Question about thunar.. - (Resolved)

grafiksinc · 2021-05-07 11:48:35

Hello forum....
I would like to set the default file manager.... from thunar to nemo
I know that I can go to Default Application is 4.16 and set the preferred file manager to nemo, and that works.....
But I would like to do this using a bash script if possible.

the reason for this is, I am spinning a distro for my local environment, using debian live-build, at some point in that build process I want to install xfce 4.16 and then script set the default file manager. I do not want to disable or remove thunar just set the default file manager to nemo.

I did set the mime config to nemo but all that does is tell you that a file manager is not set, and the Default Application dialog to set the file manager is shown...

Thank you in advance for any advice.

Last edited by grafiksinc (2021-05-09 12:02:11)

ToZ · 2021-05-07 12:04:07

Hello and welcome.

The default applications are set in the /etc/xdg/xfce4/helpers.rc file. This file is used for new user profile creations. For existing profiles, the file is located at ~/.config/xfce4/helpers.rc.

grafiksinc · 2021-05-07 12:13:03

ToZ wrote:

Hello and welcome.
The default applications are set in the /etc/xdg/xfce4/helpers.rc file. This file is used for new user profile creations. For existing profiles, the file is located at ~/.config/xfce4/helpers.rc.

Thanks! I will give this a shot and report back

grafiksinc · 2021-05-09 02:15:52

I did try mod the helpers.rc file/s ---- it sort of works...... but not exactly....

So..... here is what happens
I figured out in the helpers.rc you cannot just put "nemo" the entry that goes there is "custom-filemanager"

Say for example if you go to "Default Applications" and select other then type nemo the entry in the helper. rc is custom-filemanager. Now that point on if I edit the helprs.rc and set it to thunar then thunar will be used.....if I change it back to custom-filemanager then nemo will be used....

That works exactly as ToZ suggested......but on a brand new installed Debian system that has both thunar and nemo installed....
Before I open the file manager..... if i say copy a helpers.rc and place it on this new system then reboot....when I try to open Home i get prompted to set my file manager,

This leads me to wonder, is there another place that needs to be set to identify nemo, as the custome-filemanager?

does that make sense?........

Thank you very much for your advice

ToZ · 2021-05-09 04:05:42

Try creating a "nemo.desktop" file in /usr/share/xfce4/helpers (using one of the other files in there is a template - it needs to be in that specific format) and see if then setting "FileManager=nemo" in the helpers.rc file works.

grafiksinc · 2021-05-09 12:00:20

ToZ wrote:

Try creating a "nemo.desktop" file in /usr/share/xfce4/helpers (using one of the other files in there is a template - it needs to be in that specific format) and see if then setting "FileManager=nemo" in the helpers.rc file works.

ToZ---Thank you very much this has solved my problem...

eth0 · 2021-06-28 04:52:15

Hello everyone! I see this thread as resolved but I can't quite replicate the solution. Actually, I've been trying to change my default file manager from Thunar to caja for a couple of days with no success.

I've edited my .config/xfce4/helpers.rc and right now it looks like this:

FileManager=caja (used to be custom-FileManager)
WebBrowser=firefox
TerminalEmulator=custom-TerminalEmulator

My helpers.rc in /usr/ is the default one.
And there already is caja.desktop inside /usr/share/xfce4/helpers and it looks like it points to the right binary.

Even still, Firefox, when request to open the file manager, won't open caja but it will keep opening thunar instead.
My xdg and exo defaults are caja.

Any suggestions? Thank you!

ToZ · 2021-06-28 11:21:04

In the case of firefox, it uses dbus to open the containing folder (note that the "save as" dialog in firefox uses GtkFileChooser as the interface - not thunar).

Have a read through the last reply here on how to bypass the dbus FileManager1 solution. With respect to caja, it does not provide a FileManager1 service so you'd be looking at implementing option #1, which would then force mime usage.

I'm not sure if this solution would break any other thunar/xfdesktop functionality - you'll need to keep an eye out for breakage.

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#1 2021-05-07 11:48:35

Question about thunar.. - (Resolved)

#2 2021-05-07 12:04:07

Re: Question about thunar.. - (Resolved)

#3 2021-05-07 12:13:03

Re: Question about thunar.. - (Resolved)

#4 2021-05-09 02:15:52

Re: Question about thunar.. - (Resolved)

#5 2021-05-09 04:05:42

Re: Question about thunar.. - (Resolved)

#6 2021-05-09 12:00:20

Re: Question about thunar.. - (Resolved)

#7 2021-06-28 04:52:15

Re: Question about thunar.. - (Resolved)

#8 2021-06-28 11:21:04

Re: Question about thunar.. - (Resolved)

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