bottles-opener is a CLI for linux that lets you double-click a file and have it open in its Windows program, inside its bottle. Works with FL Studio, Microsoft Office, Photoshop, Ableton and anything else you run through Bottles.

You install FL Studio in Bottles, double-click your .flp and... your file manager asks what an .flp is. This tool reads which files your Windows programs registered in their bottle - the same list Windows uses - teaches your system those types, gives them the program's icons and hands the file over the way Explorer would. One command and your files ✨just open✨ (like on windows).

How to use

Just run bottles-opener:

  Bottles Opener

  File opening                   ON

  Bottles                        package
  Programs found                 5 in 2 bottles
  File types                     .doc .docx .flp .fsc .fst .pptx .xlsx +31
  New programs                   ON
  Last applied                   2 minutes ago

  Double-click one of these files and it opens in its program.

  [1] Turn file opening on or off
  [2] Re-apply everything
  [3] File types
  [4] Programs
  [5] Settings
  [q] Quit

  >

Press [1] and you're done. [3] lists every file type and lets you pick what opens it:

  File types

  ▸ .docx     Word · Office                        double-click
    .flp      FL Studio · FL Studio                double-click
    .psd      Photoshop · Adobe                    Open With

double-click opens it. Open With only lists it in the right-click menu - that's what types get that already have an app on your system (.docx with LibreOffice), so nothing you picked gets taken away. Space switches.

[4] lists your programs; Enter edits their file types, so you can add any extension you like. Or without the menu:

bottles-opener add flp,fst "FL Studio"

How to install

From source (for now)

make
sudo make install
bottles-opener enable

No root? make install PREFIX=~/.local works too.

Needs bash, python3 with PyYAML and icoextract (Bottles needs both itself) and update-mime-database.

How it works

Which files: read from the bottle's registry, like Windows does (.flp → FL64.flp.26 → FL64.exe "%1"). Programs that registered nothing are matched against a built-in list: all of Office, FL Studio, Ableton, Cubase, Photoshop, Illustrator, Affinity, AutoCAD, SketchUp and more.
Unknown extensions (.flp, .msg, .als, ...) get a MIME type in ~/.local/share/mime/packages/bottles-opener.xml, named like in Windows ("FL Studio project file"). Where Linux means something else by an extension (.mpp is Musepack, .fst a tracker module) the file's signature tells them apart.
Icons: the file gets the icon Windows shows, pulled out of the program. A type your system already knows keeps its icon until the program is its default.
Opening: the path becomes the Windows path (Z:\home\you\song.flp), with the switches from the registry (Outlook /f, PowerPoint shows /s), started through bottles-cli with all your bottle's settings.
Flatpak Bottles: the file goes through the document portal first, like flatpak run --file-forwarding.

Everything written is recorded, so bottles-opener disable puts back exactly what was there. New programs are picked up by a systemd path unit; bottles-opener apply does the same by hand.

Why not just Bottles?

Bottles 67 has "File Associations" per program, but it rejects extensions your system doesn't know (so .flp, .msg, .als are "invalid"), passes Linux paths, doesn't know which program opens what and doesn't touch icons.

Commands

Command
`bottles-opener`	Interactive menu
`… enable`	Turn on, apply, start watching
`… disable`	Undo everything
`… apply`	Pick up new programs
`… apply --rebuild`	Redo from scratch
`… status`	What's set up
`… list`	All file types and what opens them
`… programs`	All programs and their file types
`… add <ext,...> <program> [bottle]`	Open file types with a program
`… remove <ext,...> [program]`	Stop opening file types

Building from source

make
sudo make install

Optionally needs msgfmt (gettext) and scdoc. Supports PREFIX and DESTDIR. make check runs syntax checks and shellcheck.

License

GPL-3.0-or-later.