Nautilus and .dat file type

[Norman Gaywood]

This is probably an upstream problem/feature, but anyway here goes.

Nautilus thinks that files that have an extension of .dat are mpeg
videos. That has got to be wrong.

Surely, nautilus should do more that use a file extension to determine
file type?

Is there a way I can change this behaviour for all users of the system?

I came across this problem during a class on the R statistical package.
They were all using gnome login sessions and no one could edit their
data files from nautilus because it thought they were MPEG videos!

-- 
Norman Gaywood, Systems Administrator
School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science
University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia

norm(a)turing.une.edu.au            Phone: [phone]
http://turing.une.edu.au/~norm    Fax:   [phone]

Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments.
See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html

[Alexandre Strube]

Em Qua, 2004-02-18 às 03:32, Norman Gaywood escreveu:
>  This is probably an upstream problem/feature, but anyway here goes.
>  Nautilus thinks that files that have an extension of .dat are mpeg
>  videos. That has got to be wrong.
>  Surely, nautilus should do more that use a file extension to determine
>  file type? 
It seems that nautilus relies on the output of "file" program to
determine what is the file type, not the extension.


-- 
[]s

Alexandre Ganso 
500 FOUR vermelha - Diretor Steel Goose Moto Group

[David L Norris]

On Wed, 2004-02-18 at 14:12, Alexandre Strube wrote:
>  Em Qua, 2004-02-18 às 03:32, Norman Gaywood escreveu:
>  > Surely, nautilus should do more that use a file extension to determine
>  > file type?
>  
>  It seems that nautilus relies on the output of "file" program to
>  determine what is the file type, not the extension. 
It is not specific to Nautilus.  Both file name and file contents are
used by gnome-vfs to determine the file type.  gnome-vfs uses a separate
database from the file command.  The file name should override the
content-based detection.

Preferences -> File types and programs

-- 
 David Norris
  http://www.webaugur.com/dave/
  ICQ - 412039

[Norman Gaywood]

On Wed, Feb 18, 2004 at 02:49:36PM +0000, David L Norris wrote:
>  On Wed, 2004-02-18 at 14:12, Alexandre Strube wrote:
>  > Em Qua, 2004-02-18 ??s 03:32, Norman Gaywood escreveu:
>  > > Surely, nautilus should do more that use a file extension to determine
>  > > file type?
>  > 
>  > It seems that nautilus relies on the output of "file" program to
>  > determine what is the file type, not the extension.
>  
>  It is not specific to Nautilus.  Both file name and file contents are
>  used by gnome-vfs to determine the file type.  gnome-vfs uses a separate
>  database from the file command. 
Yes, that is correct. nautilus does not use the file command. The file
command correctly recognizes the .dat files for what they are.

>                            The file name should override the
>  content-based detection. 
It should? Sounds like a mistake to me. File type based on a 
three character extension. Sounds like the "good-old-days". The file
name is for humans. Computers can look at the content.

So now because nautilus has hijacked .dat for MPEG, everyone who has
been using .dat to mean data files, since probably the 1960's, has to
rename their files.

>  Preferences -> File types and programs 
No. I've been there. I removed the .dat association under Video-MPEG
video. But there seems to be something deeper. nautilus still calls my
.dat files MPEG videos.

Even if that did work, how do I do this for ALL users of my system?

BTW, konqueror has no trouble with this. Classes start here is 2 weeks.
If I can't solve this, several hundred students get to use KDE before
gnome.

-- 
Norman Gaywood, Systems Administrator
School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science
University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia

norm(a)turing.une.edu.au            Phone: [phone]
http://turing.une.edu.au/~norm    Fax:   [phone]

Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments.
See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html

[Jonathan DeSena]

> > Preferences -> File types and programs
>  
>  No. I've been there. I removed the .dat association under Video-MPEG
>  video. But there seems to be something deeper. nautilus still calls my
>  .dat files MPEG videos. 
I had this problem, too. Solution for me was to remove .dat from Video AND
add it to Text section in Preferences -> File types and programs

Jon