So, long story short: 
Is there one or more documented Fedora standard that says you can't do it? I think there used to be, but not anymore.
Is there an easy way to do it? Yes. There's even an xdg utility to do so properly in a freedesktop compliant way. See http://portland.freedesktop.org/xdg-utils-1.0/xdg-desktop-icon.html
Should you do it? Not necessarily. Being freedesktop compliant is nice, but you should always have an application menu icon also. Not all window managers view ~/Desktop icons. Gnome and KDE happen to do so. See http://portland.freedesktop.org/xdg-utils-1.0/xdg-desktop-menu.html

Now as a personal preference, I try to have as few Launchers on the desktop as possible. So, I'd think the REALLY smart option, in the interest of choice is to have a subpackage that runs xdg-desktop-icon in %post.

That covers your bases, gives the user an option, and doesn't violate any standards that I can see. If a standard banning Launcher install re-emerges, you won't have to do major surgery to your spec, and it will degrade gracefully.

Does that satisfy any|everyone?

Isaac Fischer
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On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 9:52 AM, Jon Ciesla <limb@jcomserv.net> wrote:
Erik Blankinship wrote:
>
> > > So, with this in mind, I am wondering if there is a way for an rpm to
> > > create an icon on the gnome desktop.  If it is possible, could someone
> > > point me towards an example or some documentation?
> > >
> > > Also, can someone point me to the fedora policy against desktop icons?
> > >  It would be helpful to see the policy so as to avoid other pitfalls.
> > >  Thanks much!
>
> > https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines
>
> Ok, looking specifically at:
> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging/Guidelines#Desktop_files
>
> I can't find anything here about putting an icon on the user's
> desktop.  When I create near identical .desktop file to the one listed
> on that page, it just creates a gnome menu item.
>
> I also don't see anything on this page advising me against putting an
> icon on the dektop.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> --
> packaging mailing list
> packaging@lists.fedoraproject.org
> https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/packaging
It's not so much the Packaging Guidelines directly, but the fact that we
make every effort to adhere to FHS:

http://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html#HOMEUSERHOMEDIRECTORIES

You just can't rely on /home being present or having particular
contents, for one thing.

-J

--
in your fear, seek only peace
in your fear, seek only love

-d. bowie

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