How to set default browser for PDF reader Evince on Linux?

Question

I find this command

sudo update-alternatives –config x-www-browser

I choose Chrome. It works for xpdf, but Evince still starts Firefox after click.

I feel Linux is not standard. I use Linux Mint 8 (Helena) LXDE.

this question is not well phrased , what do you mean that evince starts firefox ? Having seen this, now I am not so sure about my answer. — g24l, Dec 16 '11 at 00:12
I think the question is about which browser starts if you click on a URL in a PDF document. — erik, Oct 24 '13 at 09:51

score 18 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 24 '14 at 11:27

18

As far as I understand LXDE uses xdg to do calls to applications. This command should fix your issue:

To find out which application opens a pdf file :

xdg-mime query default application/pdf

To set the application to evince

xdg-mime default evince.desktop application/pdf

This should work if your application is registered to the desktop (i.e. if there is a launcher)

edited Mar 24 '14 at 11:27

phihag

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answered Dec 16 '11 at 00:11

g24l

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this should actually be `xdg-mime default evince.desktop application/pdf` – xubuntix May 14 '12 at 17:26
2

For me (Debian 10, unwanted default was libreoffice) this didn't work. Instead `xdg-mime default org.gnome.Evince.desktop application/pdf` did the trick. – phinz Jan 07 '21 at 11:56

score 11 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 13 '11 at 18:49

11

Solving your issue is like voodoo, even when there are "protocols" regarding how and which applications are supposed to open a specific kind of file. You'll see that they're very inconsistent between systems and different desktop environments.

So there's no really a "right" answer. I had a similar problem with firefox, so I'm giving you my solution:

Create a ~/.local/share/applications/defaults.list if it doesn't exist
Add the following
```
[Default Applications]
application/pdf=evince.desktop;
```
...or just the last line if there's something before.

answered Nov 13 '11 at 18:49

Pablo Olmos de Aguilera C.

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I've heard that `mimeapps.list` is the new filename for freedesktop.org: http://standards.freedesktop.org/mime-apps-spec/mime-apps-spec-1.0.1.html – Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com Mar 30 '15 at 19:42
It works like Voodoo, magical, but just simply works =) – Shi B. Jul 30 '15 at 03:54

score 4 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 19 '12 at 14:42

4

You can edit your $HOME/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list file. If this file does not exist, create one.

For illustration's sake, if you want Chromium to be the default browser, add the following line:

x-scheme-handler/http=chromium.desktop

That's all.

edited Mar 19 '12 at 14:42

slhck

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answered Mar 19 '12 at 14:32

Auguste

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Worked like a charm on Arch Linux. – Rudy Matela Jul 10 '13 at 02:35

koniu · Answer 4 · 2012-11-29T10:49:24.933

I had a reverse problem - I want firefox to open the links, but evince started chromium no matter what.

I used strace -o /tmp/output evince to see what functions are called and found this in the log:

open("/home/koniu/.local/share/applications/firefox.desktop;", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/local/share/applications/firefox.desktop;", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop;", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/home/koniu/.local/share/applications/chromium.desktop", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/local/share/applications/chromium.desktop", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/applications/chromium.desktop", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = 16

No idea why there's a semicolon included in the firefox.desktop but I created /home/koniu/.local/share/applications/firefox.desktop with the following content:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Firefox
Exec=/usr/bin/firefox %U
Terminal=false
X-MultipleArgs=false
Type=Application
Icon=firefox
Categories=Network;WebBrowser;
MimeType=text/html;text/xml;application/xhtml_xml;x-scheme-handler/http;x-scheme-handler/https;
StartupNotify=true

And now evince starts firefox as desired.

score 3 · Answer 5 · edited Jul 09 '11 at 03:36

3

To change Gnome applications you need to use gconftool:

$ gconftool -s /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/http/command -t string 'chromium-browser %s'

To check the changes:

$ gconftool -g /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/http/command

Other Gnome applications:

/desktop/gnome/url-handlers/chrome/command
/desktop/gnome/url-handlers/https/command
/desktop/gnome/url-handlers/http/command
/desktop/gnome/url-handlers/ftp/command

Reference:

http://www.salixos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1376&view=print

edited Jul 09 '11 at 03:36

Gaff

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answered May 20 '11 at 21:17

javier

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you keep telling the guy to setup gnome, but he is using LXDE... – g24l Dec 16 '11 at 00:00
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@g24l: Evince is a GNOME program, though. (However, it doesn't use GConf for URL handlers anymore.) – u1686_grawity Dec 16 '11 at 00:17

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 08 '20 at 19:42

None of these solutions worked for me.

I had to edit ~/.config/mimeapps.list and append these rules to the two headers:

[Default Applications]
application/pdf=org.gnome.Evince.desktop

[Added Associations]
application/pdf=evince.desktop;org.gnome.Evince.desktop;

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 18 '18 at 12:14

0

I had this problem, using evince under KDE. I had to log out from KDE, login to GNOME, and set the default browser of GNOME (Search -> Details -> Default Applications -> Browser). Then go back to KDE and it worked fine.

answered Jun 18 '18 at 12:14

mathause

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score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Jun 14 '10 at 08:01

0

Set the default browser in Gnome applications with gnome-default-applications-properties.

answered Jun 14 '10 at 08:01

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams

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you almost killed my system! after apt-get gnome-control-center, the system is almost broken. – chenge Jun 14 '10 at 09:22
define "almost broken" – msw Jun 14 '10 at 11:10
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The issue may be you are telling him to install gnome stuff when his window manager is probably LXDE. – Jarvin Jun 14 '10 at 17:40
i report it: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=50017 it write file .xsession-errors with "fcitx signal 11", and eat the hd space. – chenge Jun 15 '10 at 10:40
4

@Dan keep in mind that evince *is* "gnome stuff", and has gnome dependencies; that said, I don't know what the right answer here is. (Also, LXDE is a desktop environment, not a window manager, not that matters here.) – frabjous Aug 31 '10 at 02:31

Andy Preston · Answer 9 · 2022-06-15T11:12:08.360

I know this is a very old question... but none of the answers seem to give the correct answer.

First check that these shell commands: xdg-mime query default x-scheme-handler/http and xdg-mime query default x-scheme-handler/https both return firefox.desktop

Then to set Evince (any other Gnome apps that encounter a URL) to use chromium instead:

xdg-mime default chromium-browser.desktop x-scheme-handler/http and xdg-mime default chromium-browser.desktop x-scheme-handler/https

How to set default browser for PDF reader Evince on Linux?

9 Answers9