1XDG-MIME(1) XDG-MIME(1)
2
6 xdg-mime - command line tool for querying information about file type
7 handling and adding descriptions for new file types
8
10 xdg-mime query {filetype default} ...
11 xdg-mime default application mimetype(s)
13 xdg-mime install [--mode mode] [--novendor] mimetypes-file
15 xdg-mime uninstall [--mode mode] mimetypes-file
17 xdg-mime {--help --manual --version}
19
21 The xdg-mime program can be used to query information about file types
22 and to add descriptions for new file types.
23
25 query Returns information related to file types.
26 The query option is for use inside a desktop session only. It is
28 not recommended to use xdg-mime query as root.
29 The following queries are supported:
31 query filetype FILE: Returns the file type of FILE in the form
33 of a MIME type.
34 query default mimetype: Returns the default application that the
36 desktop environment uses for opening files of type mimetype. The
37 default application is identified by its *.desktop file.
38 default
40 Ask the desktop environment to make application the default
41 application for opening files of type mimetype. An application
42 can be made the default for several file types by specifying
43 multiple mimetypes.
44 application is the desktop file id of the application and has
46 the form vendor-name.desktop application must already be
47 installed in the desktop menu before it can be made the default
48 handler. The aplication's desktop file must list support for all
49 the MIME types that it wishes to be the default handler for.
50 Requests to make an application a default handler may be subject
52 to system policy or approval by the end-user. xdg-mime query can
53 be used to verify whether an application is the actual default
54 handler for a specific file type.
55 The default option is for use inside a desktop session only. It
57 is not recommended to use xdg-mime default as root.
58 install
60 Adds the file type descriptions provided in mimetypes-file to
61 the desktop environment. mimetypes-file must be a XML file that
62 follows the freedesktop.org Shared MIME-info Database
63 specification and that has a mime-info element as its document
64 root. For each new file type one or more icons with name
65 major-minor must be installed with the xdg-icon-resource command
66 in the mimetypes context. For example the
67 application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text filetype requires an
68 icon by the name of application-vnd.oasis.opendocument.text to
69 be installed.
70 uninstall
72 Removes the file type descriptions provided in mimetypes-file
73 and previously added with xdg-mime install from the desktop
74 environment. mimetypes-file must be a XML file that follows the
75 freedesktop.org Shared MIME-info Database specification and that
76 has a mime-info element as its document root.
77
79 --mode mode
80 mode can be user or system. In user mode the file is
81 (un)installed for the current user only. In system mode the file
82 is (un)installed for all users on the system. Usually only root
83 is allowed to install in system mode.
84 The default is to use system mode when called by root and to use
86 user mode when called by a non-root user.
87 --novendor
89 Normally, xdg-mime checks to ensure that the mimetypes-file to
90 be installed has a proper vendor prefix. This option can be used
91 to disable that check.
92 A vendor prefix consists of alpha characters ([a-zA-Z]) and is
94 terminated with a dash ("-"). Companies and organizations are
95 encouraged to use a word or phrase, preferably the organizations
96 name, for which they hold a trademark as their vendor prefix.
97 The purpose of the vendor prefix is to prevent name conflicts.
98 --help Show command synopsis.
100 --manual
102 Show this manualpage.
103 --version
105 Show the xdg-utils version information.
106
108 xdg-mime honours the following environment variables:
109 XDG_UTILS_DEBUG_LEVEL
111 Setting this environment variable to a non-zero numerical value
112 makes xdg-mime do more verbose reporting on stderr. Setting a
113 higher value increases the verbosity.
114 XDG_UTILS_INSTALL_MODE
116 This environment variable can be used by the user or
117 administrator to override the installation mode. Valid values
118 are user and system.
119
121 An exit code of 0 indicates success while a non-zero exit code
122 indicates failure. The following failure codes can be returned:
123 1 Error in command line syntax.
125 2 One of the files passed on the command line did not exist.
127 3 A required tool could not be found.
129 4 The action failed.
131 5 No permission to read one of the files passed on the command
133 line.
134
136 xdg-icon-resource(1), xdg-desktop-menu(1)
137
139 xdg-mime query filetype /tmp/foobar.png
140 Prints the MIME type of the file /tmp/foobar.png, in this case
142 image/png
143 xdg-mime query default image/png
145 Prints the .desktop filename of the application which is registered to
147 open PNG files.
148 xdg-mime install shinythings-shiny.xml
150 Adds a file type description for "shiny"-files. "shinythings-" is used
152 as the vendor prefix. The file type description could look as folows.
153 shinythings-shiny.xml:
155 <?xml version="1.0"?>
157 <mime-info xmlns='http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/shared-mime-info'>
158 <mime-type type="text/x-shiny">
159 <comment>Shiny new file type</comment>
160 <glob pattern="*.shiny"/>
161 <glob pattern="*.shi"/>
162 </mime-type>
163 </mime-info>
164 An icon for this new file type must also be installed, for example
166 with:
167 xdg-icon-resource install --context mimetypes --size 64 shiny-file-icon.png text-x-shiny
169
172 Kevin Krammer, Jeremy White.
173 <kevin.krammer@gmx.at>
174 <jwhite@codeweavers.com>
175xdg-utils 1.0 06/24/2007 XDG-MIME(1)