/start_charge_thresh
echo 100 > /sys/devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/stop_charge_thresh

How do I create an icon on the KDE4 desktop that will run this script? I tried right clicking and choosing "link to application" but when I double click the icon it I just get the hour glass spinning for 30 secs. I've marked the script as executable. Anything else I need to do?

[hcvv]

#! /bin/sh

should be

#!/bin/sh

(no white space)

You do not explain what you entered after choosing "link to application". How can we know if you made a mistake or not?

Why double click? In my system that would start it twice!

[NismoTie]

If you wanted to run it from your desktop say, I would plant a copy on the desktop, right click and then allocate an icon to it, in this case try and find one to do with a battery, you could also download a custom icon set of the internet to seperate the icon from the rest of your icons.

[suse_tpx60s]

Originally Posted by hcvv

#! /bin/sh

should be

#!/bin/sh

(no white space)

You do not explain what you entered after choosing "link to application". How can we know if you made a mistake or not?

Why double click? In my system that would start it twice!

Thanks. White space removed now.

You're right I should have listed what I was doing - sorry.

General tab: I entered a name for the shortcut
Permissions tab: Left as is.
Application tab:
>Name: Entered the same name as in general tab
>Command: Browsed to the script.
>Advanced options: Enabled feedback.

I said double click as I'm from windows and everything there is double click. Old habits die hard.

Originally Posted by NismoTie

If you wanted to run it from your desktop say, I would plant a copy on the desktop, right click and then allocate an icon to it, in this case try and find one to do with a battery, you could also download a custom icon set of the internet to separate the icon from the rest of your icons.

I tried that but cannot change the icon. Right clicking and going to properties gives no option to change the icon.

On thing, should the script filename have an extension or not or doesn't it matter?

[hcvv]

On thing, should the script filename have an extension or not or doesn't it matter?

Not needed. There is no such thing as an "extension" in Unix/Linux filenames. Some people call it so when a file name ends in a dot and a few other characters (and some programs draw conclusions from that), but is NOT a seperate field as in another OS.

You say you browsed to the script. I hope the resulting string is an ABSOLUTE path to your script

No further commentss on the double click (some people like it to wear out their fingers ).

[suse_tpx60s]

I seem to have a problem with the script. It's not doing anything. I tried it as root too to make sure it was not a permission problem.

The script is set to be executable so I'd expect clicking on it would execute it - right? When I try launch the script directly it looks like wine is trying to launch it.

[microchip8]

Originally Posted by hcvv

#! /bin/sh

should be

#!/bin/sh

(no white space)

this is not true, you can use either #! /bin/sh or #!/bin/sh ... both are valid

[hcvv]

Originally Posted by microchip8

this is not true, you can use either #! /bin/sh or #!/bin/sh ... both are valid

Hm, when you tested it you are most pobably correct. I always learned it without (on several Unixes and for more then 30 years now). In any case it is not his main problem.

[hcvv]

I never would think that you had not tested your scripts first, before trying to make it into a clickable thing. Test it from a console/terminal first!

So first make your script working.

BTW it should run as root, so just starting it from a user GUI won't work either. Your command inside the icon should be something like

su /path/to/the/script

and you must be prepared to enter the root passwd, so I think it must be executed in a console/terminal to give you that change. Or use kdesu.

[hcvv]

Originally Posted by microchip8

this is not true, you can use either #! /bin/sh or #!/bin/sh ... both are valid

Coming back on this. Wikipedia mentions "... then optionally any amount of whitespace ...". So it seems that you are right and I am ver old fashioned .