[Thunar-dev] Conditional "Open" command

[Erik Harrison]

On 11/5/07, Brian J. Tarricone <bjt23 at cornell.edu> wrote:
> Erik Harrison wrote:
>
> > More On Topic - there are cases of wanting to open mixed mime type
> > files more smartly. Another example might be applications that allow
> > you to specify alternate config files via a command line option, in
> > addition to whatever file you are trying to open (common for processor
> > emulators). However, I don't think there is a good solution, certainly
> > not one Thunar specific.
>
> The way I look at this is:
>
> 1.  Thunar is a GUI file manager.
> 2.  Thunar allows you to launch applications by double clicking on them
> using a GUI rather than opening a terminal and using a CLI.
> 3.  Command-line options are CLI features.
> 4.  People who want to pass command-line options should use a CLI to do so.
>
> We're dealing with the common case here.  Running an app from a GUI with
> command-line options is not common.  The app (presumably a GUI app)
> itself should have a way of handling the same functionality through --
> you guessed it -- a GUI.  If it doesn't, the app is broken.  Thunar
> shouldn't have options and extended functionality to fix broken GUI
> apps.  If it's not a GUI app, why are you launching it with a
> general-purpose GUI?

As far as Thunar is concerned, I agree 100%.

Speaking more broadly, though, the only way we have to pass
sophisticated data to an app on launch is via the command line or with
the environment. While I am by no means convinced, I can see the idea
that the "open a document" and "open a bunch of documents" model is
kinda limited. Using something like a .desktop file to describe more
sophisticated ways an app can open a file or group of files is kinda
appealing.

Tangentially, lots of "applications" are actual suites of little
programs. Something like a .desktop file could provide a way to
describe that whole group of applications as a single unit to the GUI
user. The user sees "Open with Application" but the
application.desktop file specifies "User application-video to open
video files, use application-audio for audio files" blah blah blah.

At this point though, even if the discussion does have merit,
something like the xdg list is the appropriate place for it, not the
Thunar list.

Sorry for the list spam. :-)

>
>         -brian
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-- 
Erik
"Look at me still talking when there is Science to do"