Default Program | File Association

[Mhall]

> Alternatives don't work for this:
> * we need a _list_ of default applications, so that when one is not available (removed, wrong desktop, cannot start, etc.) we pick the next one in the list
I'm pretty sure you can get that from alternatives.

> * we need a list also for the "Open With" menu; including ways of adding and removing from the list; this is solved by the defaults.list solution that Alex and I agreed upon.
If you can get the list of alternatives, you could use that for "Open With" right?

> * it wouldn't solve "gnome and kde want to start a different text editor" either.
Yes, I do see how that is a problem, especially since alternatives is global not per-user.  But then again, maybe a KDE user wants GEdit to open text/plain instead of Kate, you never know.  How exactly is this solved now?  Sorry if it's already been explain, I've only recently been paying attention.