This is not a question, this is a bug report. I am absolutely certain this is a bug, and I reported it as such.
Nautilus will know that it is an HTML file in the same manner that Windows Explorer on Windows knows that it is an HTML file. The file extension exists for a reason. Both for user sanity as well as for programs to tell what it is that they are being asked to open.
the G++, GCC, and mpiCC compilers all three refuse to compile a .cpp program if it does not have the .cpp extension on the end of it.
jonesmz@jonesmz-desktop:~$ mpiCC iteration
iteration: file not recognized: File format not recognized
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
Renaming this file to iteration.cpp results in the desired behavior.
This indicates that G++,GCC and mpiCC all know what a .cpp file is, and what it isn't. meaning that nautilus is perfectly capable of understanding what an HTML file is and what it isnt. or alternatively, what is an HTML file, and what is not.
This is also a bug, but a different one.
Nautilus asking me each time I ask it to open a file that is CLEARLY a .html file (Both via the file extension ".html" as well as the contents of the file that look similar to
Parallel Scientific Computing in C++ and MPI
Chapter 7 Overview
Please notice that .html files follow a standard dictated by some committee somewhere.
They contain tags that state , indicating they are .HTML files.
Why is nautilus asking me if I would like to execute a markup-language file? It is not possible as far as I know. Firefox does not execute .HTML files, it parses them and displays information that it generates based on the contents of the .html file.
Similarly, what purpose is served by running this file in the terminal? What will it do? What shell will parse it? Can Lynx be used as a shell? Would that even do anything useful if lynx wasn't installed on the machine?
What purpose is served by asking me if I would like to cancel? I obviously indicated I wanted something done with the file by either double clicking, or pressing enter.
Why does it state "Display"? My general assumption is that display means display in a text editor. Which I will add is what happens if I double click a .cpp file.
This is not a question.
In Windows or Mac, double clicking on this file would have displayed the default web-browser. This is the behavior that I anticipate the majority of people expect.
If I wanted nautilus to do something OTHER than display the .html file in firefox, I would have used the right context menu.
and, to boot, please notice that my screenshot CLEARLY shows the file-type icon I believe I should be associating with a webbrowser, on the file I wanted to open in firefox.
Do not give an icon associated with a specific program (or type of program) to a file that will not open with that program on a double click.
If the file had no extension, I would concede your point that nautilus might not have been sure what that file was for. However!!
When I double click on text documents that have no file extension, several times, and in fact the majority of times in my experience, gedit opens them WITHOUT that dialog. Inconsistent behavior is broken behavior.
This is not a question, it is a bug report about unintuitive and downright annoying behavior.