Users of Linux Mint or other GNU/Linux distributions that use MATE Desktop environment have surely encountered this problem where xdg-open does not work properly.

This is most often seen when using Chromium  browser and trying to open a downloaded file. Almost every time it fails to open the file with the right software. To fix this you have to fix xdg-open.

Here is a quick fix:

1. Go to Menu > Terminal
2. Enter gksu pluma /usr/bin/xdg-open
3. Search for detectDE(), then above this line else DE=””, insert a new line:

   elif [ x"$MATE_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID" != x"" ]; then DE=mate;
   

4. Search for open_gnome(), then after the section of open_gnome() {…}, insert a new section:

   open_mate()
   {
   if gvfs-open --help 2>/dev/null 1>&2; then
   gvfs-open "$1"
   else
   mate-open "$1"
   fi
   if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
   exit_success
   else
   exit_failure_operation_failed
   fi
   }
   

5. Search for this line case “$DE” in, and after this line, add a new section:

   mate)
   open_mate "$url"
   ;;
   

6. Save the file and retry the download links.