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IDProjectCategoryView StatusLast Update
0017707ScribusIntegrationpublic2025-12-09 18:56
Reporterzkeng Assigned To 
PrioritynormalSeverityfeatureReproducibilityalways
Status newResolutionopen 
PlatformLinuxOSDebianOS Version13 Trixie
Product Version1.6.4 
Summary0017707: Sane defaults for: File/Preferences/External Tools
Description'xdg-open' should be the default for the following External Tools on Linux installations of Scribus:
Image Processing Tool
Web Browser
PDF Viewer

xdg-open is a widely accepted standard to call installed apps known to open the specified file. It will also work with Flatpak installations of Scribus, in contrast to a command like 'gimp'.

Sane defaults is important in order to provide the best out-of-the-box experience for new users. Allot of experience i required in order to manually set-up the External Tools. This is especially true for Flatpak users, because most will experience that specifying a binary will "mysteriously" fail even if the binary exists and should open an installed application like Gimp.
Steps To ReproducePlace an image in a Scribus document. Right click the image and select 'Image/Edit Image'.
The user will not be offered to open and edit the image in a third party editor unless this has been correctly configured by the user.
TagsNo tags attached.
PatchNo

Activities

ale

2025-12-09 18:56

manager   ~0053361

Just tried on my Debian computer (never used xdg-open before...)

xdg-open a-file.png

opens firefox.

Not really what I want Scribus to do.

I also guess that xdg-open will not be installed (or exist) for windows and might not be there on mac neither (which probably "still" has a good open command).

Personally, ii don't let Scribus run programs on my behalf, but I see why it can be an interesting option for other people.

I would say, that there should be an optional setup step, when first starting Scribus, one of the steps should be to define the default programs to be started, and in such a step xdt-open and open (depending on the platform) could be an option.

This could be a nice task for somebody who knows a bit of C++ / Qt and wants to contribute something easy but not tiny to Scribus.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
2025-12-09 16:16 zkeng New Issue
2025-12-09 18:56 ale Note Added: 0053361