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This might be an odd question, but I like to know how to make file-roller except odt files to be opened.

I am working pretty much with odt files as templates. I need to open them quite often and look into the containing xml files for some nerdy developer reasons.

In the past (12.04 and before) file-roller would open odt files without problem (since they are simple zip compressed files with an other ending). In 14.04 and 16.04 I had to do some magic (I do not recall) via gconf-editor to make file-roller open those odt files without renaming them to a .zip ending.

Now I am on 18.04 and there is not much configuration left in gconf and I cannot find anything related in dconf either.

So could somebody please enlighten me on how file-roller determines that ".odt" is a not-supported fileytype or a solution on how to teach file-roller to open my odt files without renaming them beforehand.

I already tried to add odt to the zip section in /etc/mime.types, but this does not seem to have any impact on file-roller.

Many thx for any hints into the right direction.

[UPDATE] @clearkimura

I use Nemo, but same with nautilus.

Output of file *.odt; mimetype *.odt Odt file right-click context menu [/UPDATE]

mondjunge
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  • `ark` in Kubuntu 18.04 does what you want without any additional steps. Installing `ark` (in the universe repo) would pull in some "kde/qt" dependencies but get the job done. – DK Bose Dec 14 '18 at 14:43
  • yes I know other implemntations of file-roller do it. Before ubuntu 12.04 or 14.04 it was also that way. I am pretty sure there is some configuration file in ubuntu that needs to be changed or deleted in order to make file-roller try to open all files you give him. I found this in the past, but i am in front of a new system and cannot recall how I dod it or how i found the solution in the past. – mondjunge Dec 14 '18 at 14:55
  • Would it work for you to create a link with the same name but an extension that would make file-roller accept it (`.zip`)? It works for me in Lubuntu 18.04.1 LTS. – sudodus Dec 14 '18 at 15:08
  • Yes, creating a symlink works, but I thrive for a solution, not a workaround. – mondjunge Dec 14 '18 at 15:14
  • You can create symlinks to a separate directory for all odt files with a shellscript, function or alias, which is quite convenient. Unfortunately I don't know how to configure `file-roller`, so let us hope someone who knows will chip in and help you :-) – sudodus Dec 14 '18 at 15:33
  • You can search for configuration files with the following command, `find .* -name "*file-roller*"`, and look into the files you find (I found a few in my home directory.) – sudodus Dec 14 '18 at 15:42
  • `find .* -name "*file-roller*"` did not find any files in my home folder (beside svg images), neither on my 18.04 system, nor on my 16.04 system, where file-roller opens odt files. – mondjunge Dec 14 '18 at 16:32
  • Um... I ran Ubuntu 16.04 on Live USB and that will open *.odt file just fine out of box. No magic here, just choose from "Open with" > Archive Manager in the right-click menu. Works fine in Nautilus/Files (Unity) and Thunar (Xfce), both use Archive Manager (file-roller). –  Jan 11 '19 at 14:57
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    Suggestion: Edit your question and include: 1. screenshot of right-click menu on the *.odt file; 2. command output of `file *.odt; mimetype *.odt`; 3. what is the file manager in use? –  Jan 11 '19 at 14:59

3 Answers3

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I guess it is a bug in file-roller.

I updated included file-roller version 3.28.0 to version 3.30.1 from 18.10 with the amd64 .deb file from here: https://ubuntu.pkgs.org/18.10/ubuntu-main-amd64/file-roller_3.30.1-1_amd64.deb.html

With the updated file-roller package .odt files can be opened again. This might not be the optimal way to install backports, but in this case it works without sideeffects.

mondjunge
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This worked for me

Install xarchiver right click and >open with other applications choose xarchiver.

Vijay
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  • Thank you, but I search for the solution to configure file-roller correctly. you can also use archive-mounter (gvfsd-archive) to mount the odt as a device. – mondjunge Dec 14 '18 at 15:22
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I think your points is How to extract .odt archived as xml files? am i correct???

if i'm correct. follow the commands : 

$ sudo mv ".odt" "filename" #move to `.odt` file as filename without extension
$ file-roller "filename" #open filename to view xml files archived

you can see archived like below.

Forgive me about my bad grammars and Hope this helps.

enter image description here

abu-ahmed al-khatiri
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  • No. I want to know why the heck file-roller won't open .odt files anymore and how to reenable these behavior, since they are zip-compressed archives. It worked in the past. I need to take quick glimpses into those archives I do not want to rename them, mount them, symlink them or open them in other archive managers. – mondjunge Jan 14 '19 at 09:11
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    @mondjunge nice, you solved your self. – abu-ahmed al-khatiri Jan 14 '19 at 11:18
  • yes I did, and since your answer gave me the motivation to take another look at it, I think you deserve the bounty. :) – mondjunge Jan 14 '19 at 13:02
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    @mondjunge thanks, how about your `file-roller v3.30` package, how is the result of opening .odt with file-roller v3.30??? – abu-ahmed al-khatiri Jan 14 '19 at 13:07
  • odt files just open fine, as they should, since odt files are technically just zip archives. – mondjunge Jan 15 '19 at 15:05
  • I tried using v3.28, are they appears same result opened .odt with different of version??? – abu-ahmed al-khatiri Jan 15 '19 at 15:51