File associations keep reverting

[kgeekworking]

When I upgraded to Kubuntu 15.04 / Plasma 5 my file associations were changed to different order.

For example .csv was previously set to open with Libreoffice Calc first and then Kate second. This got reversed so that csv files are defaulting to open with kate. I go into the system settings, change the order, and apply the changes, but it will only stay for some seemingly random period of time (few days) and then it will revert back. This happens with several different file types. It is really annoying. They will save for some period of time, so it would appear that something is going in and resetting them back.

Has anybody else seem similar?

[claydoh]

This is probably a file ownership or permissions problem on the file that stores this information - ~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list, or the folder that contains the file. The file could possibly just be corrupted.



If you right-click on the file or it's folder, the permissions and ownership should look like this. Do yours look similar?

[kgeekworking]

Permissions are fine. File is -rw-rw-r-- and my user account/group is the owner.

The only thing that is interesting is that the modify date is more than a month old. I have updated several times since this date and just tried again now. The last access date was this morning, so some component is reading the file. It would appear that the Plasma 5 system settings app is not updating this file. Did KDE5 move to a different file?

[claydoh]

Permissions are fine. File is -rw-rw-r-- and my user account/group is the owner.

The only thing that is interesting is that the modify date is more than a month old. I have updated several times since this date and just tried again now. The last access date was this morning, so some component is reading the file. It would appear that the Plasma 5 system settings app is not updating this file. Did KDE5 move to a different file?

No, ~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list is the standard Linux file for local mimetypes.
What about the permissions of folder(s) it is in?
You could try renaming or moving the file, which will revert you back to "stock", and you hopefully should be able to edit things to your liking again (probably after a fresh login)

[kgeekworking]

I renamed the file and rebooted. The system copied a default file into the folder. Permissions are not an issue because I can edit/delete the file from the command prompt.

Here is the strange thing. I appears as though Plasma 5 has different settings than the base system. My mimeapps.list file has csv default to Calc. If I go to Dolphin, right click, and select open with, the order is correct and matches the mimeapps.list file.

However, if I right click on the same file in Plasma 5's Folder View widget it will show the default as Kate. If I open system settings file associations it matches Plasma, but not Dolphin or mimeapps. Any changes that I make in the system settings are not saved and the mimeapps.list file is not touched (same timestamp).

[claydoh]

I don't even have a mimeapps.list on my bone stock testing setup, but my daily driver does - only edit I have done is set a different default browser.
I can't get it to exhibit your symptoms, though I do think that without deleting/rebuilding the cache after deleting the file, it well could be that KDE is writing the file back to disk from ram at logoff

[SeijiSensei]

I've had this experience on occasion, usually after an application has been updated. Some apps are not well-behaved and change the mimetype associations without warning. Handbrake is one example I know of, but I'm sure there are more.