Manual: update-desktop-database

UPDATE-DESKTOP-DATABASE(1)			   General Commands Manual			  UPDATE-DESKTOP-DATABASE(1)

NAME
       update-desktop-database - Build cache database of MIME types handled by desktop files

SYNOPSIS
       update-desktop-database [-q|--quiet] [-v|--verbose] [DIRECTORY...]

DESCRIPTION
       The update-desktop-database program is a tool to build a cache database of the MIME types handled by desktop files.

       The  cache  database  contains the list of MIME types that can be handled by desktop files, as well as, for each MIME
       type, a list of desktop files that can handle this MIME type. This cache database ease the work of applications	that
       need  to	 find  an  application that can open a document of a specific MIME type: those applications will not have to
       parse all the desktop files existing on the system, and can instead parse this cache database.

       If no DIRECTORY is specified as argument, the desktop files  that  will	be  processed  are  the	 ones  installed  in
       $XDG_DATA_DIRS/applications.

       If both the --quiet and --verbose options are used, then --verbose will be ignored.

OPTIONS
       The following options are supported:

       -q, --quiet
	      Do not display any information about processing and updating progress.

       -v, --verbose
	      Display more information about processing and updating progress.

NOTES
       If an invalid MIME type is met, it will be ignored and the creation of the cache database will continue.

       The  format  of	the cache database is a simple desktop entry format, with a MIME Cache group, containing one key per
       MIME type. The key name is the MIME type, and the key value is the list of desktop file that  can  handle  this	MIME
       type.

       The  order  of  the desktop files found for a MIME type is not significant.  Therefore, an external mechanism must be
       used to determine what is the preferred desktop file for a MIME type.

EXAMPLE
       Here is a simple example of a cache database:

	       [MIME Cache]
	       application/x-shellscript=gedit.desktop;
	       text/plain=gedit.desktop;gvim.desktop;
	       video/webm=totem.desktop;

       This cache database is created with three desktop files, each containing a MimeType key:

	       gedit.desktop: MimeType=text/plain;application/x-shellscript;
	       gvim.desktop: MimeType=text/plain;
	       totem.desktop: MimeType=video/webm;

FILES
       $XDG_DATA_DIRS/applications/mimeinfo.cache

	      This file is the cache database created by update-desktop-database.

BUGS
       If you find bugs in the update-desktop-database program, please report these on https://bugs.freedesktop.org.

						       FREEDESKTOP.ORG				  UPDATE-DESKTOP-DATABASE(1)