mime types and related application is a pain with linux. Since freedesktop (http://www.freedesktop.org), thinks seems to be better. However, independent mime management still exists in Ubuntu : For instance, promoted programs like Firefox (https://bugzilla.ubuntu.com/show_bug.cgi?id=7023), uses a configuration different from gnome.
What is the current state ?
2 packages coexist that manage mime types:
- mime-support
- provides /usr/sbin/update-mime
- handle /etc/mailcap and /etc/mime.types
- I think it's used by firefox
- shared-mime-info
- provides /usr/bin/update-mime-database
- handle freedesktop specification
- Used by gnome
What to do ?
- Find programs that use mime-support and force them to use shared-mime-info.
- Suppress mime-support and make shared-mime-info handle /etc/mailcap and /etc/mime.types for compatibility.
mime-support
Summary
- /etc/mail.type store relation between file extensions and mimetypes. Lines use the form: typemime extensions
- /etc/mailcap and $HOME/.mailcap store relation between mimetypes and program that handle them. Lines use the form: mimetype ; application %s.
See update-mime(8) and RFC 1524 for details
Questions
- why is there mime type without extension?
- freedesktop mime specification are-they enough to build /etc/mailcap?
To Do
- search wich software use /etc/mailcap and /etc/mime.type
- tweak /usr/bin/update-mime-database in order to build /etc/mime.type
- Infos already exists in /usr/share/mime/globs and /usr/local/share/mime/globs
- Changing a "preferred application" in Gnome should change the application launched for at least the main mime type