(menu.info)Section 3.4

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3.4 The 'needs' field
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The following 'needs' are documented for use in the Debian menu.

  1. 'X11': if this program runs under X11.

  2. 'text': if it runs under a terminal.  X11 window managers will
     spawn an X terminal emulator.

  3. 'vc': if it runs under a linux virtual console but not under a X
     terminal emulator.

  4. 'wm': if it is a X11 window manager.  The current window manager
     will exec(2) this program to avoid "Another window manager is
     running" errors.

A menu manager can use a special 'needs' value reflecting the menu
manager name for menu entries that must only be displayed in this menu
manager.  Examples include 'fvwm' modules, 'dwww' menu entries.

A program like gnuplot which can be run on X11 as well as on a text
terminal should _not_ have an extra entry with 'needs=X11' with an
hard-coded call to an X terminal emulator, because this would defeat the
configuration mechanism of menu that allow to choose which window
manager is called.

On the other hand, if a program (like 'emacs') can be run as real X
application as well as in a terminal, two entries should be listed,
otherwise the program will always be run in an 'xterm' (or 'rxvt').
However, two entries are not allowed to have the same title.  The title
must be unique.