Mime type missing description?

I am trying to create file associations so I can double click a file and it will open with my program - and will associate an icon with that file type.

I created the file myapp-xxx.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<mime-info xmlns=""> <mime-type type="application/myapp-xxx"> <comment>My app dummy mime</comment> <sub-class-of type="application/octet-stream"/> <glob pattern="*.xxx"/> <generic-icon name="MyApp"/> </mime-type>
</mime-info>

I placed MyApp.png in /usr/share/icons/

I placed myapp-xxx.xml in /usr/share/mime/application/

I ran

sudo update-mime-database /usr/share/mime

and my xml promptly disappeared.

I read that it can be because i am missing description... but looking at all the examples, and the existing mimes, I don't see what I am missing.

12.04

Note: I have a .desktop file too... but since the mime database removes the mime, I don't think having the reference in the .desktop file will help.

1 Answer

I placed the file myapp-xxx.xml in /usr/share/mime/packages/ (instead of /usr/share/mime/application/)

Running sudo update-mime-database /usr/share/mime did not remove my xml file...

Running mimetype -a Desktop/abcd.xxx showed

Desktop/abcd.xxx: application/myapp-xxx
Desktop/abcd.xxx: application/octet-stream

Thank you Elder Geek for the resource.