## page was renamed from MimeManagement
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 [[http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/XMosaic/rfc1524.txt|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

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