My system is Debian 12.8 with MATE 1.26.0

It used to be that clicking on a PDF opened it with Atril.
I don't know what *I DID*, but it now opens with L3afpad.

I assumed that Edit Preferences was the place to go.
But under Browser->Helper Applications it says "always ask" indicating
system isn't getting that far.

I used to know what to do ;<
Help please.

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On Sat, Mar 08, 2025 at 07:41:37AM -0600, Richard Owlett wrote:

My system is Debian 12.8 with MATE 1.26.0

It used to be that clicking on a PDF opened it with Atril.
I don't know what *I DID*, but it now opens with L3afpad.

I assumed that Edit Preferences was the place to go.
But under Browser->Helper Applications it says "always ask" indicating
system isn't getting that far.

You didn't tell us, but I read between the lines that you are
editing your browser's preferences. Now the browser wants you
(very badly) to believe that it IS the world -- and seems to
be succeeding, alas. But it isn't

You want to tweak your desktop environment's preferences. Now
I'm the wrong people to ask about DEs, because I try to avoid
them, but I've been told that you can...

- right click on your PDF [1]
- in the context menu chose "open with"
- select your favourite application, BUT
- somewhere on that way you'll get a choice to
"always open this kind of file with...": select that.

I used to know what to do ;<

That's why I hate DEs. They subtly sabotage one's ability to
learn.

HTH

[1] Of course you can't "click" on a "PDF". You click on that
funny pic pretending to represent that PDF. Or something.
I hope you know what I mean.
--
tomás


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On 08.03.2025 14:50 Uhr Richard Owlett wrote:

It used to be that clicking on a PDF opened it with Atril.
I don't know what *I DID*, but it now opens with L3afpad.

I assumed that Edit Preferences was the place to go.
But under Browser->Helper Applications it says "always ask"
indicating system isn't getting that far.

I used to know what to do ;<
Help please.

xdg-mime query default application/pdf

Check what is set here.

Change it if needed:
xdg-mime default xpdf.desktop application/pdf


--
kind regards
Marco

Send spam to 1741441801muell@stinkedores.dorfdsl.de

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On 3/8/25 7:55 AM, pocket@homemail.com wrote:

Sent: Saturday, March 08, 2025 at 8:41 AM
From: "Richard Owlett" <rowlett@access.net>
To: "debian-user" <debian-user@lists.debian.org>
Subject: How to associate a file extension with preferred executable

My system is Debian 12.8 with MATE 1.26.0

It used to be that clicking on a PDF opened it with Atril.
I don't know what *I DID*, but it now opens with L3afpad.

I assumed that Edit Preferences was the place to go.
But under Browser->Helper Applications it says "always ask" indicating
system isn't getting that far.

I used to know what to do ;<
Help please.

Unix doesn't use or have file extensions. That is a microsoft thing. Filenames in Unix are 255 chars longs and no character is significant.

Who said anything about Unix?
I'm running the Debian flavor of Linux.
Linux <> Unix

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On 3/8/25 8:30 AM, Marco Moock wrote:

On 08.03.2025 14:50 Uhr Richard Owlett wrote:

It used to be that clicking on a PDF opened it with Atril.
I don't know what *I DID*, but it now opens with L3afpad.

I assumed that Edit Preferences was the place to go.
But under Browser->Helper Applications it says "always ask"
indicating system isn't getting that far.

I used to know what to do ;<
Help please.

xdg-mime query default application/pdf

Check what is set here.

Change it if needed:
xdg-mime default xpdf.desktop application/pdf

As I've never seen xdg-mime before it is not the tool I'm looking for.
For the record it responds:

richard@debian12:~$ xdg-mime query default application/pdf
l3afpad.desktop
richard@debian12:~$

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On 3/8/25 8:07 AM, Miriami wrote:

Hi Richard,

I haven't used the MATE desktop environment, but I guess it also has this:
1. Right click on a PDF file, in the pop-up right-click menu, chooss 'open this file with ...'
2. In the then-popped-up dialog asking which program to be used to open this PDF file, select the program desired, then tick on the 'set this as default' checkbox, usually located at the bottom of the dialog.

I've used this method to set default programs, the key is that ticking on the 'set this as default' checkbox.
However, since I've not used the MATE desktop environment, there might not be this thing - but it probably has.

The above applies *if* the association has not been previously set ;/

Besides, in my memory this kind of default-program setting should be handled by xdg-open? Maybe checking 'man xdg-open' would suggest the location of the configuration file.

Before today I never heard of anything beginning with "xdg".
I'm looking for the specific MATE tool. ;}

Hope you could find a solution soon,
Miriami

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On 3/8/25 8:52 AM, tomas@tuxteam.de wrote:

On Sat, Mar 08, 2025 at 07:41:37AM -0600, Richard Owlett wrote:

My system is Debian 12.8 with MATE 1.26.0

It used to be that clicking on a PDF opened it with Atril.
I don't know what *I DID*, but it now opens with L3afpad.

I assumed that Edit Preferences was the place to go.
But under Browser->Helper Applications it says "always ask" indicating
system isn't getting that far.

You didn't tell us, but I read between the lines that you are
editing your browser's preferences.

Not *intentionally* [see below] ;/

Now the browser wants you
(very badly) to believe that it IS the world -- and seems to
be succeeding, alas. But it isn't

You want to tweak your desktop environment's preferences. Now
I'm the wrong people to ask about DEs, because I try to avoid
them, but I've been told that you can...

You can ;}
Caja, MATE's file manager, has an Edit->Preferences function.
Your response nudged me to stop and think.

- right click on your PDF [1]
- in the context menu chose "open with"
- select your favourite application, BUT
- somewhere on that way you'll get a choice to
"always open this kind of file with...": select that.

That is the description of what happens if an association has not been
made previously.
There is a similar procedure to change the setting. I couldn't find it.

I've never found MATE's Help very "helpful".

I used to know what to do ;<

That's why I hate DEs. They subtly sabotage one's ability to
learn.

HTH

[1] Of course you can't "click" on a "PDF". You click on that
funny pic pretending to represent that PDF. Or something.
I hope you know what I mean.

Yepp. I predate CPM by decades. CPU's with vacuum tubes anyone?

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On 08.03.2025 16:50 Uhr Richard Owlett wrote:

As I've never seen xdg-mime before it is not the tool I'm looking for.
For the record it responds:

richard@debian12:~$ xdg-mime query default application/pdf
l3afpad.desktop
richard@debian12:~$

Then you have to change that.

Use the application you prefer:
xdg-mime default atril.desktop application/pdf

Some graphical applications exist, but I don't know about them.
They will call xdg in the background.

--
kind regards
Marco

Send spam to 1741449001muell@stinkedores.dorfdsl.de

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do *NOT* try solution described below
*UNLESS* unless you know how to recover.

On 3/8/25 7:41 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:

My system is Debian 12.8 with MATE 1.26.0

It used to be that clicking on a PDF opened it with Atril.
I don't know what *I DID*, but it now opens with L3afpad.

^
|
+--- I'm beginning to doubt I caused it

I assumed that Edit Preferences was the place to go.
But under Browser->Helper Applications it says "always ask" indicating
system isn't getting that far.

I used to know what to do ;<
Help please.

*CAUTION* I date back to days of CORC and CUPL being current technology
I've learned caution.
I did the following as a _diagnostic_

Using root privileges I temporarily renamed "l3afpad".
Now clicking on a PDF uses atril to open it.
Also I now see:

richard@debian12:~$ xdg-mime query default application/pdf
atril.desktop
richard@debian12:~$

I do not believe using xdg-mime is a *legitimate" technique in this
instance. It wasn't used to *cause* the problem. It *shouldn't* be used
to supposedly "solve" the problem.

I know Caja can change what program opens particular files.

Two questions:
1. What is Caja's method for changing default program to open a file?
2. How do I diagnose the underlying problem?
I spent over twenty years in QA/QC (even if hardware not software).
That gives a certain mindset.

Suggestions please.

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On 08.03.2025 17:30 Uhr Richard Owlett wrote:

Before today I never heard of anything beginning with "xdg".

Now you have heard about it, so use it.

I'm looking for the specific MATE tool. ;}

I think that is maybe handled by the file manager. Which one do you use?

--
kind regards
Marco

Send spam to 1741451401muell@stinkedores.dorfdsl.de

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Hi,

On Sat, Mar 08, 2025 at 12:21:43PM -0600, Richard Owlett wrote:

I do not believe using xdg-mime is a *legitimate" technique in this
instance. It wasn't used to *cause* the problem. It *shouldn't* be used to supposedly "solve" the problem.

You don't know that. As Marco already explained, xdg-mime is likely the underlying tool that was used to make the change however it was
triggered. Just because you are not personally familiar with it does not
mean that it's wrong. If you were personally familiar with every part of
your operating ystsme then you would never need any assistance from anyone.

I spent over twenty years in QA/QC (even if hardware not software).
That gives a certain mindset.

Really odd then that you have not learned that one program can call
another. Since you don't know what happened, we cannot easily guess
which user-facing frontend made the change to your MIME type
associations, but you have been given instructions on how to change it
to what you want.

Suggestions please.

I suggest to stop assuming you know better than everyone else when you
ask for help.

Thanks,
Andy

--
https://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting

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On Sat, 8 Mar 2025 10:27:08 -0600
Richard Owlett <rowlett@access.net> wrote:

On 3/8/25 8:07 AM, Miriami wrote:

Hi Richard,

I haven't used the MATE desktop environment, but I guess it also
has this: 1. Right click on a PDF file, in the pop-up right-click
menu, chooss 'open this file with ...' 2. In the then-popped-up
dialog asking which program to be used to open this PDF file,
select the program desired, then tick on the 'set this as default' checkbox, usually located at the bottom of the dialog.

I've used this method to set default programs, the key is that
ticking on the 'set this as default' checkbox. However, since I've
not used the MATE desktop environment, there might not be this
thing - but it probably has.

The above applies *if* the association has not been previously set ;/

Not for either Thunar or Nautilus on Xfce4, though they have different
dialogs.

If you're still stuck you might try a different file manager. Nautilus
of course comes with a lot of Gnome stuff, but that isn't a problem if
you're already using one or two Gnome applications.

I find it odd that any GUI file manager can't change associations, it
is a fairly fundamental need.

--
Joe

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Richard Owlett wrote:

My system is Debian 12.8 with MATE 1.26.0

It used to be that clicking on a PDF opened it with Atril.

I can suggest a couple things to try, either of which should get you
back to using Atril.

1. Open the MATE Control Center, click on "Preferred Applications" (in
the "Personal" section). In the window that appears, click on the
"Office" tab. Set "Document Viewer" to Atril.

2. In Caja, right click on a PDF file. Click on "Properties". Click on
the "Open With" tab, select Atril.

I don't have any ideas for how you ended up with a different PDF viewer.

cheers,
mike

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On 3/8/25 3:55 PM, Mike Kupfer wrote:

Richard Owlett wrote:

My system is Debian 12.8 with MATE 1.26.0

It used to be that clicking on a PDF opened it with Atril.

I can suggest a couple things to try, either of which should get you
back to using Atril.

1. Open the MATE Control Center, click on "Preferred Applications" (in
the "Personal" section). In the window that appears, click on the
"Office" tab. Set "Document Viewer" to Atril.

*YES* !!!!!!!!!!!!!! _THANK YOU_
I initially didn't recognize the term "MATE Control Center".
For future readers of this thread.
1. In the primary menu {Panel} chose System->Control Center
2. In the that appears chose "Set Preferred Applications"
3. In the panel that appears select "Office"
4. Select preferred "Document Viewer" {see note below}

2. In Caja, right click on a PDF file. Click on "Properties". Click on
the "Open With" tab, select Atril.

That worked as expected the FIRST time a PDF document was chosen
[i.e. that action selected a DEFAULT viewer].
It subsequent use could select an alternate viewer for current document
[i.e. it would not change default viewer].

I don't have any ideas for how you ended up with a different PDF viewer.

Nor do I ;{

*NOTE*
Today, in Step 4 above, Atril was the apparently selected item
I arbitrarily chose another entry.
It opened the PDF with chose viewer.
I reset the viewer selection to Atril.
PDFs now open with Atril by default.

There appears to be an internal communication bug.
I don't know how to reproduce the problem I experienced.

Thanks again.

cheers,
mike

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Richard Owlett <rowlett@access.net> wrote:

On 3/8/25 8:07 AM, Miriami wrote:

Hi Richard,

I haven't used the MATE desktop environment, but I guess it also
has this: 1. Right click on a PDF file, in the pop-up right-click
menu, chooss 'open this file with ...' 2. In the then-popped-up
dialog asking which program to be used to open this PDF file,
select the program desired, then tick on the 'set this as default' checkbox, usually located at the bottom of the dialog.

I've used this method to set default programs, the key is that
ticking on the 'set this as default' checkbox. However, since I've
not used the MATE desktop environment, there might not be this
thing - but it probably has.

The above applies *if* the association has not been previously set ;/

Besides, in my memory this kind of default-program setting should
be handled by xdg-open? Maybe checking 'man xdg-open' would suggest
the location of the configuration file.

Before today I never heard of anything beginning with "xdg".
I'm looking for the specific MATE tool. ;}

I believe the MATE file browser is called Caja. (I've never used it, so
be careful about what I say) According to the user guide I found at https://learnubuntumate.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/8/4/108446579/caja-file-manager.pdf
you can change file associations as it describes. Incidentally it
appears that it first looks at the file contents to determine its type
and thus the correct action, and only looks at the file extension if
that fails.

Hope you could find a solution soon,
Miriami

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