I use Arch Linux, DWM, and Nemo. Before I installed Nemo, there was still some other file picker program that would open whenever a graphical application asks for a file (for example, picking a pfp on Discord or uploading a file to Catbox) but now nothing happen at all. Does anyone know what could have happened?
#Help setting nemo as default file manager under DWM (X11)
uncut chasm
cinder tangle
can you post your fetch pls?
cinder tangle
Just tell me your DE / WM then? Its DWM thats it?
uncut chasm
yeah
test
oh yay
i can still drag and drop so thats cool
but i dont think that would work for a lot of cases still
cinder tangle
Okay so from what I can read online, because Im like you I actually dont know its something called xdg-open that dictates that
Just to validate things so we dont break anything can you sudo pacman -Q | grep xdg for me and tell me what it returns?
uncut chasm
xdg-dbus-proxy 0.1.7-1
xdg-desktop-portal 1.20.4-1
xdg-desktop-portal-gtk 1.15.3-1
xdg-user-dirs 0.20-1
xdg-utils 1.2.1-2
hmm thanks
uncut chasm
im looking online if theres a way to like manually set it but im finding literally nothing
cinder tangle
If you type in terminal xdg-open does something open?
by something I mean your file manager
also I will need you to do
cd / && sudo find . -iname nemo.desktop
Hopefully that will find nemo (no pun intended)
uncut chasm
nemo is in ./usr/share/applications/nemo.desktop
now we just need to find dory
also i figured out how to check what xdg-open opens and it was something with kitty so i uninstalled kitty and it's nemo again, but it still doesn't open
cinder tangle
yes
cd /usr/share/applications/ && xdg-mime default nemo.desktop inode/directory
then you should be able to verify with xdg-mime query default inode/directory
if that dont work we gonna have to manually edit a config
Anyways I need to go shower rq, but we can keep probing after, I shouldnt have for long, maybe 10m afk or so
uncut chasm
hmm
cinder tangle
yes?
cinder tangle
when you query it says nemo.desktop but nothing happens
when you uhm, test with xdg-open
correct?
uncut chasm
oh no weirdly enough that works
but trying to add a file in discord or upload something to catbox doesnt
cinder tangle
okay yes, thats possible
You have to edit some configs for that, brb, if youre still up for it when Im back we can try and untangle this.
uncut chasm
no problem lol take your time
i completely understand, as an arch user who showers daily
im probably one of a kind
im going to try rebooting just in case 🙏
cinder tangle
okay Im back
cinder tangle
okay... so I cant find that much online so I asked gemini, which suggests nothing risky so we'll try it and worst case scenario it just wont work and we can easily revert the changes
So when you open file its some kind of launch menu where you type in your programs? For me its dmenu so Im assuming you have an app launcher installed?
From what I understand since you'd likely be launching apps via such launcher its technically running the command discord or firefox etc, so its zhs that is launching those under the hood so we'd edit your rc files so it points to gnome (nemo (GTK))
uncut chasm
So when you open file its some kind of launch menu where you type in your progra...
yeah i use dmenu too
cinder tangle
if you want a safe approach cd ~/ && cp -v .zshrc .zshrc.bak before we continue so you have a backup so you wont even need to edit shit if things breaks you can just delete the zshrc and rename the .bak one.
so lets make a bakup
uncut chasm
i made a backu
cinder tangle
echo 'export XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME' >> ~/.zshrc
echo 'export GTK_USE_PORTAL=1' >> ~/.zshrc
then to avoid rebooting
source ~/.zshrc
then retry discord I guess
cinder tangle
just to help me visualize can you show me the content of home?
ls -la ~/
uncut chasm
.
..
2026-04-25_22-05_1.png
2026-04-25_22-05_2.png
2026-04-25_22-05.png
.bash_history
.bash_logout
.bash_profile
.bashrc
.cache
.calc_history
.cargo
.config
d6e07ccdedb44f0a05348faa2e2084f2.webp?size=1024'
Desktop
Documents
.dotnet
Downloads
.emacs.d
.fehbg
Games -> /run/media/suwa/17656055-c071-4af7-9b2f-a01e6a3e7547/Games
.gnupg
.gradle
gta-keys.txt
.histfile
.i2pd
.icons
.local
Media
.mullvad
Music -> /run/media/suwa/17656055-c071-4af7-9b2f-a01e6a3e7547/Music
.npm
.nuget
.nv
.nvidia-settings-rc
.parallel
.pki
Projects
.pulse-cookie
.python_history
.simplex
.steam
.steampath -> /home/suwa/.steam/sdk32/steam
.steampid -> /home/suwa/.steam/steam.pid
Templates
.thunderbird
.var
.viminfo
.w3m
.wget-hsts
.wine
.Xauthority
.xinitrc
.yarn
.yarnrc
.zcompdump
.zshrc
.zshrc.bak
okay so you have a .xinitrc
cinder tangle
open .xinitrc and paste this on top
export GTK_USE_PORTAL=1```I think you'll have to reboot after to test the changes if its not too much trouble
uncut chasm
nope nothing happens
cinder tangle
dang
uncut chasm
yeah this is confusing
cinder tangle
can you echo $GTK_USE_PORTAL
does it returns anything?
likely even .xinitrc is being bypass, the final thing would be to edit mimelist
uncut chasm
can you `echo $GTK_USE_PORTAL`
it returns the number 1
cinder tangle
Hmm odd, do other app work well and its just discord being stubborn or... ?
Like does your browser or other app actually open nemo when needed?
we can try editing the mime list which is pretty much like we did with the other two configs or... otherwise the AI suggest drastic things which I tend to draw the line there when it comes to it, since AI will keep suggesting more and more system modification and right now its literally suggesting me to do some hacky shit with symlinks which Im not a fan of. The good news is those config edits we tried are easily reversible.
I'll leave it here since I will hop on my phone.
-
Manually set the list (Overwrites any weirdness)
echo "inode/directory=nemo.desktop" >> ~/.config/mimeapps.list -
Update the desktop database
update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications -
Update the mime database
update-mime-database ~/.local/share/mime
If even that dont work you can revert all 3 files
easily if you want to
~/.config/mimeapps.list
just remove the line inode/directory=nemo.desktop
In ~/.xinitrc
remove the lines
export GTK_USE_PORTAL=1```
and for .zshrc you can
`cd ~/ && rm -v .zshrc && mv .zshrc.bak .zshrc`Also dont give up, no promises but ALPHA probably knows how to fix this easily if that last fix dont work but he'll be AFK till tomorrow morning. He's always in #quick-questions helping out. I have a hunch he'll know better than me.
Help setting nemo as default file manager under DWM (X11)
cinder tangle
hasty vessel
uncut chasm
file choosers are hardcoded unfortunately
it was working flawlessly at first, so it is possible, it randomly broke though
that thread is six years out of date, also what do you think this means: "Firefox is GTK so you'll see the GTK file chooser. And in a Qt program you'll see the Qt file chooser."
hasty vessel
that thread is six years out of date, also what do you think this means: "Firefo...
firefox is a gtk program ie it uses a library known as gtk
a qt program is a program using a library called qt
hasty vessel
it was working flawlessly at first, so it is possible, it randomly broke though
which programs did you try it with?
i found here you need to set the environment variable GTK_USE_PORTAL=1
Reddit
uncut chasm
which programs did you try it with?
i use nemo as my primary fm and it worked out of the box (honestly i thought it wouldnt lol), before that it was just some generic file picker. im not exactly sure how firefox opens the file manager, but i always just kind of figured it worked the same way other out of firefox links worked, like magnet:// and such. all of those work exactly how they should though so i dont know
uncut chasm
i found [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/t8plmz/how_do_i_force_the_k...
i'll set this and relog real quick
uncut chasm
^ i forgot to respond but it did not work
hasty vessel
i use nemo as my primary fm and it worked out of the box (honestly i thought it ...
so, just firefox?
uncut chasm
so, just firefox?
no it happens with all programs
hasty vessel
no it happens with all programs
could you name the programs you tried it on?
uncut chasm
could you name the programs you tried it on?
it doesnt work anywhere
so like firefox, discord
hasty vessel
interesting
hasty vessel
@uncut chasm create the file ~/.config/xdg-desktop-portal/portals.conf and in it write [preferred] org.freedesktop.impl.portal.FileChooser=xapp