Management of alternatives requires root privileges and, as you mentioned, affects every user of computer. Because of this, I think such a feature will not be implemented in xdg-utils. These programs are intended primarily for interacting with DE, not core system mechanisms.
** Changed in: xdg-utils (Ubuntu) Status: New => Opinion -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/425423 Title: xdg-open does not interact with /etc/alternatives To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xdg-utils/+bug/425423/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs