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  docu-
       ment 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  signifi-
       cant.   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  contain-
       ing 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-data-
              base.

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)
