Linux .desktop file

[rich2005]

Interesting. Might be how Gimp is installed in Arch.  The .desktop file in Debian comes with the package, same for flatpak versions.
What does $whereis gimp show?  This in my laptop kubuntu 18.04 

Code:

rich@rich-nova:~$ whereis gimp
gimp: /usr/bin/gimp /usr/lib/gimp /etc/gimp /usr/share/gimp /usr/share/man/man1/gimp.1.gz

but /usr/bin/gimp is a symbolic link to the actual executable gimp-2.10  and the .desktop contains 

Code:

Exec=gimp-2.10 %U

So that is your single word, the binary file which will be equivalent to TryExec=gimp-@GIMP_APP_VERSION@
But the 'other' single word' gimp (the symbolic link) should start from a terminal. 

FWIW On my old netbook, xubuntu 18.04 search gives what looks like a pointer to the .desktop and the actual executable or maybe that is the symbolic link.

   

A bit spoiled in the KDE machines, making .desktop files is really easy. KDE has a comprehensive menu editor.