file associations clobbered

ernesto · 2010-01-08 02:47:20

I really like Arch, but one of the major annoyances for me is everytime I install a new application it takes over the relevant file associations. Like pacman -S vlc will take over media files without asking, -S gimp will take over image files, etc.

Can I prevent this?

Xyne · 2010-01-08 03:13:55

You'll get answers faster if you provide more information. Which DE are you using?

ernesto · 2010-01-08 03:55:19

It's DE agnostic, AFAIK. Happens in both KDE and GNOME. I think they both use /usr/share/applications/mimeinfo.cache

Last edited by ernesto (2010-01-08 03:56:45)

kgas · 2010-01-08 04:58:25

In nautilus you can set the association by right clicking on that file. If your using pcmanfm you can edit the ~/.local/share/applications/mimeinfo.cache

Xyne · 2010-01-08 05:19:32

If it uses ~/.local/share/applications/mimeinfo.cache as pcmanfm does, you might find mimeman useful.

ernesto · 2010-01-08 11:15:32

kgas wrote:

In nautilus you can set the association by right clicking on that file.

Yeah, that's how I change them back to the proper application. My problem is with newly installed application taking over the association. When I install gimp or whatever I don't want to have to keep re-associating my image formats with eog, it's tiring after png,gif,jpg,...

Last edited by ernesto (2010-01-08 11:16:38)

ernesto · 2010-01-09 17:43:02

so no ideas?

azleifel · 2010-01-09 18:10:44

Hack: Disable /usr/bin/update-desktop-database before installing a package that you know will take over valued mime types, install the package (should still work even if update-desktop-database cannot be found), edit /usr/share/applications/<application_name>.desktop, delete or edit the MimeType= line, re-enable update-desktop-database so that it can be used normally by other packages as they are installed.

MercuryShadow · 2010-01-20 04:55:33

I'm experiencing this as well. It has become exceedingly frustrating.

MercuryShadow · 2010-01-22 07:59:32

Lately, even though Firefox is configured to open PDF files in evince, and it is set as the default program for opening PDFs in Nautilus, Firefox still opens PDFs in Gimp. GIMP, for chrissakes! WTF?

PirateJonno · 2010-01-23 00:24:39

yeah, well firefox associations are fucked. anyway, i was thinking of patching this to reverse the behaviour but it turns out the priority of association determined by update-desktop-database pretty much depends on the internal filesystem sorting of the relevant .desktop files (it uses readdir()), so it could be a lot of effort to fix

urist · 2010-01-23 00:44:44

MercuryShadow wrote:

Lately, even though Firefox is configured to open PDF files in evince, and it is set as the default program for opening PDFs in Nautilus, Firefox still opens PDFs in Gimp. GIMP, for chrissakes! WTF?

Better than whatever I did to FUBAR my associations. Chrome opens PDFs in Firefox, which opens them in Evince.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-01-08 02:47:20

file associations clobbered

#2 2010-01-08 03:13:55

Re: file associations clobbered

#3 2010-01-08 03:55:19

Re: file associations clobbered

#4 2010-01-08 04:58:25

Re: file associations clobbered

#5 2010-01-08 05:19:32

Re: file associations clobbered

#6 2010-01-08 11:15:32

Re: file associations clobbered

#7 2010-01-09 17:43:02

Re: file associations clobbered

#8 2010-01-09 18:10:44

Re: file associations clobbered

#9 2010-01-20 04:55:33

Re: file associations clobbered

#10 2010-01-22 07:59:32

Re: file associations clobbered

#11 2010-01-23 00:24:39

Re: file associations clobbered

#12 2010-01-23 00:44:44

Re: file associations clobbered

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