Simple File Info

A small POSIX shell script that shows a rich, human‑readable report about one or more files. It aggregates metadata from common CLI tools (mimetype, file, exiftool, mediainfo, gio) and displays the result in a GUI dialog (yad, zenity, Xdialog, xmessage, gxmessage) or prints it to stdout.

Works great with lightweight file managers that lack a built‑in “Properties / detailed metadata” view. A desktop file is included so that file managers can expose “Open With → Simple File Info”.

• Shell: pure POSIX sh (tested on ksh “The Original AT&T Korn Shell”)
• Lint: passes shellcheck -s sh
• No hard dependencies; it uses whatever tools you have installed

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Features

• Collects file information from:
  • MimeInfo DB via mimetype
  • file database (file -i and description)
  • exiftool (rich metadata for many file types)
  • mediainfo (audio/video metadata, some image metadata)
  • gio info (GIO/GVFS attributes)
• Shows the combined report in a GUI dialog using the first available backend:
  • gxmessage, yad, Xdialog, zenity, xmessage (in that default order)
• CLI mode to print reports to stdout
• Automatic tool detection with per‑tool overrides via environment variables
• Desktop integration (Open With)

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Installation

1. Copy the script somewhere in your PATH and make it executable:

   # system-wide:
   install -m 0755 simple-file-info /usr/local/bin/
   # or per-user:
   cp simple-file-info ~/.local/bin/simple-file-info && chmod +x ~/.local/bin/simple-file-info

2. Optional: install the provided .desktop file for “Open With” integration:

   # system-wide:
   simple-file-info --desktop-entry > /usr/local/share/applications/simple-file-info.desktop
   # or per-user:
   simple-file-info --desktop-entry > ~/.local/share/applications/simple-file-info.desktop

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Usage

simple-file-info [command] files...

Commands:

• --show-report Show a GUI window with the report for each file (default if no command is given)
• --print-report Print the report to stdout
• --show-help Show the help text in a GUI window
• --help Print the help text to stdout and exit
• --version Print program version and exit
• --license Print license text and exit
• --check-tools Print a diagnostic report about external tools
• --desktop-entry Print the contents of the built-in desktop entry.

Examples:

# Open a GUI report window for one file
simple-file-info --show-report ./movie.mkv

# Open multiple windows (one per file)
simple-file-info file1.jpg file2.mp4 file3.pdf

# Print to stdout (no GUI required)
simple-file-info --print-report ./photo.jpg

# Troubleshoot detection of tools
simple-file-info --check-tools

Note:

• When multiple files are given with --show-report, the script opens one window per file.

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Configuration

You can control which reporting tools and which dialog backends are used, and in what order.

• Reporting tools (defaults):

  SIMPLE_FILE_INFO_REPORT_TOOLS='MIMETYPE FILE EXIFTOOL MEDIAINFO GIO'
  

• Dialog backends (defaults):

  SIMPLE_FILE_INFO_DIALOG_TOOLS='GXMESSAGE YAD XDIALOG ZENITY XMESSAGE'
  

Override the order or disable a tool by adjusting environment variables before running the script:

# Prefer YAD, then ZENITY, then fall back to GXMESSAGE
export SIMPLE_FILE_INFO_DIALOG_TOOLS='YAD ZENITY GXMESSAGE'

# Use only file(1) and exiftool for the report
export SIMPLE_FILE_INFO_REPORT_TOOLS='FILE EXIFTOOL'

Each tool is controlled by a few environment variables:

• Command name/path: MIMETYPE, FILE, EXIFTOOL, MEDIAINFO, GIO, YAD, ZENITY, XDIALOG, XMESSAGE, GXMESSAGE
• Version check option: <TOOL>_VEROPT (e.g. EXIFTOOL_VEROPT=-ver)
• Expected exit code of the version check (rarely needed): <TOOL>_VEROPT_EXIT_CODE
• You can also force-disable a tool by setting <TOOL>_ENABLED=f (or force-enable with t)

Examples:

# Point to a non-default exiftool binary
export EXIFTOOL=/opt/exiftool/bin/exiftool

# YAD reports its version with a non-zero exit; this is already handled by default:
# export YAD_VEROPT=--version
# export YAD_VEROPT_EXIT_CODE=252

# Completely disable mediainfo
export MEDIAINFO_ENABLED=f

The script will only include sections for tools that are detected and successfully run.

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Compatibility

• Tested on Arch Linux with “The Original AT&T Korn Shell” (http://kornshell.org/)
• Should run on any POSIX‑compliant sh
• Linted with shellcheck -s sh

GUI mode requires at least one dialog backend (gxmessage, yad, Xdialog, zenity, xmessage). CLI mode (--print-report) requires none of those.

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Known limitations and backend quirks

• YAD
  • Does not choose a sensible default window size/position
• ZENITY
  • Does not choose a sensible default window size/position
  • Cannot change the window icon
  • GNOME look & feel may not match the intended style
• Xdialog
  • --fixed-font may not work on some systems
  • May show on the “primary” monitor instead of the one with the active window
  • Cannot change the window icon
• xmessage
  • No CLIPBOARD copy support (PRIMARY only)
  • Cannot change the window icon
  • No line wrapping for long lines
  • No Unicode support
• gxmessage
  • Cannot change the window icon

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Roadmap / TODO

• User‑defined custom action buttons in the dialog
• Pluggable, user‑defined report handlers inside generate_report
• Smarter window sizing and positioning for yad/zenity

Contributions are welcome!

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License

See LICENSE for details.

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