Default applications: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 12:58, 14 February 2025

To change the default application associated with a filetype you must use the xdg-mime command and point to the desired desktop file.

For programs that do not ship a desktop entry file, one must be created.

The following example makes mupdf the default command to open pdf files.

Create a desktop file, because mupdf doesn't provide one:

Contents of ~/.local/share/applications/mupdf.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=/usr/bin/mupdf-gl
Name=mupdf

Use xdg-mime from xdg-utils to associate the desktop file with the pdf extension:

$ xdg-mime default mupdf.desktop application/pdf

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-To change the default application associated with a filetype you must use the xdg-mime command and point to the desired desktop file (if it doesn't exist, you must create one).
+To change the default application associated with a filetype you must use the [https://linux.die.net/man/1/xdg-mime xdg-mime] command and point to the desired desktop file.
+For programs that do not ship a desktop entry file, one must be created.
+== Example ==
+The following example makes {{Pkg|mupdf}} the default command to open pdf files.
+Create a desktop file, because mupdf doesn't provide one:
-= Example =
-In the following example we want to make mupdf the default command to open pdf files.
-First you need to create a desktop file, because mupdf doesn't provide one.
 {{cat|~/.local/share/applications/mupdf.desktop|<nowiki>
 [Desktop Entry]
@@ Line 13: / Line 18: @@
 }}
-Then you must use xdg to associate the desktop file with the pdf extension.
+Use <code>xdg-mime</code> from {{Pkg|xdg-utils}} to associate the desktop file with the pdf extension:
 {{Cmd|$ xdg-mime default mupdf.desktop application/pdf}}
-That's all.
+== See also ==
+* [https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Default_applications ArchWiki: Default applications]
 [[Category:Desktop]]
+[[Category:Newbie]]
 [[Category:Installation]]