How to launch a program in the Menu (or launch the Menu itself) in SSH with X11 forwarding, no desktop?

Question

I installed a program on my Pi that sticks itself in the Menu, but doesn't have any instructions for command line use. When logged in over the network through SSH, is there a way to fire off the Raspbian desktop Menu over X11? Of course I can VNC to get the Pi desktop, don't want to. Want to use the Start Menu through X without a desktop.

A related question is, where are the Menu files, so I can see what command line fires off if I click on a program in the Menu? Maybe that's an alternative, but more hassle.

Thank you!

Answer 1

Of course you must search for the application and what its filename. First start it from the desktop Menu and look at the running programs what it could be with:

rpi ~$ ps aux | less

If you find only the filename of the program then you can search for it on the storage with:

rpi ~$ sudo find / -xdev -executable -name your-app

This may find /usr/bin/your-app and could also give some other paths to additional information like /usr/share/doc/your-app.

If you know your application then start it from the remote device with X11 forwarding using option -Y, for example:

laptop ~$ ssh -Y [email protected] /usr/bin/your-app --option --another-option

Or login to an interactive session and run it there:

laptop ~$ ssh -Y [email protected]
[email protected]'s password:
Linux raspberrypi 5.4.72-v7l+ #1356 SMP Thu Oct 22 13:57:51 BST 2020 armv7l
--- snip ---
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ /usr/bin/your-app --option --another-option

Answer 2

My thanks to those who responded. What I needed, actually, for my second question was to use fgrep in the /usr/share/applications directory to identify the launcher by its display name, then find its command line in the .desktop file and launch it in the terminal.

For my first question, still trying to figure out how to install an app launcher that works on Raspbian over X11, but have some pointers.