Etcher AppImage registers itself as default text/html mime handler

[dlech]

• Etcher version: balenaEtcher-1.5.112-x64.AppImage
• Operating system and architecture: Ubuntu 20.04 amd64
• Image flashed: N/A
• Do you see any meaningful error information in the DevTools? N/A

I use the xdg-open command line tool to open .html files. However each time I run the Etcher AppImage, it registers itself as the default handler for the text/html mime type so running xdg-open my-file.html launches Etcher with an error code instead of opening a web browser.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Verify current mime handler: xdg-mime query default text/html
2. If it is already balena-etcher-electron.desktop, replace it with xdg-mime default firefox.desktop text/html then repeat step 1 to confirm that it is now firefox.desktop instead of ``balena-etcher-electron.desktop`.
3. Launch Etcher
4. Repeat step 1 and see that it has been changed to balena-etcher-electron.desktop

Expected behavior: Etcher should not register itself as the default handler for the text/html mime type.

[lurch]

How weird, I wonder if that might be an Electron bug or an AppImage bug? 🤷

Just did a quick search and found electron/electron#20382 which sounds very similar.

[dlech]

Your search skills must be better than mine, nice find 😄

[dlech]

Looks like this got reported upstream a few days ago: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xdg/xdg-utils/-/issues/180

As a workaround, I commented out this line: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xdg/xdg-utils/-/blob/v1.1.3/scripts/xdg-settings.in#L691

sudo vi $(which xdg-settings)

[aldomann]

@dlech do you need to reboot the system for it to work? Just commenting the line didn't fix it for me.

[dlech]

I don't think a reboot is required. Did you also run xdg-mime default firefox.desktop text/html to repair the damage that is already done? Editing xdg-settings just prevents it from happening again.

[aldomann]

My bad. Running xdg-mime default org.chromium.Chromium.desktop text/html fixed it for me.

[tzarebczan]

Anyone know why this happens though? From the electron issue, it sounded like it was related to something with a - in the file name / package, but we're having a similar at LBRY and can't find out the root cause either.

[dlech]

Anyone know why this happens though?

It is a bug in xdg-utils: #3374 (comment)