[ubuntu-za] Strange Nautilus behaviour.
Bill Cairns
cairnsww at gmail.com
Fri Dec 30 19:26:17 UTC 2011
On Fri, Dec 30, 2011 at 8:39 PM, Bruce Pieterse <octoquadza at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri 30 Dec 2011 20:27:57 SAST, Bill Cairns wrote:
>>
>> On Fri, Dec 30, 2011 at 7:49 PM, Bruce Pieterse<octoquadza at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> On Fri 30 Dec 2011 11:37:39 SAST, Bill Cairns wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Some time back I must have made a mistake when I opened a .pdf file
>>>> with Calibre - I must have left the "Always use this application for
>>>> pdf files" box ticked. No big deal except that Nautilus won'tt change
>>>> it back again to evince. It has associated .pdf with Calibre and
>>>> that's that.
>>>>
>>>> But the problem goes further than that. I created a file - a.xyz - and
>>>> double clicked it under Nautilus. It decided that Open Office Writer
>>>> was the correct application for .xyz files and opened the file
>>>> accordingly. I tried to change the default application to Geany (why
>>>> not?), but it stubbornly insists that Open Offcie Writer was designed
>>>> for .xyz files. So the implication is that Nautilus is not letting me
>>>> change any associations.
>>>>
>>>> I have (temporarily?) fixed my .pdf problem by manually editing the
>>>> file ~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list and changing the line -
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> application/pdf=userapp-calibre-HB71IV.desktop;evince.desktop;gimp.desktop;FBReader.desktop;inkscape.desktop;gpdftext.desktop;
>>>>
>>>> to -
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> application/pdf=evince.desktop;gimp.desktop;FBReader.desktop;inkscape.desktop;gpdftext.desktop;
>>>>
>>>> But I am a bit wary of that file as I don't quite understand how it
>>>> works (I don't think that Gimp should be there!). There is no "xyz" in
>>>> this file which makes me a bit suspicious.
>>>>
>>>> Any ideas about why Nautilis is not doing this itself?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Bill
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Hi Bill,
>>>
>>> That is strange. Have you tried resetting the default application to open
>>> PDF files in nautilus? This can be done by right-clicking on the file and
>>> selecting Properties> Open With and selecting from the Default
>>> Applications
>>> or Recommend Applications list.
>>>
>>> By creating an a.xyz file on my side the default application to open it
>>> with
>>> is gedit.
>>>
>>> Here is a default entry for PDF files from my mimeapps.list file, perhaps
>>> you can replace your entries with what I have, as my installation is
>>> relatively new:
>>>
>>> [Added Associations]
>>> application/pdf=gedit.desktop;
>>> ...
>>>
>>> [Default Applications]
>>> application/pdf=evince.desktop
>>> ...
>>>
>>> After a bit of digging, it looks like it is safe to delete the ones you
>>> have
>>> in your home directory as gnome would fallback to the default.list in
>>> /usr/share/applications which actually points to
>>> /etc/gnome/defaults.list. I
>>> think the the ones in your home directory are user-defined and were set
>>> when
>>> installing an application or when you specifically set a default
>>> application
>>> with the "Open with" tab under properties.
>>>
>>> I renamed both the mimeapps.list and mimeinfo.cache by just appending
>>> .bak
>>> to the file name and then tried changing the default program for a file,
>>> but
>>> didn't physically change it and nautilus/gnome generated a new
>>> mimeapps.list
>>> with 0 bytes.
>>>
>>> I hope that helps a bit :)
>>> --
>>> Best of luck,
>>>
>>> Bruce
>>>
>>> --
>>> Best of luck,
>>>
>>> Bruce
>>>
>> Hi Bruce,
>>
>> Thanks for all the help.
>>
>> The amazing thing (well to me it is amazing!) is that I never knew
>> about the option to set the default application via the Properties
>> selection. I have always changed the default application in the old
>> Windows way - Right click, open with, other application, set use this
>> application etc etc. Let's face it, this is a great step forward over
>> the obscure Windows way. (Do a search on th enet and it does not
>> mention the proper way but describes the "Windows" way!)
>>
>> So I did use my newly gained expertise and used the option via
>> properties, and everything changed just like it should.
>>
>> The second surprising thing to me is that I only have the "Added
>> Associations" in my mineapps.list file and no "Default Applications".
>> Or perhaps it is not so surprising - I am running 10.10 and perhaps
>> you have a more recent version?
>>
>> Anyway, I don't want to wander too deeply into this morass and, as my
>> problem seems to be solved, I will worry about more urgent issues. But
>> thank you very much for your help!
>>
>> Bill
>>
>
> Hi Bill,
>
> It was a pleasure to help. Yes, I do have a more recent version than you,
> 11.10, so maybe there has been a change in the underlying code i.e. Gnome2
> on 10.10 and Gnome3 from 11.04 onwards.
>
> Glad the problem has been resolved though!
>
> Have a great New Years! :)
>
>
> --
> Best of luck,
>
> Bruce
>
Thanks again - the interesting thing is that this change must have
happened as a result of an update (I religiously install all updates).
I suspect a bit of bad change control somewhere.
But who cares - I am happy again!
Bill
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