[conspire] exo-open(1), default handler, preferred application

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Eric De Mund (ead-conspire at ixian.com):

> 0.  At package upgrade time, among other times,
>     update-desktop-database(1) is called. (It has no man page, but it
>     does have a "--help" option. Best though is to view the source code
>     under
>     <http://www.freedesktop.org/software/desktop-file-utils/releases/>.)
>     update-desktop-database(1), part of the desktop-file-utils package,
>     updates the MIME info cache stored in
>     /usr/share/applications/mimeinfo.cache, from the "MimeType=" lines
>     in all the .desktop files in /usr/share/applications. 

I realise this is departing entirely from your subject, but you just
reminded me:  I would be wary of trusting freedesktop.org's tools for
picking applications to open data files, as there are signs of security
problems:

http://lwn.net/Articles/320707/

(The questionably-implemented ".desktop" files are apparently a common 
feature shared by GNOME and KDE.)

Personally, I'm not at all happy with the idea of system software that
decides what application software to run after I "click" on a file --
which I realise is a key foundational requirement for all of the
"desktop" suites (GNOME, KDE, Xfce).  I want to know what's going to
run, and be in control of that process, and in general don't have any
use for "clicking" on data files at all.  (The shell ain't broken.)