Ubuntu – How to globally set the default browser using KDE4

Execute the following command in terminal,to change the default browser.

sudo update-alternatives --config x-www-browser

Sample output:

karthick@Ubuntu-desktop:~$ sudo update-alternatives --config x-www-browser 
There are 3 choices for the alternative x-www-browser (providing /usr/bin/x-www-browser).

  Selection    Path                    Priority   Status
------------------------------------------------------------
  0            /usr/bin/google-chrome   200       auto mode
* 1            /usr/bin/firefox         40        manual mode
  2            /usr/bin/google-chrome   200       manual mode
  3            /usr/bin/opera           90        manual mode

• Press enter to keep the default[*].

• Right now I have firefox as my default web browser.

• If i want google-chrome as default browser then I will type 3 and hit enter.

Note:

• If you want to configure a commandline browser,then you have to configure

  sudo update-alternatives --config www-browser

• Alternate way is to add the following line export BROWSER=/usr/bin/firefox to your ~/.bashrc

• Add the above line in the last,

  

Alternative GUI Method:

• You can also set the default browser in Gnome applications,type the following in terminal and press Enter gnome-default-applications-properties
• It will Open a Window.Now you can choose your preferred browser to set it default.

Here's something that works:

#!/usr/bin/env python

import sys, commands

browsers = [
    "firefox",
    "google-chrome",
    "chromium-browser",
    "epiphany-browser",
]

done = False
ps = list(i.split()[10] for i in commands.getoutput("ps aux").split("\n")[1:])
for i in browsers:
    if any(j.endswith(i) or j.endswith(i+"-bin") for j in ps) and not done:
        commands.getoutput(i + " " + (" ".join(sys.argv[1:]
            if len(sys.argv) - 1 else "")))
        done = True

if not done:
    commands.getoutput(browsers[0]["cmd"] + " " + " ".join(sys.argv[1:]))

• Just re-order the list on top of the file any way you like, add and remove browsers. The command you enter will be whatever you would type in the command-line to start this browser.

• save this script somewhere, right click on it, go to properties → permissions and set executable. I recommend saving it in /home/<username>/.browser.

• Find the file (hit Ctrl+H to show hidden files), right click and select Properties, then go to Permissions and set Allow executing file as program.

• Go to System → Preferences → Preferred Applications, select Custom and type /home/<username>/.browser into the Command field.

The first browser that appears in the list and is running will be chosen to open the web site. If none of them is running, the first one will be opened.

I've tested this and it seems to work rather well, none the less, let me know if there are any errors in it. And it'd be cool if there was a method to do this that doesn't involve programming, this is just my peculiar solution.