To add a new MIME type to the database, an application must install a MIME type description file. A MIME type description file is an XML file that associates MIME types with file content sniffer information, and with file extensions and filename patterns.
The following is a sample MIME type description file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <mime-info xmlns='http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/shared-mime-info'> <mime-type type="image/png"> <comment>PNG image</comment> <comment xml:lang="de">PNG-Grafik</comment> : : : <magic priority="50> <match offset="0" type="string" value="\x89PNG" /> </magic> <glob pattern="*.png" /> </mime-type> </mime-info>
The elements in a MIME type description file are similar to the elements in the MIME database. For information about the elements in a MIME type description file, see Structure of the MIME Database.
After the application installs the MIME type description file, the application must execute the update-mime-database command to update the MIME database.