User Commands XDG-MIME(1)
NAME
xdg-mime - command line tool for querying information about
file type handling and adding descriptions for new file
types
SYNOPSIS
xdg-mime query {filetype default} ...
xdg-mime default application mimetype(s)
xdg-mime install [--mode mode] [--novendor] mimetypes-file
xdg-mime uninstall [--mode mode] mimetypes-file
xdg-mime {--help --manual --version}
DESCRIPTION
The xdg-mime program can be used to query information about
file types and to add descriptions for new file types.
COMMANDS
query
Returns information related to file types.
The query option is for use inside a desktop session
only. It is not recommended to use xdg-mime query as
root.
The following queries are supported:
query filetype FILE: Returns the file type of FILE in
the form of a MIME type.
query default mimetype: Returns the default application
that the desktop environment uses for opening files of
type mimetype. The default application is identified by
its *.desktop file.
default
Ask the desktop environment to make application the
default application for opening files of type mimetype.
An application can be made the default for several file
types by specifying multiple mimetypes.
application is the desktop file id of the application
and has the form vendor-name.desktop application must
already be installed in the desktop menu before it can
be made the default handler. The aplication's desktop
file must list support for all the MIME types that it
wishes to be the default handler for.
Requests to make an application a default handler may
xdg-utils 1.0 Last change: 06/24/2007 1
User Commands XDG-MIME(1)
be subject to system policy or approval by the
end-user. xdg-mime query can be used to verify whether
an application is the actual default handler for a
specific file type.
The default option is for use inside a desktop session
only. It is not recommended to use xdg-mime default as
root.
install
Adds the file type descriptions provided in
mimetypes-file to the desktop environment.
mimetypes-file must be a XML file that follows the
freedesktop.org Shared MIME-info Database specification
and that has a mime-info element as its document root.
For each new file type one or more icons with name
major-minor must be installed with the
xdg-icon-resource command in the mimetypes context. For
example the application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text
filetype requires an icon by the name of
application-vnd.oasis.opendocument.text to be
installed.
uninstall
Removes the file type descriptions provided in
mimetypes-file and previously added with xdg-mime
install from the desktop environment. mimetypes-file
must be a XML file that follows the freedesktop.org
Shared MIME-info Database specification and that has a
mime-info element as its document root.
OPTIONS
--mode mode
mode can be user or system. In user mode the file is
(un)installed for the current user only. In system mode
the file is (un)installed for all users on the system.
Usually only root is allowed to install in system mode.
The default is to use system mode when called by root
and to use user mode when called by a non-root user.
--novendor
Normally, xdg-mime checks to ensure that the
mimetypes-file to be installed has a proper vendor
prefix. This option can be used to disable that check.
A vendor prefix consists of alpha characters ([a-zA-Z])
and is terminated with a dash ("-"). Companies and
organizations are encouraged to use a word or phrase,
preferably the organizations name, for which they hold
a trademark as their vendor prefix. The purpose of the
vendor prefix is to prevent name conflicts.
xdg-utils 1.0 Last change: 06/24/2007 2
User Commands XDG-MIME(1)
--help
Show command synopsis.
--manual
Show this manualpage.
--version
Show the xdg-utils version information.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
xdg-mime honours the following environment variables:
XDG_UTILS_DEBUG_LEVEL
Setting this environment variable to a non-zero
numerical value makes xdg-mime do more verbose
reporting on stderr. Setting a higher value increases
the verbosity.
XDG_UTILS_INSTALL_MODE
This environment variable can be used by the user or
administrator to override the installation mode. Valid
values are user and system.
EXIT CODES
An exit code of 0 indicates success while a non-zero exit
code indicates failure. The following failure codes can be
returned:
1 Error in command line syntax.
2 One of the files passed on the command line did not
exist.
3 A required tool could not be found.
4 The action failed.
5 No permission to read one of the files passed on the
command line.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following
attributes:
xdg-utils 1.0 Last change: 06/24/2007 3
User Commands XDG-MIME(1)
____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWxdg-utils |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Interface stability | Uncommitted |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
xdg-icon-resource(1), xdg-desktop-menu(1)
EXAMPLES
xdg-mime query filetype /tmp/foobar.png
Prints the MIME type of the file /tmp/foobar.png, in this
case image/png
xdg-mime query default image/png
Prints the .desktop filename of the application which is
registered to open PNG files.
xdg-mime install shinythings-shiny.xml
Adds a file type description for "shiny"-files.
"shinythings-" is used as the vendor prefix. The file type
description could look as folows.
shinythings-shiny.xml:
Shiny new file type
An icon for this new file type must also be installed, for
example with:
xdg-icon-resource install --context mimetypes --size 64 shiny-file-icon.png text-x-shiny
AUTHOR
Kevin Krammer, Jeremy White.
xdg-utils 1.0 Last change: 06/24/2007 4