Where I find mimeapps.list?

Question

I am Installing Qt 5 on Ubuntu 14.04 using this link.

But, I am stuck to create Qt-Creator.desktop file. Document instructs that "open file mimeapps.list and check if the following line is present".

application/vnd.nokia.qt.qmakeprofile=qtcreator.desktop

But I can not find the mimeapps.list under the application folder.

So, Where I find mimeapps.list?

Please help me.

Thanks in advance.

Solution 1

It should be in below directory:

/usr/share/applications/mimeapps.list

If its not be exists, you can create it, and put that line into this file:

sudo nano /usr/share/applications/mimeapps.list

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Also you can create this file in your home directory:

nano ~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list

And put this line into that file:

application/vnd.nokia.qt.qmakeprofile=qtcreator.desktop

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For example my mimeapps.list file content is:

$ cat /usr/share/applications/mimeapps.list
[Default Applications]
application/wps-office.et=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-et.desktop
application/wps-office.ett=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-et.desktop
application/wps-office.xls=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-et.desktop
application/wps-office.xlt=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-et.desktop
application/vnd.ms-excel=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-et.desktop
application/msexcel=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-et.desktop
application/wps-office.xlsx=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-et.desktop
application/wps-office.xltx=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-et.desktop
vnd.ms-excel.sheet.macroenabled.12=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-et.desktop
vnd.ms-excel.template.macroenabled.12=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-et.desktop
application/wps-office.dps=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-wpp.desktop
application/wps-office.dpt=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-wpp.desktop
application/wps-office.ppt=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-wpp.desktop
application/wps-office.pot=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-wpp.desktop
application/vnd.ms-powerpoint=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-wpp.desktop
application/vnd.mspowerpoint=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-wpp.desktop
application/powerpoint=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-wpp.desktop
application/wps-office.pptx=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-wpp.desktop
application/wps-office.potx=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-wpp.desktop
vnd.ms-powerpoint.presentation.macroenabled.12=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-wpp.desktop
vnd.ms-powerpoint.template.macroenabled.12=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-wpp.desktop
application/wps-office.wps=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-wps.desktop
application/wps-office.wpt=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-wps.desktop
application/wps-office.doc=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-wps.desktop
application/wps-office.dot=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-wps.desktop
application/vnd.ms-word=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-wps.desktop
application/msword=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-wps.desktop
application/msword-template=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-wps.desktop
wps-office-doc.png=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-wps.desktop
wps-office-dot.png=/usr/share//applications/wps-office-wps.desktop

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For more information about MIME type default applications, please look at this link in Arch linux Wiki.

Solution 2

The mimeapps.list file contents and locations are specified by the XDG MIME Applications Associations Specification. Version 1.0.1 specifies the lookup order as:

Path	Purpose
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/$desktop-mimeapps.list	user overrides, desktop-specific (for advanced users)
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mimeapps.list	user overrides (recommended location for user configuration GUIs)
$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/$desktop-mimeapps.list	sysadmin and ISV overrides, desktop-specific
$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/mimeapps.list	sysadmin and ISV overrides
$XDG_DATA_HOME/applications/$desktop-mimeapps.list	for completeness, deprecated, desktop-specific
$XDG_DATA_HOME/applications/mimeapps.list	for compatibility, deprecated
$XDG_DATA_DIRS/applications/$desktop-mimeapps.list	distribution-provided defaults, desktop-specific
$XDG_DATA_DIRS/applications/mimeapps.list	distribution-provided defaults

Where $desktop is a lower-case value from $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP, which is defined along with the other $XDG_ environment variables by the XDG Base Directory Specification. Assuming default values in the GNOME desktop environment, the lookup order would be:

1. ~/.config/gnome-mimeapps.list
2. ~/.config/mimeapps.list
3. /etc/xdg/gnome-mimeapps.list
4. /etc/xdg/mimeapps.list
5. ~/.local/share/applications/gnome-mimeapps.list
6. ~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list
7. /usr/local/share/applications/gnome-mimeapps.list
8. /usr/local/share/applications/mimeapps.list
9. /usr/share/applications/gnome-mimeapps.list
10. /usr/share/applications/mimeapps.list

Note that when finding the preferred application for a MIME type, the files are searched in order until a match is found, so adding a type to a file later in the list will have no effect if the type is present in a file earlier in the list.

You also may want to consider using a tool, such as xdg-mime from xdg-utils (e.g. xdg-mime default qtcreator.desktop application/vnd.nokia.qt.qmakeprofile), to set the association rather than editing mimeapps.list directly.