Places menu FTP servers open in firefox-3.0 instead of nautilus

Bug #196202 reported by Paul Natsuo Kishimoto
14
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
firefox-3.0 (Ubuntu)
Won't Fix
Low
Unassigned
nautilus (Ubuntu)
Invalid
Low
Ubuntu Desktop Bugs

Bug Description

Binary package hint: firefox-3.0

Ubuntu 7.10
package version 3.0~b3~cvs20080101t1000+nobinonly-0ubuntu1~gutsy1 (gutsy-backports)

I have used "Places > Connect To Server..." into add several "FTP (with login)" servers. Before installing firefox-3.0, clicking these items opened Nautilus. After installing firefox-3.0, clicking these items in the GNOME Places menu opens Firefox.

Opening Nautilus by any method and double-clicking the servers in the "Places" sidebar works as before. Opening "network:///" in Nautilus and double-clicking the server in the main window works as before.

I also notice that typing "gnome-open ftp://example.com" in Terminal causes Firefox to open.

Revision history for this message
Paul Natsuo Kishimoto (khaeru) wrote :

Still experiencing this after upgrading to 8.04 and firefox 3.0~b5+nobinonly-0ubuntu3. In addition, clicking http:// and https:// URLs in Tomboy, Pidgin and other applications produces no result or "There was an error launching the default action command associated location".

It seems that when I installed the 3.0~b3 or ~b4 package, some configuration keys had been created:

khaeru@khaeru-desktop:~$ gconftool-2 -R /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/ftp
 needs_terminal = false
 command = /usr/lib/firefox-3.0-3.0b4/firefox-3.0 "%s"
 enabled = true
... with similar results for /chrome, /http and /https

Another user who had not installed the 3.0~b packages before upgrading from 7.10 to 8.04 reports that the /ftp and /chrome gconf directories don't exist, and that /http/command and /https/command are both (firefox "%s") (without parentheses). When I manually modified the gconf entries to match his configuration, the bug disappeared (i.e. Places menu FTP entries / gnome-open FTP URLs open in Nautilus; HTTP[S] URLs are clickable in Pidgin/Tomboy/etc.).

Revision history for this message
Anonym25712 (anonym25712) wrote :

I can confirm this. I edited the gconf entry to change from Firefox to Nautilus. IMO, places are specific to Nautilus and should be opened with Nautilus, even if the default FTP handler is not set to use it.

Revision history for this message
dfalk (dfalk) wrote :

Same thing happening here. I'm not sure if I would go so far as to say that places menu should use nautilus no matter what the default ftp handler is, but the bug as far as I'm concerned is that the ftp handler should have been nautilus in the first place. It just needs to be nautilus by default IMO

Revision history for this message
Brett Alton (brett-alton-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

Confirmed (and marking as so). I was about to submit a duplicate until I found this.

$ gconftool-2 -R /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/ftp
 needs_terminal = false
 command = /usr/bin/firefox %s
 enabled = true

Maybe this occurs after 'Preferred Applications > Internet > Web Browser' is set to Firefox? Did anyone else do this, even unknowingly? If so, Firefox should not be set for FTP accounts, or there should be a separate section for FTP under 'Preferred Applications > Internet'. My suggestion, anyway.

Workaround: Go to 'Places > Home Folder', select 'Bookmarks' in Nautilus and select your FTP bookmark.

Similar bugs: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/12183, https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+bug/24085

They were closed because they were marked as 'user preferences changed', however, I never changed Firefox to handle my FTP accounts or, if I did, as I stated above, I never meant to.

Revision history for this message
Brett Alton (brett-alton-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

Workaround from Sebastian Bacher in bug #12183 (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/12183):
$ mv ~/.gconf/desktop/gnome/url-handlers/ftp ~ && killall gconfd-2 && killall gnome-panel

Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

that's not a nautilus bug

Changed in nautilus:
assignee: nobody → desktop-bugs
importance: Undecided → Low
status: New → Invalid
Revision history for this message
John Vivirito (gnomefreak) wrote : Re: [Bug 196202] Re: Places menu FTP servers open in firefox-3.0 instead of nautilus

Sebastien Bacher wrote:
> that's not a nautilus bug
>
> ** Changed in: nautilus (Ubuntu)
> Importance: Undecided => Low
> Assignee: (unassigned) => Ubuntu Desktop Bugs (desktop-bugs)
> Status: New => Invalid
>
>
Im gonna mark this as a wishlist bug for now as it seems you dont want
Firefox to open FTP sites and would rather beable to choose what to open
it with. If this is wrong please let me know and we will see what can
happen than.

--
Sincerely Yours,
    John Vivirito

https://launchpad.net/~gnomefreak
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JohnVivirito
Linux User# 414246

Changed in firefox-3.0:
importance: Undecided → Wishlist
status: New → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
John Vivirito (gnomefreak) wrote :

Sebastien Bacher wrote:
> that's not a nautilus bug
>
> ** Changed in: nautilus (Ubuntu)
> Importance: Undecided => Low
> Assignee: (unassigned) => Ubuntu Desktop Bugs (desktop-bugs)
> Status: New => Invalid
>
>
Marked this bug as a wishlist bug due to it sounding like everyone would
rather have a choice on what app handles FTP sites. This is most likely
caused by FTP sites are websites and your default browser wants to open
it as it should. If i am wrong on what you are wanting to happen or
about what this bug represents please let me know and we will decide
what to do than.

--
Sincerely Yours,
    John Vivirito

https://launchpad.net/~gnomefreak
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JohnVivirito
Linux User# 414246

Revision history for this message
John Vivirito (gnomefreak) wrote :

Marked this bug as a wishlist bug due to it sounding like everyone would rather have a choice on what app handles FTP sites. This is most likely caused by FTP sites are websites and your default browser wants to open it as it should. If i am wrong on what you are wanting to happen or about what this bug represents please let me know and we will decide what to do than.

Revision history for this message
Paul Natsuo Kishimoto (khaeru) wrote :

I disagree. I didn't want the choice, nor do I think a choice is necessary; Nautilus is a sane and very functional default for FTP, especially since, as François said, all other Places menu items open with Nautilus. Managing remote and local files through the same *file manager* is one of the slickest aspects of using GNOME/Ubuntu. Nor are FTP servers websites.

I don't know much about packaging, but it appears to be a *bug* in the Firefox packages that caused the unexpected and unwanted change.

Revision history for this message
John Vivirito (gnomefreak) wrote :

Paul Kishimoto wrote:
> I disagree. I didn't want the choice, nor do I think a choice is
> necessary; Nautilus is a sane and very functional default for FTP,
> especially since, as François said, all other Places menu items open
> with Nautilus. Managing remote and local files through the same *file
> manager* is one of the slickest aspects of using GNOME/Ubuntu. Nor are
> FTP servers websites.
>
> I don't know much about packaging, but it appears to be a *bug* in the
> Firefox packages that caused the unexpected and unwanted change.
>
>
so instead of choice you just want nautilus to open FTP links?
I highly doubt its a bug since firefox is doing what it is expected to do.

--
Sincerely Yours,
    John Vivirito

https://launchpad.net/~gnomefreak
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JohnVivirito
Linux User# 414246

Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

you mean that firefox is writting this gconf value? that's broken behaviour and a bug

Revision history for this message
Paul Natsuo Kishimoto (khaeru) wrote :

Yes, I want Nautilus to just open FTP links.

The gconf keys I mentioned above appeared at some point, and they were causing the unexpected behaviour. I am suggesting that some script included in the Firefox *packages*, not Firefox itself, caused those keys to be inserted. Again, I don't know enough about packaging to fix this myself, but I *do* know that packages include files besides the ones that are installed; that some of these files are scripts; and that those scripts are run when a package is installed or removed.

As you say, Firefox, the browser, is "doing what it is expected to do" (when assigned as FTP URL handler). firefox-3.0, the package, version 3.0~b3~cvs20080101t1000+nobinonly-0ubuntu1~gutsy1, is NOT.

Changed in firefox-3.0:
status: Incomplete → New
Revision history for this message
Brett Alton (brett-alton-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

> you mean that firefox is writting this gconf value? that's broken behaviour and a bug
Yes Sabastian, you are correct. We just need to find out where/when/why Firefox does this.

My theory is that it occurs when you set 'Firefox' as the default 'Web Browser' (which FTP could be umbrella-ed under) in "System > Preferences > Preferred Applications". By default in Hardy Heron, Firefox is not selected (I don't think).

Revision history for this message
John Vivirito (gnomefreak) wrote :

brettalton wrote:
>> you mean that firefox is writting this gconf value? that's broken behaviour and a bug
>>
> Yes Sabastian, you are correct. We just need to find out where/when/why Firefox does this.
>
> My theory is that it occurs when you set 'Firefox' as the default 'Web
> Browser' (which FTP could be umbrella-ed under) in "System > Preferences
>
>> Preferred Applications". By default in Hardy Heron, Firefox is not
>>
> selected (I don't think).
>
>
Alexander can you please take a look at this bug when you get time
because i thought default browser opening an FTP site was normal not so
much a bug. Maybe we can add an update-alternative for FTP? <what app
should open it> this way people that use browser for FTP will still be
able to use them.

--
Sincerely Yours,
    John Vivirito

https://launchpad.net/~gnomefreak
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JohnVivirito
Linux User# 414246

Changed in firefox-3.0:
importance: Wishlist → Low
status: New → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Alexander Sack (asac) wrote :

Paul,

can you still reproduce this issue after removing the gconf keys?

Revision history for this message
John Vivirito (gnomefreak) wrote :

Ok Who added ftp handler to gconf? im assuming who ever added it meant for it to work this way. But after talking to Alexander he doesnt know who added it to gconf that makes me think that wasnt a mozilla packaging error but would need to know what package added it there and who the person was.
Its a very large package inventory and alot of people so not sure how to narrow this down. any suggestions would be helpful

Revision history for this message
Paul Natsuo Kishimoto (khaeru) wrote :

@Alexander: as I mentioned in comment #1, removing /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/ftp fixed the problem.

Revision history for this message
Brett Alton (brett-alton-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

@Paul:
I think he means: how does it get set to Firefox after the gconf value is empty? IE: when does this change occur? Because that is what we need to fix.

Revision history for this message
Shaun Crampton (fasaxc) wrote :

I did the following:

 - Ran "mv ~/.gconf/desktop/gnome/url-handlers/ftp ~ && killall gconfd-2 && killall gnome-panel"
 - Opened "Preferences > Preferred Applications"
 - Web browser was set to "Custom", I selected "Firefox" from the list
 - Closed the dialog.

The ftp folder did not reappear and opening ftp links opened in Nautilus not Firefox.

Revision history for this message
Paul Natsuo Kishimoto (khaeru) wrote :

I should note that I've since upgraded to hardy, and I'm not sure how to install the gutsy 3.0~b3 package in hardy (or find the .deb for that matter). Downgrading to the b5 package (from the release version) had no effect.

Revision history for this message
Shaun Crampton (fasaxc) wrote :

I'm running Hardy and it was a fresh install rather than an upgrade.

Revision history for this message
John Vivirito (gnomefreak) wrote :

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Paul Kishimoto wrote:
> I should note that I've since upgraded to hardy, and I'm not sure how to
> install the gutsy 3.0~b3 package in hardy (or find the .deb for that
> matter). Downgrading to the b5 package (from the release version) had no
> effect.
>
This isnt a great idea. Installing packages from Gutsy on Hardy can
only cause you problems. You can use what Shaun did and see if it
helps you until we can get to fix this.

- --
Sincerely Yours,
    John Vivirito

https://launchpad.net/~gnomefreak
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JohnVivirito
Linux User# 414246
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Revision history for this message
Alexander Sack (asac) wrote : Re: [Bug 196202] Re: Places menu FTP servers open in firefox-3.0 instead of nautilus

On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 01:30:30PM -0000, Paul Kishimoto wrote:
> @Alexander: as I mentioned in comment #1, removing /desktop/gnome/url-
> handlers/ftp fixed the problem.
>

firefox has a feature that makes itself a default handler. It usually
asks you before doing that. but you can select "dont ask me again" or
something as far as i remember.

 affects ubuntu/firefox-3.0
 status wontfix

 - Alexander

Changed in firefox-3.0:
status: Incomplete → Won't Fix
Revision history for this message
Brett Alton (brett-alton-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

I've never seen that dialogue pop up. Firefox taking over the FTP handler sort of "just happens". I'm sure there iis a certain point in time when it happens, but it definitely happens unknowingly to me; no dialogue box here.

Revision history for this message
dfalk (dfalk) wrote :

I agree with Brett. I never got a dialog either. Steps to reproduce:

1. Fresh install of hardy in my case
2. Set up an ftp site using Places > Connect to Server
3. Upgrade to Firefox 3.0 from beta
4. Observe no dialog.
5. Open up the FTP site that was set up in step 2. It opens in Firefox

This bug shouldn't be invalid unless you can complete the steps above without seeing the dialog or you can complete the steps without Firefox stealing the default.

On a side note, Firefox stealing the default for FTP, even if it asks if it wants to be the default browser, is confusing behavior when all you're doing is an upgrade through the update manager. I would never want firefox to be the default FTP handler, but I would definitely upgrade my browser if prompted to, and when asked if it should be default, I would even answer yes. Once it becomes the default FTP handler, there's no way to get it back to nautilus except through gconf. That is not good at all.

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