Libreoffice configured as default editor for text/plain

[marmarek]

How to file a helpful issue

Qubes OS release

R4.2, possibly R4.1 too

Brief summary

Plain text files are opened in LibreOffice Writer, which is an overkill for the simple file format. Simpler editors are installed (depending on the template and its flavor - gnome-text-editor, gedit, mousepad), but they are not set as default for text/plain.

Steps to reproduce

xdg-mime query default text/plain
Or simply open a .txt file from a file manager (or using xdg-open).

Expected behavior

File opens in a simple text editor, default one for given distribution.
In gnome template flavor (the default one): gnome-text-editor or gedit
In xfce template flavor: mousepad

Actual behavior

File opens in LibreOffice Writer.

Additional context

This issue needs some explanation regarding https://www.qubes-os.org/faq/#what-is-qubes-attitude-toward-changing-guest-distros.

For Debian template, the consensus based on IRC discussion is that Debian does not define default applications for file types at all, and it is a long standing upstream issue. Even properly tracking it upstream is problematic, as the file configuring which applications open what (/usr/share/applications/mimeapps.list) doesn't exist, so the (hypothetical) issue cannot be assigned to any package (admittedly, this is rather lame excuse...). The result is that default application is chosen more or less at random (in practice depends on lexicographic sorting applications...) from the installed applications.

For Fedora template, the intended default is configured (mimeapps.list does exist and points at org.gnome.gedit.desktop), but for some reason, it isn't respected by xdg-mime in qubes template.

This is similar issue to #4195 or #3148

[h01ger]

someone else than me on irc:

foo.txt opens in gedit in my debian 11 at least
this happens if you haven't set XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=gnome

$ xdg-mime query default text/plain; (unset XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP; xdg-mime query default text/plain)
org.gnome.gedit.desktop
libreoffice-writer.desktop

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package core-agent-linux has been pushed to the r4.2 testing repository for the Debian template.
To test this update, first enable the testing repository in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/qubes-*.list by uncommenting the line containing bullseye-testing (or appropriate equivalent for your template version), then use the standard update command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Changes included in this update

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The component core-agent-linux (including package core-agent-linux) has been pushed to the r4.2 testing repository for the Fedora template.
To test this update, please install it with the following command:

sudo dnf update --enablerepo=qubes-vm-r4.2-current-testing

Changes included in this update

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package core-agent-linux has been pushed to the r4.2 testing repository for the Debian template.
To test this update, first enable the testing repository in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/qubes-*.list by uncommenting the line containing bookworm-testing (or appropriate equivalent for your template version), then use the standard update command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Changes included in this update

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package core-agent-linux has been pushed to the r4.2 testing repository for the CentOS centos-stream8 template.
To test this update, please install it with the following command:

sudo yum update --enablerepo=qubes-vm-r4.2-current-testing

Changes included in this update

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The component core-agent-linux (including package core-agent-linux) has been pushed to the r4.2 testing repository for the Fedora template.
To test this update, please install it with the following command:

sudo dnf update --enablerepo=qubes-vm-r4.2-current-testing

Changes included in this update

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package core-agent-linux has been pushed to the r4.2 stable repository for the CentOS centos-stream8 template.
To install this update, please use the standard update command:

sudo yum update

Changes included in this update

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package core-agent-linux has been pushed to the r4.2 stable repository for the Debian template.
To install this update, please use the standard update command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Changes included in this update

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The package core-agent-linux has been pushed to the r4.2 stable repository for the Debian template.
To install this update, please use the standard update command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Changes included in this update

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The component core-agent-linux (including package core-agent-linux) has been pushed to the r4.2 stable repository for the Fedora template.
To install this update, please use the standard update command:

sudo dnf update

Changes included in this update

[qubesos-bot]

Automated announcement from builder-github

The component core-agent-linux (including package core-agent-linux) has been pushed to the r4.2 stable repository for the Fedora template.
To install this update, please use the standard update command:

sudo dnf update

Changes included in this update