launcher - a one-stop solution for mapping filenames to handlers using MIME types

launcher [--all] [--compressed] [--default] [--help] [--nowait] [--showtypes] [--type] [--version] filenames...

The launcher is intended to be invoked from a commandline or from any sort of program requiring application file handling facilities. It is a layer of indirection between any application and the helper applications required to open a particular file.

The launcher can be substituted anywhere a helper app would normally be deployed. Simply construct the commandline necessary to satisfy the behavior expected by the calling application.

The Launcher uses two methods to determine the type of files passed in on the commandline and then maps a defined handler (see below) to that file (or group of files). If more than one handler is defined for a given file type, a GUI window will be displayed allowing the user to choose which application to use.

The Launcher's primary config file (discussed below) may be edited using either a standard text editor or the GUI configurator which is installed as part of the Launcher package. This GUI can be called from the commandline as "launcherconfig" or may be invoked by clicking the third mouse button in the application selection GUI.

This basic mode of operation may be modified by using the options defined below when calling the launcher from a commandline.

--all

Send all same-type files to the same handler invocation if the configuration indicates that the handler can open multiple files. For instance, open all text/plain documents with the same copy of emacs. Note that not all helper apps support multiple files on their commandlines. If the defined app does not support multiple files, a separate instance will be launched for each file, regardless of the state of this flag. This option may be specified in the launcher.map file as a launcher directive. (see below)

--compressed

Peek inside compressed files to detect primary type using the file command's "-z" option. Note that this will return the internal type which will then be mapped to the handlers defined for that type. If your defined handlers do not read compressed data then this won't work very well. One option is to map compressed data reading handlers (like gv) to the compressed types as well as to their primary types. This can be used implicitly with the provided definition in the launcher mapfile called "Peek in compressed..." which will recursively call the launcher with the --compressed option for you.

--default

Surpress user queries and just use the default handler for each type. The default handler is the *first* one defined on any given type. This option may be specified in the launcher.map file as a launcher directive. (see below)

--help

Print out the usage message.

--nowait

Do not wait for each launched application to exit before continuing or exiting. Off by default. Some applications (i.e. Netscape) will delete temporary files when the helper app has exited. If the launcher returns immediately, the file in question may be deleted by the calling application before the handler has read it. This option may be specified in the launcher.map file as a launcher directive. (see below)

--showtypes

Print the name and MIME type of each file to stdout and exit without launching any handlers. This allows the launcher to be used as a generic MIME file typer.

--type mimetype

Force "mimetype" (of the form type/subtype) to the be type for all files specified on the commandline - bypasses all filetype tests. If "mimetype" is unrecognized business will proceed as usual.

--version

Print out the version and primary web address.

/etc/mime.types, /usr/share/misc/magic, /etc/magic, /etc/launcher.map ~/.mime.types, ~/.magic.mime, ~/.launcher.map

The launcher uses up to three files to determine file type and type/handler mappings. Personal user files override global system files. Only one mime.types or magic.mime file, personal or global, need be readable for the launcher to do its work. One launcher.map file is required.

mime.types

The mime.types file is a file extension to MIME type definition file. A copy should be included with the launcher distribution. A copy may also be obtained from the Apache web server distribution. Lines beginning with a "#" are comments. Entries follow the form:

magic

The magic file is a standard "file" command formatted magic numbers file. Instead of outputting the normal human readable, difficult to parse text, it returns MIME types when possible. No attempt will be made to document the format here. A copy should have been included with the launcher distribution. Other copies may be obtained from the Apache web server package or the KDE desktop environment package.

launcher.map

The launcher.map file is the one launcher-specific config file in the package. It is designed to be easily parseable by any utility wishing to have access to the enclosed type/handler mappings. Some of the launcher's commandline options may also be set in this file. They are differentiated from the rest of the data so that other utilities parsing this file may safely ignore them. This mapfile was also designed to overcome some limitations of the common metamail .mailcap file format. Lines beginning with a "#" are comments. All other entries begin with a keyword directive, and all otherwise unrecognized lines will be ignored by the launcher. All entries must appear one-per line with NO breaks within records. In the section below, a "\" is used to escape newlines for readability, but this is NOT NOT NOT a supported option inside the config file. the launcher.map file may be edited with a text editor or the "launcherconfig" GUI which is part of the Launcher distribution.

type/subtype	ext [ext] [ext...]
e.g.
image/jpeg	jpg jpeg jfif

Launcher options are set as follows:

Handler/helper application definitions are set as follows:

Type/Handler mapping entries are set as follows:

Ethan Gold <etgold@cs.columbia.edu>
http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~etgold/software/launcher/

Launcher version 0.85 May 31, 1999