I occasionally need to know the names of programs. I asked here about “Run as Administrator” being added to the context menu (like in Windows), and the response was basically “can’t be easily done”. an example is if I wish to edit a config file it cannot be done without accessing the terminal. Knowing the name “gedit” is the real name of “text editor” is useful information in this use-case.

I am not afraid of the terminal, but I would never prefer it over a GUI. is there a way to find a program name/install location from right-clicking-details (or something)? So then I could open a terminal and “sudo programname”?

(As an aside, I prefer Linux overall, but every distro I’ve tried has a strong sense that if you’re using the GUI you don’t need or deserve admin controls. Program names in the menus are almost always different from their names in the terminal, and many what I would consider normal system settings, like the ability to act as an administrator, find where a program is installed are terminal only.)

This is Ubuntu with all the default stuff

EDIT: I always expect a degree of hostility and talking-down from the desktop Linux community, but the number of people in this thread telling me I am using my own computer that I bought with my own money in a way they don’t prefer while ignoring my question is just absurd and frankly should be deeply embarrassing for all of us. I have strongly defended the desktop Linux community for decades, but this experience has left a sour taste in my mouth.

Thank you to the few of you who tried to assist without judgement or assumptions.

EDIT: As usual, it can be easily done.

  • eshep
    1•13 days ago

    @flork Granted it’s listed in a mimeapps.list file, you should easily be able to pull the program name out of there by querying against the file in question’s mimetype.

    And while “can’t be easily done” may be generally true, don’t call it quits; some file managers may offer less “not easy” than others. Don’t end your customization exploration because the file manager you currently use can’t do what you want, try fiddlin round with some others. The process for each file manager is going to be different, and getting the name of the program for any filetype is also going to differ depending on the syntax required for altering each different file manager.