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unix:desktops:xfce:fileassociation

Fix File Associations in xfce4

Had a problem with file associations in xfce4 (my favorite desktop). Basically, MX Linux installs leafpad editor by default, but I like Geany (a programming editor). Nothing wrong with Leafpad; it is small, lightweight, and does what a basic editor should do. But, I edit code and like syntax highlighting (and search/replace on regex).

So, I wanted to move all the associations over. These are done via mime types.

To fix this, I installed Geany, then created the file /usr/share/applications/mimeapps.list. This allows you to set up default apps and override what is listed.

I don't know if it is an xfce4 thing, or for all desktops, but /usr/share/applications contains a bunch of .desktop files which appear to set up each application for use by the window manager, and Geany is no exception. There is a geany.desktop file, which contains a list of all mime types geany supposedly supports (it does NOT contain everything I use it for, however). So, I just grabbed those and created the new file.

This will destroy your non-default mime associations. Do not do it if you already have the file

geanydefault.sh
apt-get -y install geany
echo '[Default Applications]' /usr/share/applications/mimeapps.list
grep MimeType geany.desktop | cut -d'=' -f2 | sed 's/;/=geany.desktop\n/g' >> /usr/share/applications/mimeapps.list

References

unix/desktops/xfce/fileassociation.txt · Last modified: 2017/11/20 01:05 by 127.0.0.1