How To Install xdg-utils on Ubuntu

Posted on April 1, 2023  (Last modified on May 20, 2023 )

3 minutes  • 431 words

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install xdg-utils on Ubuntu.

What is xdg-utils

xdg-utils is:

xdg-utils contains utilities for integrating applications with the desktop environment, regardless of which desktop environment is used.

The following utilities are included:

• xdg-desktop-menu - Install desktop menu items
• xdg-desktop-icon - Install icons on the user’s desktop
• xdg-email - Compose a new email in the user’s preferred email client, potentially with subject and other info filled in
• xdg-icon-resource - Install icon resources
• xdg-mime - Query and install MIME types and associations
• xdg-open - Open a URI in the user’s preferred application that handles the respective URI or file type
• xdg-screensaver - Enable, disable, or suspend the screensaver
• xdg-settings - Get or set the default web browser and URI handlers

There are three methods to install xdg-utils on Ubuntu. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install xdg-utils Using apt-get

Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install xdg-utils using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install xdg-utils

Install xdg-utils Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install xdg-utils using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install xdg-utils

Install xdg-utils Using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Ubuntu. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install xdg-utils using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install xdg-utils

How To Uninstall xdg-utils on Ubuntu

To uninstall only the xdg-utils package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove xdg-utils

Uninstall xdg-utils And Its Dependencies

To uninstall xdg-utils and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Ubuntu, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove xdg-utils

Remove xdg-utils Configurations and Data

To remove xdg-utils configuration and data from Ubuntu we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge xdg-utils

Remove xdg-utils configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove xdg-utils configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge xdg-utils

Dependencies

xdg-utils have the following dependencies:

References

• xdg-utils website

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install xdg-utils package on Ubuntu using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.