handling optional MimeTypes in a Desktop Entry

[François Cami]

Hi all,

I've read the Desktop Entry Specification at
http://standards.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/latest/index.html
and haven't found an answer to my problem, so here goes:

If  I were to write an application able to open one or zero MimeType
by default, and optionally-installed plugins providing support for
more MimeType, should I:
* specify all possible MimeTypes in a single Desktop Entry and hope
for the best (hope not);
* ship a Desktop Entry with the application and with each plugin, with
the same "Name" key, so that the list of MimeTypes supported by the
application gets somehow merged by the Desktop Entry implementation -
though unless I'm mistaken this is not in the specification;
* ship a Desktop Entry with the application and specify to
distributions that it should be altered each time a plugin is
installed or removed, in effect treating the Desktop Entry as a
configuration file?

Any input greatly appreciated.

François