kde .desktop file link doesn't act like a link when opening files

[caesius]

Gidday, I've found a small problem with the way links are handled,

on my desktop there is a link to a HDD device mounted under /mnt/G. This works fine when I click on it on my desktop but when I am (for example) opening a file with Kaffeine, I can't click on these links on my desktop and have the "file open" dialogue follow them because they see them as actual .desktop files.

Is there a workaround? Short of creating a softlink I mean.

Cheers.

[graudeejs]

i think they are some sort of scripts....
do
less (some link)

[caesius]

Originally Posted by killasmurf86

i think they are some sort of scripts....
do
less (some link)

Yep, they're a text file. With all sort of info about the icon, what they execute etc etc.

What I want is KDE apps to follow them when opening files, not try and open the .desktop file itself.

[TerryP]

Use symbolic or hard links -- which will generally work in any application. The .desktop files are only of real use to programs that need such information, like application menus or desktop icons. If you are serious, perhaps trying playing with the type and file extension.


The only way a program can tell a symlink from the original file w/o examining the inode number, is probably via readlink()(2) anyway; but most programs (vim for example) will treat .desktop/.directory files as text files, not as 'shortcuts'.