Play any game ROM with associated emulator in RetroArch on Linux
enjoy is a wrapper around "RetroArch" on Linux to help running emulator cores on the commandline. A user configuration file can be setup, including rules and core aliases pointing to file extensions and emulator paths. Each time the program runs, it will lookup these settings to determine the correct core for each given extension. It can be even used to launch games directly within your favorite file manager by double clicking the ROM file, if file extension is registered to open enjoy as the default program.
Use option -h for short help and --help for detailed help.
```bash $ enjoy '~/roms/snes/Super Mario World (U) [!].smc'
$ ls -1 $(readlink -f ~/Emulatoren/games/gb)/* | enjoy --filter 'mario' -xWn
$ find . -maxdepth 2 | fzf | enjoy -xWn ```
Depending on your shell, you might need to escape the ! in example. When
multiple ROMs are given, then the first one will be loaded. There are many
options available, including filtering such a game list or output the entire
command used to run RetroArch.
grep, ls or dmenu to select a fileInstall and setup RetroArch first, if not done already: RetroArch
cargo install enjoy.enjoy --open-config to open the default configuration file or
create one at "~/.config/enjoy/default.ini" if it does not exist. Read more
about the configuration at
User Configuration File.Enjoy.
Read a more detailed description about the file in the Wiki: User Configuration File
The default configuration file at "~/.config/enjoy/default.ini" will be
automatically loaded up each time enjoy is executed. Example:
```ini [options] retroarch = /usr/bin/retroarch
[cores] snes = snes9x gb gbc = sameboy_libretro.so
[.smc .sfc] core = snes
[.gb] core = gb
[/home/user/roms/psx*] libretro = mednafenpsxhw ```
There are 4 different categories of sections.
[options] - Main Options: These are the same options found in the
commandline interface of the program. Use enjoy -h for short overview or
enjoy --help for a longer description of all possible options.
[cores] - Core Rules: Custom alias to any "libretro" core from
"RetroArch". On the left side is the name of the core. It can be a list of
names separated by space. On the right side is the filename or entire path
of an emulator core. If filename has no directory part, then the core will
be searched in "libretro-directory" (which is the path where your cores are
configured and installed in RetroArch). The part "_libretro.so" in the
filename is optional.
[.ext1 .ext2] - Extension Rules: When a game ROM is loaded up, it's file
extension is compared to these rules. Each extension rule consists of a
single or group of space separated extensions. Each section name has to
start with a dot to be recognized as an "Extension Rule". It can contain a
core option, which will be looked up in section [cores] to determine
libretro path. Or it can have libretro option, which has highest priority
and points directly to an libretro path.
[/path/to/directory] - Directory Rules: Any section with a slash in the
name is a "Directory Rule". When a game ROM is loaded up, it's directory
part excluding the filename is compared against theses rules. Basic
wildcards are supported too. The star *, to match none or any number of
characters and question mark, to match a single character. If a match is
found, then it's associated core or libretro option will be looked up.
Not all commandline options from retroarch main program are supported. As
a workaround arguments can be directly passed over to retroarch with the
option -- on the commandline or retroarch_arguments = option in the
configuration file of enjoy.
The RetroArch GUI will be loaded up each time a game runs. At default the
ESC-key can be pressed two times in row to quickly end the current play
session, closing RetroArch and the GUI.
The Flatpak or Snap version of "RetroArch" might not work with this program, as it was not tested (reports are welcome).