[Bug 703106] [NEW] xdg-update-menu overwrites the /usr/share/applications/defaults.list symlink with a file.

[Launchpad Bug Tracker]

You have been subscribed to a public bug by Martin Pitt (pitti):

Binary package hint: xdg-utils

The desktop-file-utils package creates
/usr/share/applications/defaults.list as a symlink to
/etc/gnome/defaults.list.  Unfortunately, the xdg-update-menu program,
when called to install a .desktop file with new mime types, overwrites
this symlink with a file.  It does this by reading the defaults.list,
writing to a temporary file, making edits, then copying it back.  it
doesn't notice if the defaults.list file is a symlink, and overwrites it
with a file.

A common example of this is installing google chrome.  it calls xdg-
desktop-menu to install its desktop file, and the result is that
/etc/gnome/defaults.list is no longer used.

I suggest that xdg-desktop-menu should canonicalize defaults.list before
writing to it.  I've attached a simple patch as an example.  This patch
will apply both to the latest package in natty, as well as to Lucid,
where I'd really like this to be applied.

** Affects: xdg-utils
     Importance: Medium
         Status: Confirmed

** Affects: xdg-utils (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: Fix Committed

** Affects: xdg-utils (Ubuntu Lucid)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: Confirmed

** Affects: xdg-utils (Ubuntu Maverick)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: Confirmed

** Affects: xdg-utils (Ubuntu Natty)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: Fix Committed


** Tags: glucid patch
-- 
xdg-update-menu overwrites the /usr/share/applications/defaults.list symlink with a file.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/703106
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