How can I customize the visible names and text of apps and UI?

[mxer273]

A linux newbie here. I want to create a customized MXLinux remaster for a passion project. How can I customize the visible text of the apps and stuff to my liking?

[Eadwine Rose]

According to the forum rules (please read): Please provide full Quick System Info, use copy for forum button, no edits.
LiveUSB version is OK if needed.


Moved to help forum, you are not sharing a tip or trick.

[dolphin_oracle]

you can make a custom desktop file for any application, that can contain any name or comment you want, and that will show up in the menu. but if you want to change what shows up in an applications window, you are doing that change and recompiling the application.

[mxer273]

you can make a custom desktop file for any application, that can contain any name or comment you want, and that will show up in the menu. but if you want to change what shows up in an applications window, you are doing that change and recompiling the application.

How can I get the source code of an application then only edit the text of it?

[dolphin_oracle]

you can make a custom desktop file for any application, that can contain any name or comment you want, and that will show up in the menu. but if you want to change what shows up in an applications window, you are doing that change and recompiling the application.

How can I get the source code of an application then only edit the text of it?

depends on the application, but most have git repositories. also, anything in the mx repository has source code available, except for firefox.

mx applications are at github.com/MX-Linux.

[CharlesV]

A linux newbie here. I want to create a customized MXLinux remaster for a passion project. How can I customize the visible text of the apps and stuff to my liking?

Also, many applications have code levels that request certain icons by a certain name, and you can usually hunt down what icon is being used on a certain theme and find the name of that icon... then just create your own icon theme and setup what you like.

Exp: The icon theme that I use ( obsidian - Aqua ), the Thunar icon no longer matches the thunar icon that thunar is compiled to use. So, I found the one that does change it in the papirus theme and then named my custom icon that name - and now I have a custom icon for thunar.

[Stevo]

Just to make sure, you're not talking about the font that the application is using, are you?

[DukeComposed]

A linux newbie here. I want to create a customized MXLinux remaster for a passion project. How can I customize the visible text of the apps and stuff to my liking?

Practice, practice, practice.

How can I get the source code of an application then only edit the text of it?

On the face of it it sounds like you want make a themed desktop experience. Red and blue SupermanOS, perhaps. This seems like a fun weekend project renaming LastPass to "Fortress of Solitude". I encourage you to stop for a minute and meditate on the effort needed to reskin an entire operating system. And not just building a custom look, but recompiling its applications no less.

If you have no software development experience, the skills and knowledge needed to locate multiple different projects' source code, download them, find and edit just the text "stuff" to your liking, recompile them, and presumably repackage and install them all just for a visual gag, are not the kind of thing where you can just get a few pointers and expect to succeed. Some people make an entire career out of doing this sort of thing.

Look realistically at what you can hope to accomplish in a new environment with no experience and set your expectations accordingly.