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Cover image for Desktop integration for Tinkerwell (or any AppImage)
Alfonso Strotgen
Alfonso Strotgen

Posted on • Updated on

Desktop integration for Tinkerwell (or any AppImage)

If you use Laravel you've probably heard of Tinkerwell. If that is not the case, Tinkerwell is the php artisan tinker on steroids: a powerful REPL that runs your code within local and remote PHP applications, allowing you to tinker with them.

What are AppImage packages

The Linux version of Tinkerwell is distributed in an AppImage package format. If you have not heard of this format before, you just have to know that it is a universal software package format that tries to be distribution-agnostic, i.e. you can use it in most (if not all) modern Linux distributions.

The disadvantages of AppImage packages are that, firstly, you have to give them permission to run, and secondly, every time you want to run them, you have to navigate to the folder where you downloaded the file. That is certainly the case for me when I need to run Tinkerwell.

Integrate AppImages in your system with AppImageLauncher

AppImageLauncher solves these problems. After installation, it will let you execute AppImages with just one click (without having to make them executable). But most interestingly, it will easily (and optionally) integrate the application with your system, creating shortcuts in the application launcher and on the desktop.

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Use the folllowing commands to install AppImageLauncher in Ubuntu or go the repo to find more installing options.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:appimagelauncher-team/stable
sudo apt update
sudo apt install appimagelauncher

After installing, just execute your desired AppImage file and choose the option to integrate.

Top comments (2)

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iancleary profile image
Ian Cleary (he/him)

Thank you!

This helped me integrate Sizzy into my Ubuntu 20.04! 🎉

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aleksandarmitic profile image
Aleksandar Mitic

Awesome! This really helped with using Tinkerwell on Ubuntu!