xdg-open is not mate compatible

In fact, none of the xdg-utils scripts work with Mate. Generally they should treat Mate as GNOME, but they fail to recognise it.
There's a detectDE function which checks for GNOME...
    elif [ x"$GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID" != x"" ]; then DE=gnome;
but is should also check for Mate ...
    elif [ x"$MATE_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID" != x"" ]; then DE=gnome;
That will make the xdg-utils treat Mate as GNOME.

To be more rigorous, use
    elif [ x"$MATE_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID" != x"" ]; then DE=mate;
That allows xgd-utils scripts to contain functions for Mate separately.

These scripts contain detectDE
xdg-desktop-icon, xdg-desktop-menu, xdg-email, xdg-icon-resource, xdg-mime, xdg-open, xdg-screensaver, xdg-settings
but only
xdg-email, xdg-mime, xdg-open, xdg-screensaver and xdg-settings use it to determine which routines to call.

This bug is pretty fundamental to Mint. For example, mintwelcome uses xdg-open to call the browser to display its
links. If xdg-open doesn't work properly, mintwelcome launches chrome but won't close and stays in focus hiding the
help page you've just launched. With amended xdg-utils, mintwelcome launces firefox or chrome as appropriate and
"Close" works properly.

I'm attaching patches which seem to work. But I'm not sure that I've understood what xdg-screensaver is supposed todo and xdg-settings just uses the GNOME functions.

> To be more rigorous, use
> elif [ x"$MATE_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID" != x"" ]; then DE=mate;

Trouble with that is that the case statement following the call to detectDE doesn't have a case for mate, so it falls into the "unknown desktop environment" case.

Perhaps I should have said "...That allows xgd-utils scripts to contain functions (which you will need to code yourself) for Mate separately."!

Well, it looks like the linuxmint/mate guys picked up your suggestion to set DE=mate but didn't take it any further. The result is that my new lmde system gives me this:

rob $ xdg-settings get default-web-browser
xdg-settings: unknown desktop environment

Perhaps could you add some appropriate person to this bug's notification list?

That surprises me. What version of xdg-utils are you installing? I get
 xdg-utils Version: 1.1.0~rc1-2ubuntu6
if I apt-get from the standard Mint repository, and that version contains no Mate amendments at all.

But the "unoffical patch" I attached to my initial comment contained the required Mate routines.

(If I knew how to submit these things properly, I would.)

I'm attaching a tar of amended scripts. If you're adept at building your own deb files, you can use these to create a new xdg-utils deb file until an official version is produced. Alternatively, just place the scripts in /usr/bin.

My xdg-utils is:
  Version: 1.1.0~rc1+git20111210-6
Note that I am running LMDE, which may account for the differing version?

Anyhow, I see that you've got a statement in detectDE that sets DE=gnome if mate is detected, which is pretty much the same thing I did to fix my version. So it sounds like you've got this covered, and the only question is why did my mint install come with a broken version of xdg-settings, and can I expect a future update to fix this, or will I have to manually fix it with each update? :-(

In any case, thank you for your efforts and responses.

Hello,

I ran across this problem too when I tried to open a bittorrent magnet link from google chrome. I expected the magnet link to open in transmission-gtk, which did not happen.

I read the a nice description of the problem here http://askubuntu.com/questions/108925/how-to-tell-chrome-what-to-do-with-a-magnet-link.

And then added this little bit of code to /usr/bin/xdg-open. Basically I added a entry for mate in the finally case statement in xdg-open and then copied the gnome open_gnome to open_mate and changed the line open_gnome to open_mate. Patch made with diff -u attached.

case "$DE" in
    mate)
    open_mate "$url"
    ;;

    kde)
    open_kde "$url"
    ;;

    gnome)
    open_gnome "$url"
    ;;

    xfce)
    open_xfce "$url"
    ;;

    lxde)
    open_lxde "$url"
    ;;

    generic)
    open_generic "$url"
    ;;

    *)
    exit_failure_operation_impossible "no method available for opening '$url'"
    ;;
esac

open_mate()
{
    if gvfs-open --help 2>/dev/null 1>&2; then
        gvfs-open "$1"
    else
        mate-open "$1"
    fi

    if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
        exit_success
    else
        exit_failure_operation_failed
    fi
}

BR.

Seems like a no-brainer. Why is this still 'undecided'?

I've put the changes in place and put a hold on xdg-utils in Mint 14 until this eventually is addressed. I hope no security issues come up in the meantime :-/

For those looking for a quick & dirty solution until this patch is released, put

export GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID=$MATE_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID

in ~/.bashrc. (Warning: May have undesired side effects)

I can't believe this bug is still around. I am running Mate on Fedora 19 in January 2014 and xdg-email and its' friends still don't
know about Mate.

I added this:

export GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID=$MATE_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID

and added mate to the detection routine for Gnome and it ***seems*** to work.

My favorite fix is:
http://keramida.wordpress.com/2013/03/18/mate-desktop-support-for-xdg-open/

2014/1/21 Frank_McCormick <email address hidden>

> I added this:
>
> export GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID=$MATE_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID
>
>
> and added mate to the detection routine for Gnome and it ***seems*** to
> work.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1001902
>
> Title:
> xdg-open is not mate compatible
>
> Status in The Linux Mint Distribution:
> New
>
> Bug description:
> I had to modify /usr/bin/xdg-open to duplicate the gnome parts and
> replace /gnome/mate/. Some applications like chrome/chromium open
> their file using xdg-open.
>
> Linux Mint 13 RC mate edition
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/linuxmint/+bug/1001902/+subscriptions
>

On 21/01/14 03:55 AM, Leo wrote:
> My favorite fix is:
> http://keramida.wordpress.com/2013/03/18/mate-desktop-support-for-xdg-open/
>
>
> 2014/1/21 Frank_McCormick <email address hidden>
>
>> I added this:
>>
>> export GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID=$MATE_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID
>>
>>
>> and added mate to the detection routine for Gnome and it ***seems*** to
>> work.
>>
>> --
>> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
>> report.
>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1001902
>>
>> Title:
>> xdg-open is not mate compatible
>>
>> Status in The Linux Mint Distribution:
>> New
>>
>> Bug description:
>> I had to modify /usr/bin/xdg-open to duplicate the gnome parts and
>> replace /gnome/mate/. Some applications like chrome/chromium open
>> their file using xdg-open.
>>

     That also works. Thanks. I still think it's unbelievable this
bug has hung around this long :)

Using

+open_mate()
+{
+ if gvfs-open --help 2>/dev/null 1>&2; then
+ gvfs-open "$1"
+ else
+ mate-open "$1"
+ fi
+
+ if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
+ exit_success
+ else
+ exit_failure_operation_failed
+ fi
+}

makes it work better with aplications like dropbox also (launch caja
instead of nautilus for example)

2014/1/21 Frank_McCormick <email address hidden>:
> On 21/01/14 03:55 AM, Leo wrote:
>> My favorite fix is:
>> http://keramida.wordpress.com/2013/03/18/mate-desktop-support-for-xdg-open/
>>
>>
>> 2014/1/21 Frank_McCormick <email address hidden>
>>
>>> I added this:
>>>
>>> export GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID=$MATE_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID
>>>
>>>
>>> and added mate to the detection routine for Gnome and it ***seems*** to
>>> work.
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
>>> report.
>>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1001902
>>>
>>> Title:
>>> xdg-open is not mate compatible
>>>
>>> Status in The Linux Mint Distribution:
>>> New
>>>
>>> Bug description:
>>> I had to modify /usr/bin/xdg-open to duplicate the gnome parts and
>>> replace /gnome/mate/. Some applications like chrome/chromium open
>>> their file using xdg-open.
>>>
>
>
> That also works. Thanks. I still think it's unbelievable this
> bug has hung around this long :)
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1001902
>
> Title:
> xdg-open is not mate compatible
>
> Status in The Linux Mint Distribution:
> New
>
> Bug description:
> I had to modify /usr/bin/xdg-open to duplicate the gnome parts and
> replace /gnome/mate/. Some applications like chrome/chromium open
> their file using xdg-open.
>
> Linux Mint 13 RC mate edition
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/linuxmint/+bug/1001902/+subscriptions

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Also affects all ubuntu versions up to date.
Ubuntu 14.10 is affected too.

The attachment "unofficial patch for xdg-utils scripts." seems to be a patch. If it isn't, please remove the "patch" flag from the attachment, remove the "patch" tag, and if you are a member of the ~ubuntu-reviewers, unsubscribe the team.

[This is an automated message performed by a Launchpad user owned by ~brian-murray, for any issues please contact him.]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

See upstream : https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=74125

It may be that xdg-utils v1.1.0-rc2 is patched.

Any chance of Ubuntu updating xdg-utils to v1.1.0-rc2 or simply carrying the patch if not?

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

This is the patch I put together for Ubuntu MATE 15.04, xdg-open, and it seems to take care of the issue as stated in the title. Am unsure where else xdg-open is used but it has been tested with Virtualbox and Transmission. Would like advice on how to test it more properly to determine if it can be proposed as a solution.

A bug has been raised to update xdg-utils with MATE support here:

  * https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xdg-utils/+bug/1457018

A version of xdg-utils that includes MATE support has been published to the following PPAs:

  * https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-mate-dev/+archive/ubuntu/trusty-mate
  * https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-mate-dev/+archive/ubuntu/utopic-mate
  * https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-mate-dev/+archive/ubuntu/vivid-mate
  * https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-mate-dev/+archive/ubuntu/wily-mate

Anyone running Ubuntu MATE 14.04 will automatically get the updated xdg-utils. Anyone running Ubuntu MATE 14.10 or 15.04 will need to add the appropriate PPA above.

This bug was fixed in the package xdg-utils - 1.1.0~rc1-2ubuntu11

---------------
xdg-utils (1.1.0~rc1-2ubuntu11) wily; urgency=medium

  * Add patch mate-support.diff to add MATE compatibility.
  (LP: #1001902) (LP: #1457018)

 -- Martin Wimpress <email address hidden> Thu, 28 May 2015 09:46:29 +0100