update-desktop-database
Build cache database of MIME types handled by desktop files
Synopsis
update-desktop-database
[-q|--quiet]
[-v|--verbose] [DIRECTORY...]
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examples
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description
The
update-desktop-database program is a tool to build a
cache database of the MIME types handled by desktop
files.
The cache
database contains the list of MIME types that can be handled
by desktop files, as well as, for each MIME type, a list of
desktop files that can handle this MIME type. This cache
database ease the work of applications that need to find an
application that can open a document of a specific MIME
type: those applications will not have to parse all the
desktop files existing on the system, and can instead parse
this cache database.
If no
DIRECTORY is specified as argument, the desktop files
that will be processed are the ones installed in
$XDG_DATA_DIRS/applications.
If both the
--quiet and --verbose options are used, then
--verbose will be ignored.
options
The following
options are supported:
-q, --quiet
Do not display any information
about processing and updating progress.
-v, --verbose
Display more information about
processing and updating progress.
example
Here is a simple example of a cache database:
[MIME Cache]
application/x-shellscript=gedit.desktop;
text/plain=gedit.desktop;gvim.desktop;
video/webm=totem.desktop;
This cache database is created with three desktop files, each
containing a MimeType key:
gedit.desktop:
MimeType=text/plain;application/x-shellscript;
gvim.desktop: MimeType=text/plain;
totem.desktop: MimeType=video/webm;
files
$XDG_DATA_DIRS/applications/mimeinfo.cache
This file is the cache database created by
update-desktop-database.
notes
If an invalid MIME type is met, it will be ignored and the
creation of the cache database will continue.
The format of the cache database is a simple desktop entry
format, with a MIME Cache group, containing one key per
MIME type. The key name is the MIME type, and the key value is
the list of desktop file that can handle this MIME type.
The order of the desktop files found for a MIME type is not
significant. Therefore, an external mechanism must be used to
determine what is the preferred desktop file for a MIME type.
bugs
If you find
bugs in the update-desktop-database program, please
report these on https://bugs.freedesktop.org.