script for Ubuntu+Unity to add an application( 's desktop file) to the launcher

add_to_launcher.py

#!/usr/bin/env python

"""
Copyright (C) 2014 Jacob Vlijm
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or any later version. This
program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR
A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You
should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this
program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
"""

import subprocess
import sys

desktopfile = sys.argv[1]

def current_launcher():
    get_current = subprocess.check_output(
        ["gsettings", "get", "com.canonical.Unity.Launcher", "favorites"]
        ).decode("utf-8")
    return eval(get_current)

def add_new(desktopfile):
    curr_launcher = current_launcher()
    last = [i for i, x in enumerate(curr_launcher) \
            if x.startswith("application://")][-1]
    new_icon = "application://"+desktopfile
    if not new_icon in curr_launcher:
        curr_launcher.insert(last, new_icon)
        subprocess.Popen(
            ["gsettings", "set", "com.canonical.Unity.Launcher","favorites",
             str(curr_launcher)])
    else:
        pass

add_new(desktopfile)

explanation: http://askubuntu.com/a/522959/72216