Version: (using KDE KDE 3.1.3) Installed from: Mandrake RPMs This bug is not 100% reproductible. Here is a description : in Konqueror, I associate files with applications, such as .jpg files to gqview. Then everything works fine, a single left clic on any .jpg file opens gqview with this file. But this association is lost. Never during the same KDE session, and not always at the next one. Sometimes the setting stays for days, but it always disappears at the end. I could not find a single event which make kde lose this file association. It is not specific to a file type. This bug was already present in the KDE shipped with Mandrake 9.1.
This bug is present in Mandrake 10 Official with KDE 3.2 too. File associations set up by Mandrake itself remain, but user-specified associations disappear after a while.
I believe I've found a workaround for this bug in Mandrake 10. When you associate "acroread" with PDFs (for example) the following file is created: $HOME/.kde/share/applnk-mdk/.hidden/acroread.desktop While this file exists, so does the association; after a while, however, it disappears, UNLESS you do chown 0:0 $HOME/.kde/share/applnk-mdk/.hidden/acroread.desktop chmod 644 $HOME/.kde/share/applnk-mdk/.hidden/acroread.desktop as root after the file has been created. I did this two or three weeks ago, and the association has stuck since then - a record! Looks very much like a bug in Mandrake to me...
Hi Richard, Thanks for that. Just one question: Are you saying operate an a user's $HOME, as root OR root's $HOME, as root? I ask this because, on my machine, the content of $HOME/.kde/share/applnk-mdk/.hidden/ for root, is empty but for a user, contains all sorts of <app>.desktop files. Cheers, Greg I know I said 'one' question but... Any idea why this happens? Or any response from Mandrake? On Monday 08 Nov 2004 21:32, Richard wrote: > ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- > You are a voter for the bug, or are watching someone who is. > > http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=70533 > > > > > ------- Additional Comments From rjdymond gmail com 2004-11-08 22:32 > ------- I believe I've found a workaround for this bug in Mandrake 10. > > When you associate "acroread" with PDFs (for example) the following file is > created: > > $HOME/.kde/share/applnk-mdk/.hidden/acroread.desktop > > While this file exists, so does the association; after a while, however, it > disappears, UNLESS you do > > chown 0:0 $HOME/.kde/share/applnk-mdk/.hidden/acroread.desktop > chmod 644 $HOME/.kde/share/applnk-mdk/.hidden/acroread.desktop > > as root after the file has been created. I did this two or three weeks ago, > and the association has stuck since then - a record! > > Looks very much like a bug in Mandrake to me...
Oops, sorry for the confusion there! I mean operate on the normal user's $HOME, not root's home. So replace $HOME with /home/<username> (or ~username) in the commands I gave: su (enter root password) chown 0:0 ~username/.kde/share/applnk-mdk/.hidden/acroread.desktop chmod 644 ~username/.kde/share/applnk-mdk/.hidden/acroread.desktop My guess was that some process owned by the user was removing the .desktop files, so had the idea of making them readable but unremovable by that user. A hack, but it seems to work. I've no idea what that process might be, nor have I contacted Mandrake about it...
Looks as if Mandrake's aware of this problem at least: http://qa.mandrakesoft.com/show_bug.cgi?id=8673
I tried the chown chmod solution but it didn't stick! I noticed various similarly constructed folders around with variations on the <app>.desktop collection. Can someone explain why there are so many. Anyone in Mandrake able to give an approximate date when this might get looked at or (dare I say it?), fixed? I'd offer myself but I do usability, not coding :o) Cheers, Greg
Hmm...my user-specified associations are still there, but it looks as if it's just by a fluke. :( According to the Mandrake bugzilla entry, the associations are wiped whenever you install a package that requires a menu update. I've done a couple of updates via urpmi recently, but presumably nothing that kicked off update-menus.
I've just copied the $HOME/.kde/share/applnk-mdk/.hidden/ directory as $HOME/.kde/share/applnk-mdk/.firsthidden/ and I've created a script to copy .hidden as .lasthidden and then .firsthidden as .hidden, thus keeping a copy(.lasthidden) of the broken directory(.hidden) then replacing it with a copy that has the correct file associations (.firsthidden). Obviously this is a painful solution if you start creating new file associations. I guess I'll have to create a script that does the reverse and snapshots .hidden over .firsthidden Hope you followed all that? Cheers, Greg
As this is a Mandrake specific problem, I'll close it here.
*** Bug 60566 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***