Desktop entries / App list portal

[GeoffreyCoulaud]

Hello,

Would it be possible to create an app list portal ? Something that could give the entries from Gnome shell's app grid for example.
This would be useful for launcher apps, like Boatswain or Gali.

It would be great to have access to the .desktop files contents to have feature parity with the desktop environment launchers.

[GeorgesStavracas]

It's in my list, but my list is infinitely long, so who knows when it will happen. If anyone feels like drafting this portal, don't wait for me :)

[vchernin]

This should also allow apps to view the corresponding app icons in e.g. /var/lib/flatpak/exports/share/icons and ~/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share/icons right?

I know flatpak exports the desktop files in the set system and user locations, but I wonder what e.g. snap does, this should probably work for snaps too.

[RokeJulianLockhart]

#809 (comment)

@vchernin, some desktop environments like cpe:2.3:a:kde:plasma:5 expose those disparate directories already via a URI with a custom schema. applications:/ is its: