1UPDATE-DESKTOP-DATABASE(1)  General Commands Manual UPDATE-DESKTOP-DATABASE(1)
2
3
4

NAME

6       update-desktop-database - Build cache database of MIME types handled by
7       desktop files
8

SYNOPSIS

10       update-desktop-database [-q|--quiet] [-v|--verbose] [DIRECTORY...]
11

DESCRIPTION

13       The update-desktop-database program is a tool to build a cache database
14       of the MIME types handled by desktop files.
15
16       The  cache database contains the list of MIME types that can be handled
17       by desktop files, as well as, for each MIME type,  a  list  of  desktop
18       files that can handle this MIME type. This cache database ease the work
19       of applications that need to find an application that can open a  docu‐
20       ment of a specific MIME type: those applications will not have to parse
21       all the desktop files existing on the system,  and  can  instead  parse
22       this cache database.
23
24       If  no  DIRECTORY is specified as argument, the desktop files that will
25       be processed are the ones installed in $XDG_DATA_DIRS/applications.
26
27       If both the --quiet and --verbose options are used, then --verbose will
28       be ignored.
29

OPTIONS

31       The following options are supported:
32
33       -q, --quiet
34              Do  not  display  any  information about processing and updating
35              progress.
36
37       -v, --verbose
38              Display more information about processing and updating progress.
39

NOTES

41       If an invalid MIME type is met, it will be ignored and the creation  of
42       the cache database will continue.
43
44       The format of the cache database is a simple desktop entry format, with
45       a MIME Cache group, containing one key per MIME type. The key  name  is
46       the  MIME  type, and the key value is the list of desktop file that can
47       handle this MIME type.
48
49       The order of the desktop files found for a MIME type  is  not  signifi‐
50       cant.   Therefore, an external mechanism must be used to determine what
51       is the preferred desktop file for a MIME type.
52

EXAMPLE

54       Here is a simple example of a cache database:
55
56               [MIME Cache]
57               application/x-shellscript=gedit.desktop;
58               text/plain=gedit.desktop;gvim.desktop;
59               video/webm=totem.desktop;
60
61       This cache database is created with three desktop files, each  contain‐
62       ing a MimeType key:
63
64               gedit.desktop: MimeType=text/plain;application/x-shellscript;
65               gvim.desktop: MimeType=text/plain;
66               totem.desktop: MimeType=video/webm;
67

FILES

69       $XDG_DATA_DIRS/applications/mimeinfo.cache
70
71              This  file is the cache database created by update-desktop-data‐
72              base.
73

BUGS

75       If you find bugs in the update-desktop-database program, please  report
76       these on https://bugs.freedesktop.org.
77
78
79
80                                FREEDESKTOP.ORG     UPDATE-DESKTOP-DATABASE(1)
Impressum