shared-mime-info-2.4p1

Many programs and desktops use the MIME system to represent the types of files. Frequently, it is necessary to work out the correct MIME type for a file. This is generally done by examining the file's name or contents, and looking up the correct MIME type in a database. For interoperability, it is useful for different programs to use the same database so that different programs agree on the type of a file, and new rules for determining the type apply to all programs. This specification attempts to unify the type-guessing systems currently in use by GNOME, KDE and ROX. Only the name-to-type and contents-to-type mappings are covered by this spec; other MIME type information, such as the default handler for a particular type, or the icon to use to display it in a file manager, are not covered since these are a matter of style. In addition, freedesktop.org provides a shared database in this format to avoid inconsistencies between desktops. This database has been created by converting the existing KDE and GNOME databases to the new format and merging them together.