--- a/libinterp/corefcn/sysdep.cc
+++ b/libinterp/corefcn/sysdep.cc
@@ -178,36 +178,49 @@
 
   command_editor::prefer_env_winsize (true);
 }
+
+static bool
+w32_shell_execute (const std::string& file)
+{
+}
 #endif
 
-DEFUN (__w32_shell_execute__, args, ,
+DEFUN (open_with_system_app, args, ,
            "-*- texinfo -*-\n\
 @deftypefn {Loadable Function} {} __w32_shell_execute__ (@var{file})\n\
 Undocumented internal function.\n\
 @end deftypefn")
 {
-  bool retval = false;
+  octave_value retval;
 
-#if defined (__WIN32__) && ! defined (_POSIX_VERSION)
   if (args.length () == 1)
     {
       std::string file = args(0).string_value ();
 
       if (! error_state)
         {
-          HINSTANCE status = ShellExecute (0, 0, file.c_str (), 0, 0, SW_SHOWNORMAL);
+#if defined (__WIN32__) && ! defined (_POSIX_VERSION)
+          HINSTANCE status = ShellExecute (0, 0, file.c_str (), 0, 0,
+                                           SW_SHOWNORMAL);
 
           // ShellExecute returns a value greater than 32 if successful.
           retval = (reinterpret_cast<ptrdiff_t> (status) > 32);
+#else
+          octave_value_list tmp
+            = Fsystem (ovl ("xdg-open " + file + " 2> /dev/null",
+                            false, "async"),
+                       1);
+
+          retval = (tmp(0).double_value () == 0);
+#endif
         }
       else
-        error ("__w32_shell_execute__: expecting argument to be a file name");
+        error ("open_with_system_app: expecting argument to be a file name");
     }
   else
     print_usage ();
-#endif
 
-  return octave_value (retval);
+  return retval;
 }
 
 #if defined (__MINGW32__)