20070520

Gnome Issues

I'm still having this frustrating thing with gnome when I try to open certain file types with a double-click. Here is what I posted to the Gentoo Forums.

I just upgraded to =x11-misc/shared-mime-info-0.20 and the problem persists with gnome-2.16.2 (the 2007.0 profile).

Specifically, I still have issues with "OpenDocument Text" and "PDF document", but likely many more.

Here is a list of extensions, expected mime-types, and actual mime-types
Extension'Filename Suggests''Contents Suggest'
.odtodt documentOpenDocument Text
.pdfpdf documentPDF document

(The above would actually display as a table, but for some reason I'm still considered a n00b in these forums - NaN := Not a n00b <=> me )
[Edit: The table works perfectly with BlogSpot ;-)]

In any event, double-clicking on any of the above file types will generate an error of the form:

Cannot Open {insert filename}

The filename "{insert filename}" indicates that this file is of type "{insert from column 1}". The contents of the file indicate that the file is of type "{insert from column 2}". If you open this file, the file might present a security risk to your system.

Do not open the file unless you created the file yourself, or received the file from a trusted source. To open the file, rename the file to the correct extension for "{insert from column 2}", then open the file normally. Alternatively, use the Open With menu to choose a specific application for the file.

Is there some special gnome magic that needs to be performed for gnome to realize that it should be using the updated x11-misc/shared-mime-info ? Or is this some obscure preference that only exists in a gconf schema?

I will pay 50,000,000 * 1 / 1,000,000 ths of a peso to anyone who can solve this issue, and that is a promise!! I have the cash sitting on top of my desk as I write this!!, and that is a promise!! I have the cash sitting on top of my desk as I write this!!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I seem to have fixed the issue for 'odt' file types simply by un-merging gnome-mime-data and shared-mime-info, removing /usr/share/mime* and then re-emerging gnome-mime-data and shared-mime-info.

The problem with the 'pdf' file extension persists.

Unknown said...

Eureka ;-]

seems that it's just a bug in either =gnome-mime-info-2.4.3 or =shared-mime-info-0.20

There are a couple of unprintable characters in the patches unfortunately (i think utf8 or unicode, not quite sure). So he patch isn't 100% ascii representable.

So i'm just posting links to the .patch files i made.

http://vaiprime.visibleassets.com/~cfriedt/pdfs-will-not-open-in-gnome-issue-1.patch
http://vaiprime.visibleassets.com/~cfriedt/pdfs-will-not-open-in-gnome-issue-2.patch

Note: if you're using versions of gnome-mime-info or shared-mime-info other than the above mentioned, or even if you're using those exact versions, these patches might fail. Use at your own risk!

You should patch your system (as root) as follows:

[code]cd /usr/share && \
wget \
http://vaiprime.visibleassets.com/~cfriedt/pdfs-will-not-open-in-gnome-issue-1.patch \
http://vaiprime.visibleassets.com/~cfriedt/pdfs-will-not-open-in-gnome-issue-2.patch && \
patch -p1 < pdfs-will-not-open-in-gnome-issue-1.patch && \
patch -p1 < pdfs-will-not-open-in-gnome-issue-2.patch
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
echo "patch worked!"
else
echo "patch failed!"
fi
rm pdfs-will-not-open-in-gnome-issue-[12].patch
[/code]

I can't be sure if my methods were proper at all, because I really couldn't give a rat's @$$ - I just want to be able to double-click on a pdf file and open it.

Sorry for the above vulgarity :P