On 2016-09-16 at 10:56, Tony Baldwin wrote: > On 09/16/2016 10:29 AM, The Wanderer wrote: > >> On 2016-09-16 at 10:10, Tony Baldwin wrote: >> >>> I'm having another headache... >>> >>> I want to make Icedove the default mail client. >>> I had this done on the last Jessie system I had (on a now defunct hdd). >>> But I can't recall how I did it, if it was with update-alternative or >>> some other means.. >>> And something that's been bothering me for a while is: >>> I can't seem to find or figure out how to list all the alternatives I >>> can manage with update-alternatives. >>> I mean, I can get a list for a particular item, like x-www-browser or >>> editor, but I want a list of all those possible things to update >>> (x-www-browser, editor, etc.) >>> Is there such a list somewhere? >> >> From the man page, >> >> update-alternatives --get-selections >> >> looks like it should do what you want, at least as far as alternative >> groups currently present on the system. (Naturally, because any package >> can add a new link group - or the administrator can do it manually, if >> desired - nothing can provide a list of every possible link group which >> could exist.) >> >> I don't see any obvious sign of a generic "mail client" link group >> listed there, though. > > My apologies to the Wanderer, who will now be seeing this twice, as I > mistakenly replied to him off-list... (keep forgetting to use reply-list)
No worries. > Indeed: > # update-alternatives --get-selections | grep mail > mailx auto /usr/bin/bsd-mailx > > but also: > # update-alternatives --config mailx > There is only one alternative in link group mailx (providing > /usr/bin/mailx): /usr/bin/bsd-mailx > Nothing to configure. > > > it seems it won't let me set a mail client > > I should probably mention that I'm using chromium as my browser; getting > firefox or iceweasel to use icedove is like falling off a log it's so easy. > I had it working on the Jessie on an hdd that just died on me > (thankfully not until I'd downloaded and made an install disk to install > on the other hdd, which I'm using now.) > But in my old age, I can't remember for the life of me how I did it. > I don't believe it was with update-alternatives. > I think I edited some config file somewhere, but for the life of me, I > can't recall where. Apparently the "correct" way to do this (as opposed to the easiest, which may be the one I linked you to in private mail but which will probably break if the relevant package is ever updated) involves fiddling around with xdg-email or xdg-open or the related suite of commands. Setting the default programs which those commands will use is apparently done via 'xdg-mime default', but I don't know what MIME type to tell it to configure in order to affect handling of mailto: URLs, and none of my digging so far has turned up anything useful. (There are a few search results which explain a way to do it assuming you're using the full GNOME graphical interface, including their settings dialogs, but that's not exactly a good or a portable solution.) -- The Wanderer The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Bernard Shaw
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