Re: [Evolution] How does evolution choose apps with which to open attachments?

[Adam Tauno Williams <awilliam whitemice org>]

On Thu, 2015-04-02 at 16:55 -0700, Jonathan Ryshpan wrote:
> Evolution gives me a different set of apps to open PDF attachments for
> different messages. 

This is part of GNOME, built on top of FreeDesktop standards.  To be
available to GNOME an application publishes and XDG Desktop file; in
that file it includes its name, category, icon, and the types of files
it can work with.

For example /usr/lib64/libreoffice/share/xdg/draw.desktop - 

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Terminal=false
Icon=libreoffice-draw
Type=Application
Categories=Office;FlowChart;Graphics;2DGraphics;VectorGraphics;X-Red-Hat-Base;X-MandrivaLinux-Office-Drawing;
Exec=libreoffice --draw %U
MimeType=application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.graphics;application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.graphics-flat-xml;application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.graphics-template;application/vnd.sun.xml.draw;application/vnd.sun.xml.draw.template;application/vnd.visio;application/x-wpg;application/vnd.corel-draw;application/vnd.ms-publisher;image/x-freehand;application/clarisworks;
Name=LibreOffice Draw
 ...

According to the XDG standard GNOME scans the desktop files and provides
you the appropriate application list.

> One thing NOT included among the "Other Applications" is acroread,

It possibly [likely?] does not include a desktop file.  You can easily
create one.

> As I wrote, these lists are different for PDF attachments contained in
> different emails.  How does evolution generate these lists?

Based off the MIME-type of the attachment.

> Is there any convenient way to change them?

Create .desktop files in ~/.local/share/applications/

-- 
Adam Tauno Williams <mailto:awilliam whitemice org> GPG D95ED383
Systems Administrator, Python Developer, LPI / NCLA