Chad, I don't agree that "the XDG utilities aren't written very well." The problem is that there's little agreement between both applications and platforms on how defaults are detected, and the script is doing its best to accommodate all the scenarios that cause issues. I believe I have tried EVERY fix (short of installing testing versions from PPAs of XDG-utils and Chromium) and Chromium STILL doesn't know that it's the default browser.
~$ apt-cache policy xdg-utils; grep http ~/.config/mimeapps.list ~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list xdg-utils: Installed: 1.1.0~rc1+git20111210-7.4 Candidate: 1.1.0~rc1+git20111210-7.4 Version table: *** 1.1.0~rc1+git20111210-7.4 0 500 http://httpredir.debian.org/debian/ jessie/main amd64 Packages 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status /home/USERNAME/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list:x-scheme-handler/http=chromium.desktop /home/USERNAME/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list:x-scheme-handler/https=chromium.desktop ~$ uname -a Linux debian 3.16.0-4-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.16.43-2 (2017-04-30) x86_64 GNU/Linux ~$ lsb_release -d Description: Debian GNU/Linux 8.8 (jessie) ~$ apt-cache policy chromium chromium: Installed: 57.0.2987.98-1~deb8u1 Candidate: 57.0.2987.98-1~deb8u1 Version table: *** 57.0.2987.98-1~deb8u1 0 500 http://httpredir.debian.org/debian/ jessie/main amd64 Packages 500 http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates/main amd64 Packages 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status /usr/bin/xdg-settings: 198# command="`grep -E "^Exec(\[[^]=]*])?=" "$file" | cut -d= -f 2- | first_word`" 199 command="`grep -E "^Exec(\[[^]=]*])?=" "$file" | cut -d= -f 2- | first_word | head -n 1`" 200# command="`grep -E "^Exec(\[[^]=]*])?=" "$file" | cut -d= -f 2- | sed -e 's/ .*$//' | head -n 1`" Each line uncommented in turn with no change in chrome://settings: "Chromium is not currently your default browser." -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to xdg-utils in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1509139 Title: Shows "Chromium isn't your default browser" since 15.10. Status in Chromium Browser: New Status in Xdg-utils: Confirmed Status in chromium-browser package in Ubuntu: In Progress Status in google-chrome package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Status in google-chrome-beta package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Status in xdg-utils package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Bug description: Since the 15.10. upgrade Chromium shows on every launch "Chromium isn't your default browser", even when i select "Set as default" or "Don't ask again". Chromium is set as default application for "Web" at System Settings -> Details -> Default Applications. Version 45.0.2454.101 Ubuntu 15.10 (64-bit) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/chromium-browser/+bug/1509139/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp