Cannot associate .xcf fikles with Gimp on 20.04

**cscj01** · April 15th, 2021

I am running Ubuntu 20.04.2 x64 and Gimp 2.10.24.

I can't seem to figure out a way to associate .xcf files with Gimp. This actually started in 18.04. If I look at Properties for my .xcf files, I only have two tabs, Basic and Permissions. If I use Nautilus, right click on the file, and choose Open with Other Application, Gimp does not appear in the list. If I say Find New Application, Gimp is displayed, but is listed as installed.

So when I double-click on an .xcf file, I get a message saying 'no application installed for "Gimp image" files.' I have to open Gimp and open the file from within Gimp. I have two Desktop files for Gimp. One is in /usr/share/applications and the other is in ~/.local/share/applications. Both of these list image/x-xcf as a mime type. The files are identical.

I have installed Gimp from http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntuhandbook1/gimp/ubuntu

Does anyone have a suggestion as to how I can rectify this situation?

**Dennis N** · April 16th, 2021

Things to try that may help:

This alone may fix it:

Refresh the mimeinfo.cache of mime types and applications:

Code:

sudo update-desktop-database

Other commands as examples:

Find the default application for a mime type:

Code:

xdg-mime query default image/x-xcf

Set default application (use name of it's desktop file) for a mime type:

Code:

xdg-mime default gimp.desktop image/x-xcf

**ajgreeny** · April 16th, 2021

What do you see if you open an xcf file with gimp using terminal command

Code:

gimp-2.10 /path/to/file.xcf

That may give you some clues.

**cscj01** · April 16th, 2021

Originally Posted by Dennis N

Things to try that may help:

This alone may fix it:

Refresh the mimeinfo.cache of mime types and applications:

Code:

sudo update-desktop-database

Other commands as examples:

Find the default application for a mime type:

Code:

xdg-mime query default image/x-xcf

Set default application (use name of it's desktop file) for a mime type:

Code:

xdg-mime default gimp.desktop image/x-xcf

I tried your suggestions in order. Here are the responsees:

Code:

sudo update-desktop-database

No response. I then tried to open an .xcf file by double-clicking with same results as before.

Code:

xdg-mime query default image/x-xcf

Response was

gimp.desktop

I then tried to open an .xcf file by double-clicking with same results as before.

Finally

Code:

xdg-mime default gimp.desktop image/x-xcf

I then tried to open an.xcf by double-clicking. Success!

What puzzles me is that Ubuntu knew what application to use for the mime type image/x-xcf in option 2 but still would not open the application.

In any case, thanks for resolving this irritating issue.

**cscj01** · April 16th, 2021

Originally Posted by ajgreeny

What do you see if you open an xcf file with gimp using terminal command

Code:

gimp-2.10 /path/to/file.xcf

That may give you some clues.

Thanks for your reply. As I indicated in my post before this one, it works correctly now. However, I did find some other issue of unsupported add-ins by trying your suggestion. I am researching those now. So thank you as well for offing some helpful advice.

**ajgreeny** · April 16th, 2021

Are some of those add-ins from an earlier version of gimp? Perhaps that is causing you some trouble.
What add-ins are causing this other issue?

Give as much detail as you can and you may get more help.