On 17.9.2013, at 22:21, Suvayu Ali <fatkasuvayu+linux@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> Some comments and a question.
> 
> On Tue, Sep 17, 2013 at 09:42:50PM +0200, Suvayu Ali wrote:
>> On Tue, Sep 17, 2013 at 09:34:34PM +0200, Carsten Dominik wrote:
>>> 
>>> On 17.9.2013, at 15:56, Suvayu Ali <fatkasuvayu+linux@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> I see the same problem.  But I think this might be an Emacs issue; I
>>>> can't open a pdf from dired either (with & on a pdf file).  However I
>>>> can open it if I execute a shell command: M-! xdg-open file.pdf RET.
>> 
>> It's strange though.  I'll try to investigate.
> 
> I can consistently repeat this outside of Org.  I am trying with
> `dired-do-shell-command'.
> 
> Steps:
> 1) (dired-do-shell-command "xdg-open" nil '("file.pdf")), the script
>   runs and opens the pdf file.
> 2) (dired-do-shell-command "xdg-open &" nil '("file.pdf")), this runs
>   the script too but the pdf is not opened.
> 
> (I know the scripts run because I turned on debugging in the scripts)
> 
> I'm assuming Org opens it asynchronously.  What lisp function does Org
> use?

Org used start-process-shell-command, and this happens in
org-open-file, which is called for links to a file in org-open-at-point.


>  A weekly related issue: when following links to pdf files, I have
> the same problem.  When following https links I have no issues, they
> open in my web browser as expected.  Does org use a similar mechanism
> when following links?

http and https links are followed using browse-url.

- Carsten

> 
> Any thoughts?
> 
> -- 
> Suvayu
> 
> Open source is the future. It sets us free.