One edit of the Makefile, and it works. And it's as destructively buggy with its rc file as I remember it being.
Wait a minute. If I'm going to use wmx as my window manager, I don't really need a separate desktop menu application, no matter how lightweight.
I can put shell scripts and symlinks in ~/.wmx/ with subdirectories dictating submenu arrangement (and `ln -s .. <submenu-name>` to have a navigation aid), then middle-click-hold to access them in organized menu form! Whatever's there that has +x set gets menu-fied.
All right, practical desktop minimalism is a go!
Well, it turns out all I had to do to save the hard work put into my ~/.desklaunchrc file was neuter a single function.
Have a pair of patch files for desklaunch 1.1.8, one with debugging output on, the other with debugging output off: http://files.thornton2.com/packages/unix/desklaunch-patches-1.1.8.tar.gz
Oh. It does have a homepage: https://www.oroborus.org/
Interestingly enough, both the source code downloads and the changelog links are from Debian's repo.
Also, because the site hasn't been updated in almost seven years, some of the links have gone stale.