diff -up Macaulay2-1.4-r12617/Macaulay2/m2/html.m2.xdg_open Macaulay2-1.4-r12617/Macaulay2/m2/html.m2
--- Macaulay2-1.4-r12617/Macaulay2/m2/html.m2.xdg_open	2010-10-25 17:23:21.000000000 -0500
+++ Macaulay2-1.4-r12617/Macaulay2/m2/html.m2	2011-01-14 14:03:28.173589110 -0600
@@ -1244,6 +1244,7 @@ chk := ret -> if ret != 0 then (
      error "external command failed"
      )
 browserMethods := hashTable {
+     "xdg open" => url -> {"xdg-open", url},
      "firefox" => url -> {"firefox", url},
      "open" => url -> {"open", url},
      "cygstart" => url -> {"cygstart", url},
@@ -1259,7 +1260,8 @@ show URL := x -> (
      else
      if version#"issue" === "Cygwin" then browser = "cygstart";
      if browser === "" then (
-	  if runnable "firefox" then browser = "firefox"
+	  if runnable "xdg-open" then browser = "xdg-open"
+	  else if runnable "firefox" then browser = "firefox"
 	  else if runnable "netscape" then browser = "netscape"
 	  else error "no browser found, and none specified in $WWWBROWSER"
 	  );