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submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by tinkralge@programming.dev to c/linux@programming.dev

Before I go off an write something myself, many things we open from our apps are HTTP/S URLs and they go straight to the browser. On Android, it's possible to assign apps to certain domains. I know I could write a script to do the same in linux, but my question is if there is a solution that already does this.

For those who don't know how, here's a superuser page that explains how to handle custom protocols.

This is what I use for now to open videos directly in mpv instead of a browser

~/bin/open-http.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -eu
# install with `xdg-mime default http-handler.desktop x-scheme-handler/http`
#              `xdg-mime default http-handler.desktop x-scheme-handler/https`
# is https and supported by yt-dlp
if [[ "$1" == "https://"* ]] && yt-dlp --simulate "$1" ; then
    exec mpv "$1"
else
    librewolf "$1" 
fi

http-handler.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Comment=
Exec=~/bin/open-http.sh %u
MimeType=x-scheme-handler/https;
Name=HTTP Scheme Handler
NoDisplay=false
Path=
PrefersNonDefaultGPU=false
StartupNotify=true
Terminal=false
TerminalOptions=
Type=Application
X-KDE-SubstituteUID=false
X-KDE-Username=

A GUI or just config file would be great.

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[-] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

You can change the default apps in the default apps menu

To test you can run XDG-open on a URL or file

[-] davidgro@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

The important part (which is missing by default) is opening different apps for different domains in the same scheme (such as https)

this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2026
35 points (100.0% liked)

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