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Custom icon theme

Project structure

Your icon theme must contain an index.theme file and at least one subdirectory containing icon files.

Example

MyTheme/
    index.theme
    icons/
        cheese.svg
        code-oss.svg
        com.mojang.Minecraft.svg
        ...

Configuring index.theme

Example

index.theme
[Icon Theme]
Name=My theme
Comment=Description
Inherits=Adwaita
Directories=scalable/apps

[icons]
Context=Applications
Size=16
MinSize=8
MaxSize=512
Type=Scalable

Drawing the icons

Icons can be .svg, .png or .xmp format.

Installing

Place your project directory in one of these locations:

  • ~/.icons
  • $XDG_DATA_DIRS/icons
  • /usr/share/pixmaps
  • ~/.local/share/icons (not in standard)

Is XDG_DATA_DIRS empty?

If $XDG_DATA_DIRS is empty, use /usr/local/share/:/usr/share/.

Then, run: 

$ gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface icon-theme <name>

Further reading