XDG standards updated re MIME-type associations + default applications

In April the XDG standards regarding Association between MIME types and applications was updated, and the changes are quite significant. For example, to specify default applications you should now list them in the [Default Applications] section of a mimeapps.list; placing them in the [Added Associations] section is no longer sufficient. Also, mimeapps.list files may now also be located in the $HOME/config ($XDG_CONFIG_HOME) and /etc/xdg ($XDG_CONFIG_DIRS) directories. The file defaults.list is confirmed as deprecated, as well as a mimeapps.list file in $HOME/.local/share/applications ($XDG_DATA_HOME/applications).
Just to muddy the waters further, there are $desktop-mimeapps.list ($desktop is the desktop environment: kde, gnome, etc) which may accompany mimeapps.list files on all the paths!
I'm implementing these new standards in my ayr launcher, but no doubt there will be many applications which will lag behind these new standards. The biggest immediate problem will probably be with file managers which often write the default associations they create to the [Added Associations] section in $HOME/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list.
This will not be much fun, but if it's standardising better, then so be it!
Edit: There is a worked example, but there seems to be a mistake in this - $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS should come before $XDG_DATA_HOME according to the standard.
Also, the Default applications page on the Wiki is going to need a substantial revamp.
Edit2: Overview of main changes
Last edited by ninian (2014-06-18 23:27:39)

Have now updated the Wiki section on:
Using MIME types and desktop entries
to reflect the new changes.

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[CLOSED] Graphical file/mime type association editor?

Is anyone aware of a general-purpose (i.e. not belonging necessarily to one of the major DEs) file/mime type association editor? I'd like to be able to change the default applications of a given file-type independently of the DE. In particular, I'd like to know how to set a default file manager.
Last edited by nbtrap (2011-10-31 19:39:10)

It doesn't look like there is a desktop-independent GUI for editing filetype associations. As far as I now understand, the concept itself it practically meaningless since DEs that conform to xdg standards have their own sets of associations. At any rate, the xdg-* tools are actually quite easy to work with. And I don't see any difference between mimeo and xdg-open. Thank you both for your help.

Changed mime type associations !

I recently installed gimp, and now when I open any downloaded pdf files, they are opened in gimp.
Files previously downloaded and saved are however opened in 'evince'. I use open-box, Chromium, Rox-filer and evince, as DE, browser, file-manager and document viewer respectively.
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[bance@archbox ~]$ cat .local/share/applications/defaults.list
[Default Applications]
pdf=evince.desktop
[bance@archbox ~]$ cat .local/share/applications/evince.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Evince
Exec=/usr/bin/evince
MimeType=application/x-evince
Icon=evince
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=DocumentViewer
Comment=
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TIA Steve

you need!! the inode/directory setting in the mimetype list. That's what chromium reads to autopen your file manager.
Make sure it matches the .desktop file appropriate for your file manager. In the case of spacefm, it is not spacefm.desktop as you might expect, it is spacefm-folder-handler.desktop.
Check your .desktop files for your fm.
If you're still having trouble, you might want to post your mimeapps.list
I noticed in post1 you were using defaults.list instead. Reading the wiki is not super clear on this, but since I downloaded the pkg 'mimeo' I used mimeapps.list instead.
I assume you read the file extension portion of the chromium part of the wiki:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ch … sociations
Moderator: Please take care to not duplicate entries when you forgot some information. Use the "Edit" button instead. And if you did inadvertently as in this case, please notify the moderators with the "Report" button so they can take action.
Deleting the doubled entry. -- bernarcher
Last edited by bernarcher (2013-02-03 02:00:49)

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File Associations & Default Application

Hi All,
First time post so please be gentle.
I have a file (extension qif) which at the moment opens with a windows program via Codeweavers Crossover. I now need to change this to open with a little Applescript application I have written myself. So off I toddle to Get Info, Open With, other, select my QIF2OFX application, click change all...and the application flips back to the previous setting. Now I have tried this on my MacBookPro which doesn't even have Codeweavers or the windows app installed (and so no default program) and it still won't allow me to change the default program for all files. I can change it for the instance of that individual file (for as long as it exists) but as for all files, no joy.
Any ideas anybody?
Best regards,
Chris

Hi,
All resolved thank you very much. Quite chuffed with the outcome as it is my first ever Applescriot...marks out of ten anyone...places it could be improved or made more efficient? Code follows: -
on open TheDroppedFile
-- save ApplesScripts delimiters current state and setup variables
set Old_Delims to AppleScript's text item delimiters
set Save_Date to "00/00/00"
--Extracting the account number from the source file name NOTE This is dependant on the naming convention used by your bank
set QIF_File to TheDroppedFile as text
set Acct_Num to text ((offset of "_" in QIF_File) + 7) thru ((offset of "_" in QIF_File) + 14) of QIF_File
-- Set the file to write to
set OFX_File to (open for access file (((path to documents folder) as string) & Acct_Num & ".ofx") with write permission)
-- write header concat file name with header record
set OFX_Header to "OFXHEADER:100
DATA:OFXSGML
VERSION:102
SECURITY:NONE
ENCODING:USASCII
CHARSET:1252
COMPRESSION:NONE
OLDFILEUID:NONE
NEWFILEUID:NONE
<OFX>
<SIGNONMSGSRSV1>
<SONRS>
<STATUS>
<CODE>0
<SEVERITY>INFO
</STATUS>
<DTSERVER>20991231000000[-5:EST]
<LANGUAGE>ENG
</SONRS>
</SIGNONMSGSRSV1>
<BANKMSGSRSV1>
<STMTTRNRS>
<TRNUID>1
<STATUS>
<CODE>0
<SEVERITY>INFO
</STATUS>
<STMTRS>
<CURDEF>GBP
<BANKACCTFROM>
<BANKID>999999
<ACCTID>" & Acct_Num & "
<ACCTTYPE>CHECKING
</BANKACCTFROM>
<BANKTRANLIST>
<DTSTART>20000101000000[-5:EST]
<DTEND>20991231000000[-5:EST]
" as string
write (OFX_Header) to OFX_File starting at eof
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set QIF_Records to paragraphs of (read file QIF_File)
-- Read through records and write out correct OFX standard
repeat with i in QIF_Records
-- Check for EOF NOTE: This is dependent on how your bank ends the file
if (offset of "D" in i) = 1 and length of i = 1 then
exit repeat
end if
-- Create DTPOSTED records
if (offset of "D" in i) = 1 and length of i > 1 then
set OFX_Data1 to "<DTPOSTED>" & (text 8 thru 11 of i) & (text 5 thru 6 of i) & (text 2 thru 3 of i) & "000000[-5:EST]"
end if
-- Create FTID record from DTPOSTED date and increment counter by 1 padded with zeros
if (offset of "D" in i) = 1 then
if Save_Date = (text 2 thru 11 of i) then
set FT_ID to FT_ID + 1
else
set Save_Date to (text 2 thru 11 of i)
set FT_ID to 1
end if
set FITID_Data to "<FITID>+" & (text 8 thru 11 of i) & (text 5 thru 6 of i) & (text 2 thru 3 of i) & addleading_zeros(FTID, 5)
end if
-- Set TRNTYPE to PAYMENT or OTHER depending upon sign
if (offset of "T" in i) = 1 then
if (offset of "-" in i) = 2 then
set OFX_Data1 to "<STMTTRN>" & return & "<TRNTYPE>PAYMENT" & return & OFX_Data1
else
set OFX_Data1 to "<STMTTRN>" & return & "<TRNTYPE>OTHER" & return & OFX_Data1
end if
set OFX_Data2 to "<TRNAMT>" & (text 2 thru (length of i) of i)
end if
-- Check length of text transaction description text and strip out & if present
if (offset of "P" in i) = 1 then
if i contains "&" then
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {"&"}
set Delimited_List to every text item of i
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {"&amp:"}
set i to Delimited_List as string
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to Old_Delims
end if
if length of i < 33 then
set TranDescLength to length of i
else
set TranDescLength to 32
end if
set OFX_Data3 to "<NAME>" & (text 2 thru TranDescLength of i) & return & "</STMTTRN>"
set OFX_Data to OFX_Data1 & return & OFX_Data2 & return & FITID_Data & return & OFX_Data3 & return
write (OFX_Data) to OFX_File
end if
end repeat
set OFX_Footer to "</BANKTRANLIST>
<LEDGERBAL>
<BALAMT>00.00
<DTASOF>20991231000000[-5:EST]
</LEDGERBAL>
</STMTRS>
</STMTTRNRS>
</BANKMSGSRSV1>
</OFX>" as string
write (OFX_Footer) to OFX_File starting at eof
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to Old_Delims
do shell script "rm " & quoted form of the POSIX path of QIF_File
tell application "Finder"
--activate
open file (((path to documents folder) as string) & Acct_Num & ".ofx")
delete file (((path to documents folder) as string) & Acct_Num & ".ofx")
end tell
end open
on addleading_zeros(ThisNumber, MaxLeadingZeros)
set the Threshold_Number to (10 ^ MaxLeadingZeros) as integer
if This_Number is less than the Threshold_Number then
set the Leading_Zeros to ""
set the Digit_Count to the length of ((This_Number div 1) as string)
set the Character_Count to (MaxLeadingZeros + 1) - Digit_Count
repeat Character_Count times
set the Leading_Zeros to (the Leading_Zeros & "0") as string
end repeat
return (Leading_Zeros & (This_Number as text)) as string
else
return This_Number as text
end if
end addleadingzeros
Best regards,
Chris

MIME type settings for browser are IGNORED

I have the following problem since Quicktime 7 Preview 2:
Quicktime by default has many mime types associated which I don't want to be played by quicktime in my browser.
For example .mp3
So I deselected everything but Quicktime movies in the mime type associations.
But no matter what I deselect there - Quicktime is stil playing everything in the browser.
It seems that Quicktime conmpleteley ignores the mime type settings in the preferences and plays everything by default!
What do I need to do to fix this?
In versions 7 Preview 1 an lower these settings worked just fine.
And as long as this isn't fixed I won't use Quicktime 7...

The "hijacking" of files types and file extensions has been a part of every piece of software I can remember. Particularly with browsers and media files.
Not all browsers use the same types of plug-in architecture and this may be what you're experiencing.
It's been a long time since I fired up Internet Explorer on my Mac. Many browsers still use its style.
On a Mac (maybe the same on a PC) Internet Explorer uses its own "File Helpers" for MIME types. These can be edited using its "preferences".
Try changing the settings in IE. You'll find them under "helpers" (or something named like that).
Because Microsoft has tried to put its own formats in "front" of viewers these obstacles will now be part of much of your online experience.
User (viewers) do have most of the control. It's a shame that we have to fight just to get what we want in our online experience.

IOS 6 File Type Association Issues

I've run into a problem that appears to be restricted just to iOS 6 devices -- iOS 5 seems to handle this situation well.
I'm building an application that exports JSON-formatted files with a custom extension via email, and should also be able to open the file attachment from within mobile mail using the "Open with" dialog. Basically just a way to send your app's settings to other users of the app via email. These are small files as well -- less than 200KB.
The problem I've run into is that even though my application name appears in the list of available applications to open the attachment, iOS 6 devices fail to open my application. In the device logs, the following gets reported:
     LaunchServices: Invalid LSOpenOperation request - No applications found to open document
I've been looking for anything online about this kind of issue, but haven't found any reference to that console output. I'm also positive that I've set up the Document Type and Exported UTI items correctly -- again this all works fine in iOS 5. I've included the values defined for the Document Type and UTI below:
Document Type
============
<key>CFBundleDocumentTypes</key>
         <array>
                 <dict>
                         <key>CFBuldlerTypeRole</key>
                         <string>Editor</string>
                         <key>CFBundleTypeExtensions</key>
                         <array>
                                 <string>exportedModel</string>
                         </array>
                         <key>CFBundleTypeIconFiles</key>
                         <array>
                                 <string>icon</string>
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                         <key>CFBundleTypeName</key>
                         <string>Exported Model</string>
                         <key>LSHandlerRank</key>
                         <string>Owner</string>
                         <key>LSItemContentTypes</key>
                         <array>
                                 <string>com.company.applicationName.exportedModel</string>
                         </array>
                 </dict>
</array>
Exported UTI
==========
<key>UTExportedTypeDeclarations</key>
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    <dict>
      <key>UTTypeConformsTo</key>
      <array>
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      </array>
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        <string>exportedModel</string>
        <key>public.mime-type</key>
        <string>application/octet-stream</string>
      </dict>
                 </dict>
</array>
Has anyone else seen this kind of behavior in iOS 6? Could there be a cache of file type associations that is messing the "Open with" operation up?

Hi! You have given me some hope - I have a very similar problem and too have been tearing my hair out. My app has stopped launching in iOS6 from an email attachment containing XML data, but of a user defined type .ftl. My application was launched in iOS 4 without any problems and I get the same:
LaunchServices: Invalid LSOpenOperation request - No applications found to open document
Error .... My .info file is also absolutely fine. Mate, how do you establish the MIME type of your email attachment?
Regards,
Lee

How do I set the mime type for an attachment to "application/zip"

I'm sending out an email with a zip file as an attachment. The following code works fine, but the Mimetype for the attachment is set to "application/octet-stream"
FileDataSource fds = new FileDataSource(zipname);
DataHandler dh = new DataHandler(fds);
MimeBodyPart mbp2 = new MimeBodyPart();
mbp2.setDataHandler(dh);
mbp2.setFileName(fds.getName());
I would like the mime type to be application/x-zip. Unfortunately I seem to need a data content handler for this mime type as I get this exception.
javax.activation.UnsupportedDataTypeException: no object DCH for MIME type application/x-zip
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I found the solution after much chasing around. The default mimetypes file that comes with the activation framework does not list zip.

File/Open Dialog Box / Setting MIME type

In my application, I am calling a web service that returns text that I need to download into an EDI application. I am simply looking to have an open/file dialog box open when the text is returned. I was using the following code in a PL/SQL process:
begin
-- Set the MIME type
owa_util.mime_header( 'application/octet', FALSE );
-- Set the name of the file
htp.p('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="EDIOuput.edi"');
-- Close the HTTP Header
owa_util.http_header_close;
end;
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Thank you.

HTML doesn't provide you the possibility to select multiple files or select folders at a single browse. Thus JSF can't do any much for you. Best what you can do is to write a signed applet or web start application which does the task. The Mojarra Scales component library has a ready-to-use component which embeds an applet which does that task. Check [https://scales.dev.java.net/multiFileUpload.html].

MIME type setting on Tomcat server. Please help.

Hi all.
Can someone shed me some lights on setting up MIME type. I added the followings to the web.xml file in /WEB-INF directory, restarted webserver, and still saw my jnlp file as text file in the browser. What did I do wrong?
<init-param>
<param-name>jnlp-extension</param-name>
<param-value>.xjnlp</param-value>
</init-param>

do you use Apache as your web server?
if so the just add the following line to the .mime.types configuration file:
application/x-java-jnlp-file JNLP
Tomcat is more a servlet server than a web server... so i don't know if it can be responsable for serving jnlp files or not....
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IOS File type association

I am trying to invoke my air app when a user clicks a text file in something like drop box. I found the following through a bit of research but when I add it into my InfoAdditions, I get an error.
<key>CFBundleDocumentTypes</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>CFBundleTypeExtensions</key>
<array>
<string>txt</string>
<string>TXT</string>
</array>
<key>CFBundleTypeName</key>
<string>Text</string>
<key>CFBundleTypeRole</key>
<string>Editor</string>
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<key>UIDeviceFamily</key><array><string>1</string><string>2</string><string>2</string></ar ray>
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Thanks

Below is a sample to register your application for pdf files.
<key>CFBundleDocumentTypes</key>
<array>
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<key>CFBundleTypeName</key>
<string>my pdf viewer</string>
<key>CFBundleTypeRole</key>
<string>Viewer</string>
<key>LSHandlerRank</key>
<string>Owner</string>
<key>LSItemContentTypes</key>
<array>
<string>com.adobe.pdf</string>
</array>
</dict>
</array>
<key>UTExportedTypeDeclarations</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>UTTypeDescription</key>
<string>my pdf viewer</string>
<key>UTTypeIdentifier</key>
<string>com.adobe.pdf</string>
<key>UTTypeTagSpecification</key>
<dict>
<key>public.filename-extension</key>
<string>pdf</string>
<key>public.mime-type</key>
<string>application/pdf</string>
</dict>
</dict>
</array>
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With this in place your application will be able to handle documents attached to emails or from other applications on the system.

MIME type Flash plug in message keeps coming up

I get this message but when I go to install the flash player it will download. Then I will find another site that I get this message on after I have installed the flash player. I don't know what is happening, the flash player was working a week ago and now it isn't. Any help would be greatly appreciated. And the more simple the explanation the better because I am new to all of this.
This page has content of MIME type “application/x-shockwave-flash”, but you don’t have a plug-in for this MIME type. This page may have the plug-in for you to download and install:
http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1ProdVersion=ShockwaveFlash

Assuming that Safari is your browser, Safari->Help->Installed Plug-ins and see if this entry is there:
+*Shockwave Flash*+
+Shockwave Flash *version number* — from file “Flash Player.plugin”.+
+MIME Type Description Extensions+
+application/x-shockwave-flash Shockwave Flash swf+
+application/futuresplash FutureSplash Player spl+
Report back with what's showing on your machine (copy & paste).

Enabling mime types

I am trying to view Crystal Reports version 8 files within Weblogic 5.1 sp6. We have currently upgradeed our B2B application and was previously able to view reports when using the IIS as a web server. How do I enable the folowing mime types in Weblogic:application/x-rptapplication/x-epfapplication/x-emfapplication/x-etfapplication/x-siIn additon to the question above, does Weblogic 5.1 sp6 have the ability to do directory browsing?

Have you tried putting the mime types in the weblogic.properties files, as
the documentation recommends?
"Jeanell Patton" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:3aa7e0ca$[email protected]..
I am trying to view Crystal Reports version 8 files within Weblogic 5.1sp6. We have currently upgradeed our B2B application and was previously able
to view reports when using the IIS as a web server. How do I enable the
folowing mime types in
Weblogic:application/x-rptapplication/x-epfapplication/x-emfapplication/x-et
fapplication/x-siIn additon to the question above, does Weblogic 5.1 sp6
have the ability to do directory browsing?

Gnome: mime types, file associations and defaults.list

I installed the new Gnome 2.8 during the weekend and now my file type associations is completely bloated. The mime system is intact - Nautilus recognises files properly. However, Nautilus doesn't know which applications to open a specific file with. I have read other posts and found useful information, but not the solution.
This post in FedoraForum gave me a hint to what's causing the problem:
http://fedoraforum.org/forum/showthread … post127530
It seems that the file defaults.list is missing from /usr/share/mime/applications. Apparently this file contains the associations between applications and mime types. I have not be able to find out which package should provide this file or how to recreate it. Can anyone help - maybe provide the name of the package that provides this file?
Thanks,

Yeah, I got tired of Evolution not knowing about opening *.docs in openoffice. After several hours of research, the key is the /usr/share/applications/mimeinfo.cache, /opt/gnome/share/applications/mimeinfo.cache, and the MimeType fields in the *.desktop files. The mimeinfo.cache in /usr was empty and the /opt one had gthumb and other apps but no OO:
[MIME Cache]
application/x-gnome-stones=gnome-stones.desktop
image/jpeg=gthumb.desktop
application/postscript=ggv.desktop
...snip...
That's a lot of blather to say that the fix for Evolution/OpenOffice was to add the proper MimeType entry to /usr/share/applications/ooo645writer.desktop:
MimeType=application/vnd.ms-word;application/msword
and then run "update-desktop-database". Problem solved.
Another problem is that within Evolution it says an attached doc is a "application/msword" and not a "Microsoft Word Document". Unfortunately this is because freedesktop.org decided to use application/vnd.ms-word instead of application/msword like the rest of the world. If you check the vnd.ms-word entry in /usr/share/mime/packages/freedesktop.org.xml it defines an alias msword but the new mime system doesn't appear to recognize aliases yet. The solution I used was to rename the entry to msword. Another possible solution might be to remove the msword alias from the vnd.ms-word entry and create a new msword entry based on the vnd.ms-word one. Then run "update-mime-database /usr/share/mime". Hope that made sense.
I think the defaults.list is part of the previous GNOME MIME setup cause I don't have one and I'm not experiencing any problems. For other apps check for the associations in the mimeinfo.cache's and if missing add the MimeType's to the app's *.desktop.

How to change default application associated with some mime types?

When we install some new program, for example GIMP, I assume the newly installed program is added to some mime type database, and the /usr/share/applications/mimeinfo.cache file is automatically generated.
Using my example, GIMP will be the default application for all its registered mime types, even application/pdf. I surely don't want this to happen, and I surely don't want to create all kinds of files that GIMP registered and right click on them and choose Properties and then change it in the Open with... tab. I want to systematically de-prioritize GIMP so that it will not override my previously assigned default applications.
I wrote a script to modify the mimeinfo.cache file, and it seems to work great. However, after a reboot or upgrade or something I didn't notice, the default application of application/pdf is reconfigured to GIMP. I think the cache suffix of the file indicates that it is just a cache and may be changed by system unnoticed. So I am looking for a new way to change the default applications.
As far as I know or guess from the phenomena, there should be some system utility that generates the mimeinfo.cache file, it seems to parse all the *.desktop files under /usr/share/applications and register them to certain mime types accordingly. The sequence of the *.desktop files get parsed seems to be related to the time the application is installed, and the newly installed applications seems to be parsed later and inserted in the front of the application list or be parsed earlier and appended to the application list. Is there some place I can change the sequence of the parsing? Or is there some place I can change the behavior of the system utility?
I know that I can populate my ~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list to override the system wide defaults, however, I want a more elegant way to this.
Any opinion on this is welcomed.
Last edited by AugustePop (2010-05-14 05:47:15)

Ah, right. Don't know what DE you are on, but in Gnome: right-click a (e.g. pdf) file -> Preferences -> Open with.
All Applications listed there will be available from the right click menu, the marked one will be used on double-click.
errgrh...
I surely don't want to create all kinds of files that GIMP registered and right click on them and choose Properties and then change it in the Open with... tab. I want to systematically de-prioritize GIMP so that it will not override my previously assigned default applications.
I guess what I am trying to propose is this: "de-prioritize" GIMP in its .dekstop file for the types you dont want it to be associated with, and manually add it back in through "Open With" for the file types you want it to be an option. Not sure if this is solving anything for you though
Last edited by hokasch (2010-05-14 10:28:57)

XDG standards updated re MIME-type associations + default applications

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