browser.helperApps.defaultNoAsk.openFile is set to true by default

[John Vivirito]

browser.helperApps.defaultNoAsk.openFile is set to true by default. This stops the user being prompted whether she wants to "save or open" the download, and automatically uses "open" for .tar, .tar.gz, .zip and such like.

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

sorry for using gnome as the package but it wouldnt let me put anything else

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

ok if you change the value of the line browser.helperApps.defaultNoAsk.openFile
to true and restart firefox it will than work properly.

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

sorry that line/string is in about:config.

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

ok ignore the above fixes here is the fix for it.
open about:config in ff1.5 and scroll down to hte browser.helperApps.defaultNoAsk.openfile
ans set the value to false by double clicking it and restart firefox. no it should prompt you where to save it. sorry about all the time i tried that one just really tired here.

[Chris Moore (dooglus)]

This appears to be deliberate. According to the changelog:

> firefox (1.5.dfsg+1.5.0.1-1ubuntu4) dapper; urgency=low
>
> * Disable (by default) the `you have chosen to open' dialogue box;
> instead, we just take the default (which is to open with the
> application from the Gnome MIME database). This behaviour is
> controlled by browser.helperApps.defaultNoAsk.openFile.
>
> [...]
>
> -- Ian Jackson <email address hidden> Thu, 23 Feb 2006 14:44:42 +0000

Why would we want to remove the choice between opening and saving like this?

[Sitsofe Wheeler (sitsofe)]

It doesn't affect just archives. It's the difference between firefox (presumably) using its own mime handling and using GNOME's. This problem sounds like an unintended side effect (given that File Roller has a Save As menu option is this so bad if it always opens File Roller?)

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

its not that the way fileroller handles it its more of a preffence for me to use command line and its always good to ask where to save it using ff. if it defaults to /tmp people will get lost. well people that never used fileroller before like myself.

[Michael Hofmann (mh21)]

This setting can be exploited by javascript and therefore requires no user interaction. Now I'm just waiting for the next buffer overflow in file-roller...