Kitty: [request] Add support to be default terminal on Ubuntu

[arooni]

If you run the following, kitty is not an option. I'm trying to get it so that the default to invoke terminal (ctrl+alt+t) loads kitty.

[I] ~/.l/k/bin  sudo update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator

There are 8 choices for the alternative x-terminal-emulator (providing /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator).

Selection Path Priority Status

0 /usr/bin/roxterm 50 auto mode
1 /usr/bin/gnome-terminal.wrapper 40 manual mode

• 2 /usr/bin/koi8rxterm 20 manual mode
  3 /usr/bin/lxterm 30 manual mode
  4 /usr/bin/roxterm 50 manual mode
  5 /usr/bin/urxvt 20 manual mode
  6 /usr/bin/urxvtc 20 manual mode
  7 /usr/bin/uxterm 20 manual mode
  8 /usr/bin/xterm 20 manual mode

also tried with
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.default-applications.terminal exec 'kitty' without success

also would be nice to be able to invoke kitty via albert, or ubuntu launch menu. right now i have to load up gnome-terminal to launch kitty which i have setup via a fish alias. seems a bit convuluted.

[kovidgoyal]

You simply need to add kitty to whateever mechanism your distro is using for alternatives. THis is not something kitty can do itself since the installer does not run with root privileges.

As for making it available in the menus/launcher, read https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/binary.html#desktop-integration-on-linux

[arooni]

Shouldn't your installation script handle registering kitty as a valid terminal alternative? Or include instructions on how to do that? Don't you want it to be a default for folks?

LilArooni ~/.local/share/applications: sudo update-alternatives --set x-terminal-emulator /home/david/.local/bin/kitty
[sudo] password for david:
update-alternatives: error: alternative /home/david/.local/bin/kitty for x-terminal-emulator not registered; not setting

[martinetd]

This really is distribution specific, there's no standard "alternatives", much less if it's installed in your home (the alternatives are system-wide, and another user would no longer be able to run x-terminal-emulator unless your home is wide open).

If you had installed from a package I would say the maintainer needs to do the job, but in this case you have to figure out how to tell gnome what your default terminal is withotu relying on alternatives.

[JPYamamoto]

For everyone with this problem, I've found a workaround.

First you have to set kitty as an alternative:
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator x-terminal-emulator /usr/local/bin/kitty 50

Remember to change /usr/bin/kitty to the path where you have the terminal installed.

Then, just update the alternative:
sudo update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator

And choose the option that points to kitty.

[aral]

To add to @JPYamamoto’s excellent answer, if you don’t want to hunt down where you have Kitty installed, just copy and paste the following, verbatim:

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator x-terminal-emulator `which kitty` 50
sudo update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator

[delijati]

Kinda related has someone a kitty config that has the same keybindings as gnome-terminal ... i hate relearning keybindings ;)