setting default applications

[Christoph Wickert]

Am Samstag, den 11.12.2010, 16:59 +0000 schrieb NW:
> I have just installed truecrypt on my laptop (Mint v 9) and tested it.
> (I have used it before.) I found that, although I could mount the
> truecrypt file I could not open it. It was looking for Nautilus, which
> is a program I have never used and was not installed. So I installed it
> and now it works. 
> 
> This made me  wonder, why is it looking for Nautilus and why can't I
> tell it which program to use.? I know that I can select which are my
> preferred applications but only the browser and the mail client. Is
> there any way to set up other preferences please, such as text editor
> and file manager?

Yes, here is how to do it:

$ grep directory /usr/share/applications/defaults.list 
inode/directory=gnome-nautilus-folder-handler.desktop

This means that by default folders are opened with the command that is
specified in 
/usr/share/applications/gnome-nautilus-folder-handler.desktop.

In order to change that, you would replace that line with 

inode/directory=Thunar-folder-handler.desktop

to change it globally or add that line to 

~/.local/share/applications/defaults.list

to change it for you user only. Beware: You need to give it the exact
name of the desktop file that is installed in /usr/share/applications.
In Fedora for example it is fedora-Thunar-folder-handler.desktop.

Regards,
Christoph