firefox attempts to open non-existent adobe acrobat reader

[joehill]

Binary package hint: firefox

Since upgrading to Intrepid, whenever I click on a link to download a PDF file, I get a message saying

"Could not launch Adobe Reader 8.1.2. Please make sure it exists in PATH variable in the environment. If the problem persists, please reinstall the application."

This happens at all the same sites that I am used to downloading PDFs from just by clicking on the link and specifying whether I want to save the file or open it with an application. Under my preferences in Firefox, I have it set to "always ask" what to do when downloading PDFs, and up until now that has always been what happened.

It could be that years ago I briefly had Adobe Acrobat installed, but I haven't seen any reference to it on my system for years. I've scoured my system and have been unable to find any reference to it in my personal profile or in the system-wide firefox settings.

In my view there are two problems here: 1) Firefox should not suddenly change how it decides to open files I download, apparently overriding the preferences set through the gui; and 2) rather than give me a fatal error message saying that some program could not be found, firefox should ask me if I want to open it some other way.

Thanks.

[Jens (jens.timmerman)]

I can confirm this bug on Intrepid.

Firefox alway's nicely asked what to do with a pdf file.

But now, after I installed adobe acrobat reader it opened pdf files in the browser without asking what to do.

After removing adobe acrobat reader it gives this error message every time I click on a link to a pdf file.

I noticed adobe reader is still in my plugins, after disabling this plugin everyting worked as expected again...

so, the bug is: the adobe reader plugin is still enabled after removing adobe reader from the system...

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

Firefox does not supply an acrobat anything since adobe refuses to release under a free license. please install acroread from partner repos in sources.list file

[Cezar (emperorcezar)]

Reverting invalid as the reported bug wasn't resolved. Only part of the issue is that Adobe Reader didn't open, the other part was that Firefox shouldn't just throw a fatal error when this occurs. While it maybe pertinent to push this bug upstream and mark it as such, I don't think it is to disregard the user unfriendly behavior of the error.

[Adolfo Jayme Barrientos (fitojb)]

This bug is way obsolete -- these days, firefox even ships its own pdf reader (after copying chromium... but that's another story). Closing.