From 20335955e3290f00b431672938541c51cbb78c37 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: OatmealDome <julian@oatmealdome.me>
Date: Thu, 5 Mar 2026 23:05:30 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] CMakeLists: Add APPIMAGE option to force Dolphin to find
 resources relative to the executable

---
 CMakeLists.txt                        | 9 +++++++++
 Source/Core/Common/FileUtil.cpp       | 6 ++++--
 Source/Core/DolphinQt/Translation.cpp | 3 +++
 3 files changed, 16 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 0ffe18889b..481d3659d3 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -150,6 +150,9 @@ if(UNIX)
   # Builds a relocatable binary on Linux.
   # The Sys folder will need to be copied to the Binaries folder.
   option(LINUX_LOCAL_DEV "Enable relocatable binary" OFF)
+  # Builds for AppImage on Linux.
+  # Dolphin will find all resources using relative paths to the binary.
+  option(APPIMAGE "Builds for AppImage" OFF)
 endif()
 
 list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH
@@ -388,8 +391,14 @@ if(ENABLE_LTO)
 endif()
 
 if(UNIX)
+  if(LINUX_LOCAL_DEV AND APPIMAGE)
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "Can only specify one of LINUX_LOCAL_DEV and APPIMAGE")
+  endif()
+
   if(LINUX_LOCAL_DEV)
     add_definitions(-DLINUX_LOCAL_DEV)
+  elseif(APPIMAGE)
+    add_definitions(-DAPPIMAGE)
   endif()
 endif()
 
diff --git a/Source/Core/Common/FileUtil.cpp b/Source/Core/Common/FileUtil.cpp
index 1dbbb4ac41..b337ad6466 100644
--- a/Source/Core/Common/FileUtil.cpp
+++ b/Source/Core/Common/FileUtil.cpp
@@ -759,7 +759,9 @@ std::string GetExeDirectory()
 
 static std::string CreateSysDirectoryPath()
 {
-#if defined(_WIN32) || defined(LINUX_LOCAL_DEV)
+#ifdef APPIMAGE
+#define SYSDATA_DIR "../share/dolphin-emu/sys"
+#elif defined(_WIN32) || defined(LINUX_LOCAL_DEV)
 #define SYSDATA_DIR "Sys"
 #elif defined __APPLE__
 #define SYSDATA_DIR "Contents/Resources/Sys"
@@ -773,7 +775,7 @@ static std::string CreateSysDirectoryPath()
 
 #if defined(__APPLE__)
   const std::string sys_directory = GetBundleDirectory() + DIR_SEP SYSDATA_DIR DIR_SEP;
-#elif defined(_WIN32) || defined(LINUX_LOCAL_DEV)
+#elif defined(_WIN32) || defined(LINUX_LOCAL_DEV) || defined(APPIMAGE)
   const std::string sys_directory = GetExeDirectory() + DIR_SEP SYSDATA_DIR DIR_SEP;
 #elif defined ANDROID
   const std::string sys_directory = s_android_sys_directory + DIR_SEP;
diff --git a/Source/Core/DolphinQt/Translation.cpp b/Source/Core/DolphinQt/Translation.cpp
index 1b93536ac9..b13b73302e 100644
--- a/Source/Core/DolphinQt/Translation.cpp
+++ b/Source/Core/DolphinQt/Translation.cpp
@@ -280,6 +280,9 @@ static bool TryInstallTranslator(const QString& exact_language_code)
 #elif defined __APPLE__
         fmt::format("{}/Contents/Resources/{}.lproj/dolphin-emu.mo", File::GetBundleDirectory(),
                     lang)
+#elif defined APPIMAGE
+        fmt::format("{}/../share/locale/{}/LC_MESSAGES/dolphin-emu.mo", File::GetExeDirectory(),
+                    lang)
 #elif defined LINUX_LOCAL_DEV
         fmt::format("{}/../Source/Core/DolphinQt/{}/dolphin-emu.mo", File::GetExeDirectory(), lang)
 #else

From 1028d1bf20c16aebd70f74dad1558b92dab28686 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: OatmealDome <julian@oatmealdome.me>
Date: Thu, 5 Mar 2026 23:06:27 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] CMakeLists: Use relative paths when marking some
 resources for installation on Linux

---
 CMakeLists.txt | 6 +++---
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 481d3659d3..4b0a36880f 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -862,11 +862,11 @@ endif()
 if(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME MATCHES "Linux|FreeBSD|OpenBSD")
   # Install the application icon and menu item
   install(FILES Data/dolphin-emu.svg
-          DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps)
+          DESTINATION share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps)
   install(FILES Data/dolphin-emu.png
-          DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps)
+          DESTINATION share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps)
   install(FILES Data/dolphin-emu.desktop
-          DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/share/applications)
+          DESTINATION share/applications)
   # Install manpages
   install(FILES Data/dolphin-emu.6
           DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_MANDIR}/man6)