Bash script to install Sublime Text from tarball and generate a desktop entry. Can be modified to work with any application.

sublime.sh

#!/bin/sh

###
# Sublime Text 3 - Installation Script
###

#
# Edit this configurations if you need
#

TARBALL="https://download.sublimetext.com/sublime_text_3_build_3126_x64.tar.bz2"
TMP_FILE="/tmp/sublime_text.tar.bz2"

OUTPUT_FOLDER="/opt/sublime_text"
PREFIX="/usr/local"

# You don't NEED to touch anything after this.
# But be my guest if you really want!

if [ $EUID != 0 ]; then
    sudo "$0" "$@"
    exit $?
fi

SHORTCUT="[Desktop Entry]
Name=Sublime Text 3
Comment=Edit text files
Exec=$OUTPUT_FOLDER/sublime_text
Icon=$OUTPUT_FOLDER/Icon/128x128/sublime-text.png
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Encoding=UTF-8
Categories=Utility;TextEditor;"

SCRIPT="#!/bin/sh
if [ \${1} == \"--help\" ]; then
    $OUTPUT_FOLDER/sublime_text --help
else
    $OUTPUT_FOLDER/sublime_text \$@ > /dev/null 2>&1 &
fi"

echo "Downloading..."
curl -L ${TARBALL} -o ${TMP_FILE}
rm -rf ${OUTPUT_FOLDER}
mkdir -pv ${OUTPUT_FOLDER}

echo "Extracting the tarball..."
tar -xjf ${TMP_FILE} --strip-components=1 -C ${OUTPUT_FOLDER}

echo "Creating scripts..."
echo "${SCRIPT}" > "$PREFIX/bin/subl"
chmod +x "$PREFIX/bin/subl"
echo "${SHORTCUT}" > "/usr/share/applications/sublime_text_3.desktop"

echo "Cleaning up..."
rm -rf ${TMP_FILE}

echo "Finish!"