Following .lnk files (Windows Shortcuts) in Ubuntu

Chapter 1 - The Exclamation
Chapter 2 - How I Discovered It
Chapter 3 - How it Works
Chapter 4 - Still Willing to Help with This Script


The Exclamation

USING .LNK FILES (Windows Shortcuts) IS BUILT INTO LUCID 10.04 (VIA WINE) AND NOBODY TOLD US !!!!! ARGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !!!!
:-)
:-)

Ok, that's not an "I'm mad" string of capitals; that's an "I'm relieved" (after about fifteen hours of work and searching) string of capitals. I just, on accident, figured out how this functionality is already built into Ubunut Lucid 10.04 and either it's not documented or it's too hard to find amongst the avenues that I've been chasing through.

How I Discovered It

One of the very first things I had tried a few days ago, on about the first hour that I was testing a BASH script with a new found Linux guru acquaintance, was to see if WINE could open up these .lnk files. Well that didn't work. I had even looked at the "Drives" tab in the "Configure WINE" options. However since I am still an Ubuntu and WINE newbie I guess "it" didn't click.

It wasn't until about the twelfth or thirteenth hour (over the course of about four days) in troubleshooting the workings of this sym2lnk script that I stumbled back through the "Drives" tab in the "Configure WINE" options. And partly for the sake of troubleshooting and partly out of a sense of nostalgia I set my external drive as the target for it's old 'windows' drive letter "G:\" in aforementioned "Drives" tab.

How it Works

Well that didn't help the script any. However what I just discovered (a couple of troubleshooting hours later) is that I had inadvertently fixed WINE's apparent built ability to handle Window's shortcuts. Now I can follow a .LNK file with a "Right-Click" on it in Nautilus and select "Open with WINE Windows Program Loader" (which opens up the WINE file manager).


Still Willing to Help with This Script

If the author of the BASH Script is still willing to work on that script I will still be willing to help with the testing of the script that the thread (linked to above) is centered on for a couple of reasons. Namely I still see it would be useful for those that are having trouble with WINE or would, for various reasons, still want to have native Linux Symlinks for their files. Even after this BASH Script is working well I will very likely continue to see this through to other forums and get it working in Nautilus. Again I do see value in this little tool and think it's important to give back to the Linux community in some small way for all the cool free stuff that is allowing me to create a machine I am be productive on.

God bless !