[clue-tech] Firefox & helper applications

[Collins Richey]

On 7/16/05, Matt Gushee <mgushee at havenrock.com> wrote:
> Hi, all--
> 
> I am finding that Firefox sometimes doesn't let me set up helper
> applications in the way that I'd like to. For example, I want to play
> MP3s with XMMS. But somehow it has been decided (without my consent,
> dammit!) that RealPlayer is the default handler for MP3s. So when I
> click on an MP3 link, a dialog comes up saying
> 
>    You have chosen to open
> 
>      ******.mp3
> 
>    which is a MP3 audio
> 
> So it seems to correctly identify the file, but in the "Open with" box,
> it shows "realplay (default)." And what's really annoying is that the
> "Do this automatically for files like this from now on" checkbox is
> disabled, so I have to manually choose /usr/bin/xmms every time. Then
> again, it seems to me I have tried checking that checkbox for one or
> another file in the past, and it has never seemed to have any effect.
> 
> Then there's Edit -> Preferences -> Downloads, with its stupidly
> crippled functionality. *If* the mime type in question were listed
> correctly, I could maybe edit it, but it's not clear that the MP3 type
> is listed correctly. Yes, there are entries for audio/mpeg and
> audio/x-mpegurl, but (a) when I inspect them, they already show
> /usr/bin/xmms as the handler, and (b) they don't seem to be associated
> with the file extension MP3 ... at least, some of the entries look like
> this:
> 
>    AVI   AVI file        Open with mplayer
>    MID    MIDI Audio    Open with timidity
> 
> Whereas the audio/mpeg entry looks like this:
> 
>          audio/mpeg      Open with xmms
> 
> So there seems to be no way to deal with this through the GUI. I found a
> file in my user profile directory called 'mimeTypes.rdf', which appears
> to be relevant ... but changing that had no effect, nor did removing it
> from the directory. In any case, it's a little hard to tell how to edit
> that file without some documentation, which I haven't found yet. The
> online user docs for Firefox don't seem to mention 'mimeTypes.rdf'.
> 
> Anyone dealt with this issue before? TIA for any fixes or workarounds.
> 

It seems to me that there is a plugin/extension for monkeying with
mime types. You might try the about:plugins route and follow those
links.

Meanwhile, when I bring up a file:///pathto/some.mp3, Firefox queries
me what program and after eventially getting to select
'/usr/bin/xmms', the mp3 plays. After doing that, I note that my
'mimeTypes.rdf' now contains

 <RDF:Description RDF:about="urn:mimetype:externalApplication:audio/x-mp3"
                   NC:path="/usr/bin/xmms"
                   NC:prettyName="xmms" />

So, I presume that yours must have the settings for realplay? This
would lead me to believe that you could exit Firefox and edit the file
to look like the above.

HTH,
-- 
 Collins
       Head teachers of the world unite: you have nothing to lose but 
       the Start button.
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