AppImageKit Documentation

You can force an AppImage to store its configuration files alongside the executable instead of in the user's $HOME directory. This is ideal for portable use cases (e.g., running from a USB stick).

To achieve this, create one of the following directories in the same folder as the AppImage:

• <AppImageName>.home: Sets $HOME to this directory before executing the application.
• <AppImageName>.config: Sets $XDG_CONFIG_HOME to this directory before executing the application.

Example for portable settings:

# Make the AppImage executable
chmod a+x Leafpad-0.8.18.1.glibc2.4-x86_64.AppImage

# Create a .config directory to redirect settings
mkdir Leafpad-0.8.18.1.glibc2.4-x86_64.AppImage.config

# Run the AppImage; settings will now be written to the .config directory
./Leafpad-0.8.18.1.glibc2.4-x86_64.AppImage

# Download Leafpad AppImage and make it executable
chmod a+x Leafpad-0.8.18.1.glibc2.4-x86_64.AppImage

# Create a directory with the same name as the AppImage plus the ".config" extension
# in the same directory as the AppImage
mkdir Leafpad-0.8.18.1.glibc2.4-x86_64.AppImage.config

# Run Leafpad, change some setting (e.g., change the default font size) then close Leafpad
./Leafpad-0.8.18.1.glibc2.4-x86_64.AppImage

# Now, check where the settings were written:
linux@linux:~> find Leafpad-0.8.18.1.glibc2.4-x86_64.AppImage.config
(...)
Leafpad-0.8.18.1.glibc2.4-x86_64.AppImage.config/leafpad/leafpadrc

AppImages built with recent versions of AppImageKit support several special command line arguments to control behavior beyond running the contained application. These are useful for debugging, extracting contents, or inspecting the filesystem image.

Available arguments:

• --appimage-help: Prints help options.
• --appimage-offset: Prints the offset where the embedded filesystem image starts and exits. Useful for manual loop-mounting with mount -o loop,offset=....
• --appimage-extract: Extracts the contents of the embedded filesystem image and exits. Useful on systems without FUSE.
• --appimage-mount: Mounts the filesystem image, prints the mount point, and waits until killed. Useful for inspecting contents without running the application.
• --appimage-version: Prints the AppImageKit version and exits.
• --appimage-updateinformation: Prints embedded update information and exits. Useful for debugging binary delta updates.
• --appimage-signature: Prints the embedded digital signature and exits. To validate signatures, use the validate tool in AppImageKit.