Configure XDG MIME applications

Have you ever had your .pdf file being opened with GIMP by default? Or maybe even worse .txt file opened by Notepad via Wine?

Well good news. This post is exactly for you.

How does it work?

GUI application usually includes a Desktop Entry file. Which describes what MIME types it can handle.

Usage examples

View all XDG desktop entries

echo $XDG_DATA_DIRS | tr -d '\n' | xargs -d : -I % find %/applications -name '*.desktop'

...
gimp.desktop
mplayer.desktop
mpv.desktop
mumble.desktop
mupdf.desktop
sxiv.desktop
vlc.desktop
...

Find MIME type for a chosen file

$ xdg-mime query filetype ~/Downloads/Risen.pdf
application/pdf

Get current defaults for specified MIME type

This command prints out a default application for .pdf files. Which is GIMP!!!

$ xdg-mime query default application/pdf
gimp.desktop

Change the default application for a MIME type

This command sets MuPDF as default application for .pdf files.
Instead of previously used GIMP.

xdg-mime default mupdf.desktop application/pdf

Open a file with a default application

xdg-open ~/Downloads/Risen.pdf