Version: 3.1.3 (using KDE 3.1.4) Installed from: (testing/unstable) Compiler: gcc version 3.3.2 (Debian) OS: Linux (i686) release 2.4.22 When you click on, say an AVI, KDE launches the first program in the 'open file with' list to play this AVI. But when this program has been removed or your profile originally belongs to another machine it gives you an error instead of taking the next entry. Isn't that what a person would do? You want to do some stuff, but the method you chose fails, so you take the next best method to do it instead of giving up. So what I would expect from an intelligent machine is to take the next entry in the list if the previous one has failed. Maybe you can display a nondisturbing info box that some program could not be found and the next one is being taken instead. When all programs are missing there could be a message that they are missing and eventually a dialog box 'open file with?'.
Yes, yes, yes -- it is a pity I am out of the votes :-(. One note though -- when switching to the next item Konqueror should ask if make this switch permanent. For .doc file I have OO Writer 2.0 (does not exist) KWrite OOW 2.1 So when I click on open, it fails, KWrite does not fail, so at the end Konqueror should ask if I want to make this (KWrite) the default app for .doc.
*** Bug 72105 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
I think this works fine in KDE 4, since we ignore unknown desktop files mentionned in mimeapps.list. Can you confirm?
I don't think you understood me right. When I rightclick on a txt file, open with, there is an entry for kword, but it is not installed. Then I choose kword and get an error message that kdeinit could not start kword because it could not find kword. The same happens with any other file type if you delete (or rename) the binary which should open this file type. So what I would expect is to automatically present me alternative programs to open this file type with. Imagine you go into a shop to buy a specific <whatever>. So you ask the staff if they have it. If they don't, they should present an alternative for you, just saying "No, I'm sorry" is not enough, right? A PC may be dumb, but user friendly software should be smart.
"there is an entry for kword, but it is not installed" Well, how can this happen? It can only happen if you have a kword.desktop under your $KDEHOME or ~/.local, which can only happen as a result of the KDE3 way of doing things. Did you actually test this in KDE4? (after cleaning old .desktop files leftover from kde3, preferrably) This being said, I see now that you didn't mean auto-skipping-of-missing-programs (which would be problematic with complex command lines), but rather that _after_ the error we should offer alternatives (e.g. popping up the open with dialog; or better, a popup with other associated apps, a bit like I did in the save-or-open dialog recently). This is a good idea, actually. Ah the bug title says "take next entry", that's what confused me. I'll retitle.
Yes, I tested this under KDE4 after an update from KDE3. No, I did not clean anything from KDE3, because I wanted to keep my settings, if possible. AFAIK I did not use kword on this computer, so I have no idea when the desktop file got there. A normal user wouldn't even know about .local, I hope he is not supposed to know, either.
I agree. But I still wonder how you got a kword.desktop file if you never used kword. Can you run a search for kword.desktop in both your home and /usr? This being said, the wish is valid, I'm just wondering how likely it is that one gets into this situation and how we can prevent it in the first place, since that will always be better than showing an error (even if followed by suggested solutions).