XFCE - can't set Vim as default text editor

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cosimone

XFCE - can't set Vim as default text editor

Post by cosimone »

Hi everyone, I am using Linux Mint 17 XFCE, and I have an annoying problem: I can't seem to get Vim to be the default text editor. Every time I double click on a file after setting "Vim" as default in the "Open with..." menu, I get an error: "Failed to execute child process "xterm" (No such file or directory)." This happens only if I double click: I can open the vile and edit it without problems if I run "vim (filename)" in the terminal. I had no problems in Cinnamon, why does this happen in XFCE? Any help will be appreciated.
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Flemur
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Re: XFCE - can't set Vim as default text editor

Post by Flemur »

What happens if you type in terminal:
$ xterm
? IOW, do you have xterm? IIRC, I had to install it.

I don't have vim, but use vi all the time, and just tried opening a text file thru thunar;
Open with -> other app -> "vi" made a vi process and created the .swp file, but no GUI!
Open with -> other app -> "xterm -e vi" opened an xterm with vi editing the file.
Please edit your original post title to include [SOLVED] if/when it is solved!
Your data and OS are backed up....right?
cosimone

Re: XFCE - can't set Vim as default text editor

Post by cosimone »

Well, of course i don't have it installed, I'm using the default xfce4-terminal, but I would like to avoid to install ANOTHER terminal just for the sake of using Vim, if possible! Isn't there any way to force Vim to use xfce4-terminal instead of xterm? Oh, and in case I didn't mention it, the problem happens only if I try to open a file by double clicking it, every other way (vim namefile, or NERDTree) works perfectly. Anyway, thank you for your reply!
shengchieh

Re: XFCE - can't set Vim as default text editor

Post by shengchieh »

Force the menueditor to open the text editor as

Code: Select all

xfce4-terminal --command vi
Sheng-Chieh
cosimone

Re: XFCE - can't set Vim as default text editor

Post by cosimone »

Nope, it still tries to use xterm... :(
shengchieh

Re: XFCE - can't set Vim as default text editor

Post by shengchieh »

Sorry for the delay (due to Thanksgiving). Open up a terminal and type

Code: Select all

xfce4-terminal --command vi
A new terminal running vi should pop up.

If so, something fishy w/ your menu editor. Leave text editor alone and use the menu editor to add a new one say, vi editor. And see what happens.
If not, what error mesage do you see?

Sheng-Chieh
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