[xfce] nautilus don't open files if set as default file manager

[Leonardo Müller]

If Nautilus is set as the preferred file manager with exo-preferred-applications, it no longer opens files. It opens only directories, .desktop files and executable files. Trying to open a file, be using Enter or with double mouse click, as a text file or a video makes Nautilus window blink for a instant and nothing happens. To be able to open the files, it's needed to choose to open with another application and then choose the application.

Once Nautilus is unset as the default file manager (Thunar is chosen, for example), it starts to work fine again, opening files properly.

Nautilus' Debian Sid version do not have this problem.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: nautilus 1:3.26.3-0ubuntu4
Uname: Linux 4.17.2-041702-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.2
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: XFCE
Date: Thu Jun 21 10:55:41 2018
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-06-13 (372 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 17.04 "Zesty Zapus" - Release amd64 (20170412)
SourcePackage: nautilus
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to bionic on 2017-10-20 (244 days ago)
usr_lib_nautilus: dropbox 2015.10.28

[Lou (lou-gregory42)]

Happening for me too. Should be a higher priority than "low" IMHO

[Steve Beckett (sbeckett31)]

this effects a lot of users so please can you push the priority higher.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Paolo Benvenuto (donpaolo)]

I affects me too. Hoping that priority is risen.

[Mike (solovey-0408)]

Have the same problem. Hope will be fixed soon.

[gustavo sansone (gusans)]

I have the same problem. tested on several fresh installs of Xubuntu 17.10 and Xubuntu 18.04.

[Theo Linkspfeifer (lastonestanding)]

You can fix this issue by removing the line "x-scheme-handler/file=exo-file-manager.desktop" from the following files:

/usr/share/xubuntu/applications/defaults.list (provided by Xubuntu)
~/.config/mimeapps.list (user overrides)
~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list (deprecated)

The entry should not be added anymore according to upstream Xfce [1], and it is the cause for the misbehavior according to the comments in the linked Debian report [2].

[1] https://git.xfce.org/xfce/exo/commit/?id=b74caf97642ae2bf00a7754a5fb193f695b6f3d4
[2] https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=874003#75

[ldmpub (ldmpub)]

Thanks Theo => your tip fix it for me.

[CarbonPepper (carbonpepper)]

XFCE 18.04, nautilus was working fine. Started to see this behaviour recently. Possibly due to adding nautilus-extension-gnome-terminal.

Commenting out the line:
x-scheme-handler/file=exo-file-manager.desktop

in

/usr/share/xubuntu/applications/defaults.list (provided by Xubuntu)

Worked immediately when nautilus restarted.

[Luke-hutchison (luke-hutchison)]

Around Fedora 27, Nautilus stopped being able to open files with double click. It took me a very long time to figure out what was going on, but it turns out it was this bug:

[Fedora bug]: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=674321
[Ubuntu bug]: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/exo/+bug/956255

I had to remove the following entries from ~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list , in the "[Added Associations]" section:

x-scheme-handler/http=exo-web-browser.desktop
x-scheme-handler/https=exo-web-browser.desktop
x-scheme-handler/file=exo-file-manager.desktop
x-scheme-handler/trash=exo-file-manager.desktop
x-scheme-handler/mailto=exo-mail-reader.desktop;

According to the Ubuntu bug, the core problem was fixed in this commit:

https://git.xfce.org/xfce/exo/commit/?id=b74caf97642ae2bf00a7754a5fb193f695b6f3d4

However, one commenter on the Fedora bug pointed out that "exo-0.6.2-3.fc16 is still taking the mime types from the X-XFCE-MimeType key and adding them to the [Added Associations] section of ~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list". This was still happening on a later version of exo (I don't know which version exactly, but maybe 0.10.x, since Nautilus broke for me around Fedora 27).

There are a few things that need to be fixed:

(1) exo needs to stop inserting these entries in mimeapps.list , if it is still inserting them

(2) exo needs to remove these entries from mimeapps.list, if they are found there, so that upgrading exo is enough to fix a broken system.

(3) One commenter on the Fedora bug pointed out that "I only noticed because some part of KDE was complaining about some lists in mimeapps.list not ending with ';' " -- exo needs to add a trailing ';' if it does need to add (corrected) lines to mimeapps.list.

[Sean Davis (bluesabre)]

Fix applied in the below commit.

https://git.launchpad.net/xubuntu-default-settings/commit/?id=3cd679e4c3d5efeb0e6d21027e072554037b244f

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package xubuntu-default-settings - 19.04

---------------
xubuntu-default-settings (19.04) disco; urgency=medium

  * Add Terminal (F4) and Find (Primary+Shift+F) shortcuts to Thunar (LP: #1793395)
    - etc/xdg/xdg-xubuntu/Thunar/accels.scm
    - etc/xdg/xdg-xubuntu/Thunar/uca.xml.in
  * debian/xubuntu-default-settings.gsettings-override:
    - Set GNOME/GTK 3 dconf keys for fonts (LP: #1769774)
  * etc/xdg/xdg-xubuntu/autostart/xfce4-tips-autostart.desktop
    - Removed, obsolete (LP: #1805005)
  * etc/xdg/xdg-xubuntu/Thunar/uca.xml.in:
    - Enable startup-notify in Thunar's uca.xml (LP: #1794118)
  * etc/xdg/xdg-xubuntu/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts.xml:
    - Add shortcut for xfce4-screenshooter region capture (Shift+Print) (LP: #1812234)
  * etc/xdg/xdg-xubuntu/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-power-manager.xml:
    - Set default inactivity mode to Suspend on AC and battery (LP: #1768038)
  * etc/xdg/xdg-xubuntu/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfprint.xml
    - Removed, obsolete (LP: #1805007)
  * usr/share/xubuntu/applications/defaults.list:
    - Replace invalid macroEnabled mimetypes (LP: #1802582)
    - Remove invalid x-scheme-handler/file handler (LP: #1778069)

 -- Sean Davis <email address hidden> Mon, 28 Jan 2019 22:44:14 -0500

[Alex Mandel (wildintellect)]

Just adding a note that this can also happen in Gnome on a system without XFCE.

Commenting out:
x-scheme-handler/file=exo-file-manager.desktop
In the file:
~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list

Like the Fedora note above worked. Not sure if a new ticket is needed to address the but outside of Xubuntu.

Ubuntu 18.04, happened after upgrade from 16.04

[Theo Linkspfeifer (lastonestanding)]

I assume that adding the exo package to the Affects list should do. The upstream report has already been linked.

[Dante Demian Leoncini (dante-leoncini)]

Tengo el mismo problema en Xubuntu.
I have the same problem in xubuntu.

[Bluesabre-1 (bluesabre-1)]

Resolved with the following commits:

https://git.xfce.org/xfce/exo/commit/?id=404a7ef73246b73cb4cd2a4ab8cc10e1a02d6b74
Always terminates the mimetype associations with ";"

https://git.xfce.org/xfce/exo/commit/?id=48e12f1d5f31e576f7017c50785032ef6d22cfd1
Removes bad entries that should no longer be used.

https://git.xfce.org/xfce/exo/commit/?id=8bc59ad1c48df132e917337bd08211be58af5bb1
Possibly related, this synchronizes the preferences with gio-mime.

Will be available with Exo 0.12.6, release shortly.

[CarbonPepper (carbonpepper)]

status: Fix Committed → Fix Released for 19.04. Good, but please also release for 18.04 as it is LTS.

[Marco Lopilato (marcolo)]

Will the fix be released for 18.04 also? Thx

[iyilmaz (yesilveyaprak)]

Theo thanks .fixed

[Sean Davis (bluesabre)]

Xubuntu 18.04 is no longer supported. Marking this ticket resolved for 20.04+.