"Places" goes to Caja, I want Xfe instead

[Caitlin]

When I click on Places, it gives me a list of directories to browse. Not as complete as I'd like it to be, but good enough. However, no matter what I click on, it goes to Caja (yuk!) I want it to go to Xfe instead.

I tried to set up a symbolic link to capture the Caja invocation and send it to Xfe instead, but I couldn't find the binary. (Is it one of these things that has something like a Python script instead of an executable?)

System -> Preferences -> Personal -> Preferred Applications was no help.

I'm using MATE under Stretch.

Suggestions?

Caitlin

[NFT5]

Like you I use the MATE desktop and I'm less than impressed with Caja as a file manager, although the later version has definitely improved.

My solution was to install Dolphin, but I was having similar problems with Caja being called, despite specifying Dolphin as my "Preferred Application".

So, I installed Xfe. Lots to like with this File Manager but the big problem is this:



It looks like Xfe comes with Audacious and Audicious is being registered as the file manager instead of Xfe. Selecting Audacious as the preferred file manager results in Audacious being called from the items listed in Places, which, obviously won't work. So, I uninstalled Audacious and selected Dolphin as my preference. Now, when I click on anything in the Places list it opens in Dolphin, instead of Caja as it did before. Good for me but doesn't necessarily solve your problem.

However, what it does do is point towards an issue which looks like it may be a bug in Xfe. I haven't taken this any further, but you may want to contact the developer.

[None1975]

What a silly offer ...exchange a lightweight and excellent fm into a thick and uncluttered kde. This fm is for KDE. In other DE it will draw half the KDE ... Great tip.

[NFT5]

I believe that you misunderstand. I'm not making any offer, nor am I suggesting that OP do what I did.

What I'm giving is the benefit of the results of the research that I did and what I believe that points to - that Xfe isn't registering properly when it is installed.

I believe that there are people on this forum who will know how to overcome this. I don't, and I don't have the real need to learn, at this time. However, the issue should be reported to the developer, so that it can be fixed and the problem not recur, endlessly, in future installations.

[debiman]

It looks like Xfe comes with Audacious and Audicious is being registered as the file manager instead of Xfe. Selecting Audacious as the preferred file manager results in Audacious being called from the items listed in Places, which, obviously won't work. So, I uninstalled Audacious and selected Dolphin as my preference. Now, when I click on anything in the Places list it opens in Dolphin, instead of Caja as it did before. Good for me but doesn't necessarily solve your problem.

However, what it does do is point towards an issue which looks like it may be a bug in Xfe. I haven't taken this any further, but you may want to contact the developer.

this doesn't make any sense!
Xfe does NOT "come with audacious".
xfe does not comply with all those newfangled freedesktop standards, and is not bothered by MATE's prefered applications.
audacious probably was already installed, and slipped in there when you removed the previous filemanager.
this is NOT a bug in Xfe.
and asking others to contact the developer for something that you perceive to be a bug, but do not want to explore further is not only arrogant and lazy but also plain [redacted] ... no ad hominem attacks, debiman!

anyhow, in preferred applications, you can look in the dropdown if it lets you choose Xfe instead.

[None1975]

Xfe does NOT "come with audacious".

No, you're wrong.

xfe does not comply with all those newfangled freedesktop standards, and is not bothered by MATE's prefered applications.

Yes, really. You're right.

anyhow, in preferred applications, you can look in the dropdown if it lets you choose Xfe instead.

That's it!

[debiman]

Xfe does NOT "come with audacious".

No, you're wrong.

omg!
that must be the weirdest install recommend i ever saw.
i stand corrected (and baffled).

[NFT5]

debiman wrote:
xfe does not comply with all those newfangled freedesktop standards, and is not bothered by MATE's prefered applications.


Yes, really. You're right.

Yes, and no. That Xfe isn't "bothered" by the freedesktop standards means that its purpose of being light on resources can be achieved more easily, but, in the case of MATE, Caja does much more as do other file managers that come with other desktops. Xfe is not a replacement in that sense, but is certainly very good to use for everyday file management - moving, copying, pasting and deleting.

That it isn't "bothered" by MATE's Preferred Applications is irrelevant. What Preferred Applications does is redirect a call for system file manager to the "preferred" application. Thus, applications which are intended for use under any or multiple desktops can ask the system for a file manager and the preferred application will be delivered by starting Xfe. The problem that OP experienced occurred because the panel application called the system file manager and Caja was delivered in stead of Xfe.

debiman wrote:
anyhow, in preferred applications, you can look in the dropdown if it lets you choose Xfe instead.


That's it!

Unfortunately, no, it's not. When Xfe is installed with Audacious as a dependency it is Audacious which is registered as a file manager, not Xfe. I said this earlier. So, going to the dropdown in Preferred Applications gave (me) a choice of Caja, Dolphin and Audacious.

So, the problem is in the installation and how the executables are registered. This is something that is the responsibility of the developer, hence my suggestion to take it there as a bug.

asking others to contact the developer for something that you perceive to be a bug, but do not want to explore further is not only arrogant and lazy but also plain [redacted]

I qualified my original response with my reasons and posted to point OP in the direction that my research indicated. That way OP at least has a line to follow in resolving a problem that, up until my response had been an unanswered thread. For me, personally, it's not an issue. Although I like Xfe it lacks features that I want/need in my file manager and which are largely satisfied by Dolphin, not least of which is that Xfe won't/can't/doesn't see my network. I installed Xfe in order to have another look at it, found it wanting and uninstalled it, passing along my observations along the way.

If someone was to stop me in the street and ask directions to, say, the nearest railway station, I wouldn't take them there and buy their ticket for them. I'd give them directions so they can make their own way there. That's exactly what I did for OP. I'd think polite and generous rather than the adjectives you used. Arrogant would have been to tell OP to work it out for themselves and lazy would have been to not bother replying, neither of which I did.

[oswaldkelso]

The first thing to do is install xfe without audacious as it's not a hard depend. If it works fine then re add audacious and see if the issue returns. If it does file a bug

https://packages.debian.org/stretch/xfe

Other Packages Related to xfe

depends
recommends
suggests
enhances

Code: Select all

    dep: libc6 (>= 2.17)
        GNU C Library: Shared libraries
        also a virtual package provided by libc6-udeb

    dep: libfontconfig1 (>= 2.11)
        generic font configuration library - runtime

    dep: libfox-1.6-0
        FOX C++ GUI Toolkit - runtime library

    dep: libfreetype6 (>= 2.2.1)
        FreeType 2 font engine, shared library files

    dep: libgcc1 (>= 1:3.0) [amd64, arm64, mips64el, ppc64el, s390x]
        GCC support library

    dep: libgcc1 (>= 1:3.5) [armel, armhf]

    dep: libgcc1 (>= 1:4.2) [i386, mips, mipsel]

    dep: libpng16-16 (>= 1.6.2-1)
        PNG library - runtime (version 1.6)

    dep: libstdc++6 (>= 5.2)
        GNU Standard C++ Library v3

    dep: libx11-6
        X11 client-side library

    dep: libxft2 (>> 2.1.1)
        FreeType-based font drawing library for X

    dep: xfe-themes (>= 1.42-1)
        lightweight file manager for X11 (themes)

    rec: audacious (>> 2.3-1)
        small and fast audio player which supports lots of formats

    rec: xarchiver
        GTK+ frontend for most used compression formats

    rec: xfe-i18n
        lightweight file manager for X11 (i18n support)

    rec: xterm
        X terminal emulator

    sug: meld
        graphical tool to diff and merge files
    or diffuse
        graphical tool for merging and comparing text files
    or fldiff
        graphical diff program

    sug: rpm
        package manager for RPM

    sug: xine-ui
        the xine video player, user interface

    sug: xpdf
        Portable Document Format (PDF) reader
    or evince
        Document (PostScript, PDF) viewer

[Wheelerof4te]

Audacious has recently switched to Qt, IIRC.

As for the file manager, I don't see why would Caja be any worse than Thunar or any other file manager. You can't have lightweight and feature-full at the same time. And have it integrate well with the DE on top of all.

[oswaldkelso]

You can't have lightweight and feature-full at the same time. And have it integrate well with the DE on top of all.

Yes you can