wrong command to view .odt files

I assume that the issue you're describing is that, when pressing F3 ("View") on an .odt document, instead of viewing its contents in ASCII, you get the odt2txt help.

The solution is a very small change in the file /etc/mc/mc.ext. Currently, lines 497-500 read:
# StarOffice 6 and OpenOffice.org formats
regex/\.(odt|ott|sxw|stw|ods|ots|sxc|stc|odp|otp|sxi|sti|odg|otg|sxd|std|odb|odf|sxm|odm|sxg)$
 Open=(ooffice %f &)
 View=%view{ascii} odt2txt

Change the last line to:
 View=%view{ascii} odt2txt %f
(i.e. simply add the "%f") to fix this. Will submit a patch now...

Thank you. "View=%view{ascii} odt2txt %f" work just fine.

Next I will paste current section of my /etc/mc/mc.ext because I think it's not just the "%f" issue. My file looks different from what you guessed. It's what I noticed before, mc points to the old utility and not to the new one's help. Not that this will make big difference but just to let you know.

Part of my original /etc/mc/mc.ext :

# StarOffice 6 and OpenOffice.org formats
regex/\.(odt|ott|sxw|stw|ods|ots|sxc|stc|odp|otp|sxi|sti|odg|otg|sxd|std|odb|odf|sxm|odm|sxg)$
 Open=(ooffice %f &)
 View=%view{ascii} unzip -p %f content.xml | o3totxt

Ops, just saw that patch deals with this - View=%view{ascii} unzip -p %f content.xml | o3totxt

Attached is a debdiff that includes Dimitrios's patch.

From #ubuntu-motu:

10:43 < iulian> bdmurray: Have you tested it?
10:44 < bdmurray> iulian: Yes, I built it and tested it and it
                  resolves the issue.
10:44 < iulian> bdmurray: OK, great, please upload.

This bug was fixed in the package mc - 2:4.6.2~git20080311-4ubuntu1

---------------
mc (2:4.6.2~git20080311-4ubuntu1) jaunty; urgency=low

  * modified patches/vfs/07_srpm_support.patch to actually view the file
    Thanks to Dimitrios Symeonidis for the patch. (LP: #333835)

 -- Brian Murray <email address hidden> Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:55:58 -0700