diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 0e719fb53a..ae61306a97 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -21,10 +21,18 @@ SUBDIRS = config development intl po $(BOOST) src sourcedoc lib \
 
 EXTRA_DIST = ANNOUNCE INSTALL.autoconf RELEASE-NOTES UPGRADING \
 	INSTALL.Win32 INSTALL.MacOSX INSTALL.scons INSTALL.cmake \
-	README.Win32 README.Cygwin README.localization lyx.1in autogen.sh
+	README.Win32 README.Cygwin README.localization lyx.1in \
+	autogen.sh lib/lyx.desktop
 
 man_MANS = lyx.1
 
+if !INSTALL_WINDOWS
+if !INSTALL_MACOSX
+desktopdir = $(datadir)/applications
+desktop_DATA = lib/lyx.desktop
+endif
+endif
+
 #Wait some time for bumping automake 1.11, which can use dist-xz
 #directly without this code, which is to be removed.
 #xz has low compression by default, but can be affected via
diff --git a/lib/lyx.desktop b/lib/lyx.desktop
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..53f3c301d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/lyx.desktop
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+[Desktop Entry]
+Version=1.0
+Type=Application
+Name=LyX
+GenericName=Document Processor
+Comment=High level LaTeX frontend
+Exec=lyx %F
+TryExec=lyx
+Icon=lyx
+StartupNotify=false
+StartupWMClass=Lyx
+Terminal=false
+Categories=Office;WordProcessor;Qt;
+MimeType=text/x-lyx;application/x-lyx;