[ubuntu-za] Strange Nautilus behaviour.

[Bruce Pieterse]

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