macOS "Open With kitty.app"

[cole-wilson]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
This feature request is not related to a problem.

Describe the solution you'd like
I would like to be able to set kitty as the default opener for certain file types (like *.txt files). Once kitty has "opened" the document, it would pass the filename(s) off to a program of the user's choice (like their $EDITOR).

For example:
1. A user opens Finder on MacOS
2. The user "double clicks" a text file
3. kitty would then launch vim %s in a new window or tab, substituting the path

This feature likely be useful for Linux as well, although I am only a macOS user.

Describe alternatives you've considered
I have tried bundling my own custom *.apps that will launch kitty themselves, but they are very cumbersome to use and require XCode. In addition, they meet Gatekeeper issues with launching external executables. I believe that this feature would be a good addition to kitty, rather than using eternal tools.

Example Screenshot:

[cole-wilson]

Note (if easy enough to develop): It would also be great if custom file icons could be applied (such as the Chrome icon on the .html file) by users.

[kovidgoyal]

This is very much macOS specific, on Linux you can just create a wrapper
script or .desktop file and use it to launch files with any program and
any command line you like.

It's only Apple that makes this difficult. As such I am not very
motivated to implement this. Having kitty interpret command line
arguments as files to open instead of programs to run has a cost, it
makes command line processing more difficult to reason about.

That said, one probably can detect files passed to kitty via launch services on
macOS and special case them.

[page-down]

(Reply before the latest changes.)

It looks like the code is already there.

kitty/child-monitor.c

process_cocoa_pending_actions(void) {
    // ...
    if (cocoa_pending_actions_data.open_files_count) {
        // ...

While this feature looks great, I also think the potentially inconsistent behavior will cause confusion.

For example, for a .sh file, should kitty execute it directly, or open it in a text editor? For different types of files, should kitty open them as configured in open-actions?

For now open the .sh file and kitty will execute it in a new window.

---

@kovidgoyal

I found an issue where text.txt, which does not have execute permission, will be executed when opened with kitty.app. Do you think this is an issue that needs to be addressed?

(Tested before the latest commit.)

Also, to get kitty.app to appear in the "Open With" list, it also requires registration of various file types in macOS for kitty.

[page-down]

I tested the latest commit, which resulted in not being able to run the .sh file with kitty.

<key>CFBundleDisplayName</key>
<string>kitty</string>
<key>CFBundleDocumentTypes</key>
<array>
<dict>
	<key>CFBundleTypeExtensions</key>
	<array>
		<string>command</string>
		<string>sh</string>
		<string>zsh</string>
		<string>bash</string>
		<string>fish</string>
		<string>tool</string>
	</array>

[kovidgoyal]

see the next commit

[page-down]

I tested the latest commit and .sh is executed with zsh.

#!/usr/bin/env bash
echo "${BASH_VERSION}"

Some open source projects have .command files that cannot be executed.

#!/usr/bin/env python
import os
# ...

Also for file type registration, I don't know how to register all file types yet. Since the file types are not registered, it is not possible to drag a text file to the kitty Dock icon to open it. And of course it doesn't appear in the "open with" list yet.

Also do you think it's worth checking the executable permissions of the file? Then execute it or open it with a text editor.

[kovidgoyal]

Executable permissions are already checked. And shell scripts are launched with the default shell unless they have a defined file extension such as .zsh, .bash or .fish.

[page-down]

Strange, currently I am trying to open a .sh file with no execute permissions and it will be executed directly.

[kovidgoyal]

Yes, like I said, script files will be opened with the default shell,
unless they are executable, in which case they are executed directly.

[page-down]

Oh, it's pretty clearly that I missed the beginning of the open_file(). Thanks for the reminder.

Do you have any good ideas for files like Makefile, LICENSE, setup.cfg, shell.nix, etc.? Currently these files cannot be opened.

The file: setup.cfg is of unknown type, cannot open it.

For example, is it possible to prefer user-configured open-actions.

open-actions.conf

protocol file
ext nix 
action launch --type os-window vi ${FILE_PATH}

EDIT: Not really, since this is actually dedicated to hyperlinks, where the GUI program will be configured to open the file.

[kovidgoyal]

On Fri, Jan 07, 2022 at 01:31:44AM -0800, page-down wrote: Oh, it's pretty clearly that I missed the beginning of the `open_file()`. Thanks for the reminder. Do you have any good ideas for files like `Makefile`, `LICENSE`, `setup.cfg`, `shell.nix`, etc.? Currently these files cannot be opened.

Any file that has a mimetype of text/ will be edited. You can add mime types in the mime.types file in the kitty config directory.

[page-down]

... You can add mime types in the mime.types file in the kitty config directory.

I forgot about this feature.

text/plain nix Makefile

I tried it and the nix file opens fine, but the Makefile still doesn't work. Is there a good way to handle this?