Setting default applications w/out gnome-control-center

[Mumia W.]

On 08/01/2008 10:47 AM, Peter N Spotts wrote:
> Folks,
> 
> Is it possible to set default apps in Xubuntu 8.04 without resorting to
> gnome-control-center? I've used Xfce's version to set Claws Mail as my
> default email app. But it fails to come up when I try to use web email
> addresses in Firefox. I've used about:config in FF to try to remedy the
> problem. But it hasn't worked; something appears to be overriding the
> about:config setup for email. Is there a "via terminal" approach for
> designating default apps? Or do I need to install Gnome's control
> center to get this right?
> 
> With best regards,
> 
> Pete
> 

Launch the gconf-editor. I have almost no experience with Xfce, so I 
can't be sure this works, but you can change gnome-control-center 
settings by editing the values in the gconf database, and the 
gconf-editor helps you do that.

However, the gconf-editor is a *lot* less pretty than 
gnome-control-center. Gconf is like the Windows registry; there are many 
keys, and the keys have values, and you have to know the right key and 
value to modify to get your desired results.

For example, the default browser can probably be changed by modifying 
the key /desktop/gnome/applications/browser/exec; the value is "firefox" 
on my system.