Firefox ignores -height and -width options

[ed]

When launching Firefox I used:
/usr/bin/firefox -height 600 -width 800

This used to work in an older version of Firefox. But the options no longer have any effect for this version of Firefox running in Ubuntu 5.10.

This Firefox version always run with the windows size set by the last user and ignored the height and width options. Sometimes users may accidentally made the browser window size very small. I was relying on putting the width and height options in the launcher properties to ensure the browser size is reset every time its run. But this approach is now broken in this version.

[lexual (lexhider)]

Can confirm for firefox 1.4.99+1.5

[Jonathan Carter (jonathan)]

Can confirm for 1.5.0.3

Perhaps it's intentionally removed by upstream?

[Daniel Robitaille (robitaille)]

Still present in Edgy (Firefox 2).

[Matthew Campbell (mcc)]

Also can confirm still present in edgy with firefox 2. I would like to see this fixed.

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

does the MOZ_NO_REMOTE workaround in suggested in upstream bug (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=50201#c18) help?

[dvh (dusan-halicky)]

I confirm this, but it strangely sometimes work and sometimes don't. In most cases, it does'n work but when I close or open another firefox, it become to work and then continue to work. Then it randomly stop to work. I use this command:

firefox -chrome http://google.com/ -width 800 -height 600

[Jonathan Carter (jonathan)]

I confirm that this bug is still present in Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy).

Alexander, the MOZ_NO_REMOTE workaround seems to have no effect.

[Jim Rees (rees)]

User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9) Gecko/2008061015 Firefox/3.0
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9) Gecko/2008061015 Firefox/3.0

"firefox --help" lists the "height" and "width" command line options, which haven't worked in a decade and seem unlikely to work in the future (see bug #20573). These options should be removed.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Run "firefox --help"
Actual Results:
"height" and "width" command line options are listed

Expected Results:
These options should not be listed, and if given should be rejected

[Mkmelin+mozilla (mkmelin+mozilla)]

Created attachment 329327
proposed fix

Don't list -height and -width options in the help since they aren't working anyway.

[Gavin Sharp (gavin-sharp)]

Why don't they work? Is there a bug filed (bug 20573 is unrelated as far as I can tell)? Looking at http://bonsai.mozilla.org/cvsblame.cgi?file=mozilla/browser/components/nsBrowserContentHandler.js&rev=1.49&mark=626-632#621 I don't see offhand why they wouldn't.

[Mkmelin+mozilla (mkmelin+mozilla)]

I don't know why it doesn't work, but it doesn't and seeing the age of bug 50201 apparently haven't at least since 2000. I just retested it both in gnome and kde, they have no effect whatsoever.

In thunderbird i get "Warning: unrecognized command line flag -height".

[Gavin Sharp (gavin-sharp)]

Comment on attachment 329327
proposed fix

OK. I guess these should be handled in app-specific handlers anyways (and therefore added to their nsICommandLineHandler's helpInfo once they work there). Can you file bugs on Firefox and Thunderbird on fixing these? Bug 50201 should probably be turned into a SeaMonkey bug.

[iu1j4 (y0g1)]

Can confirm for firefox 3.0.1

[Mkmelin+mozilla (mkmelin+mozilla)]

Created follow-up bugs bug 450852 and bug 450853.

[Gavin Sharp (gavin-sharp)]

Magnus: so this is ready to land, right?

[Mkmelin+mozilla (mkmelin+mozilla)]

Yes, i've just be been away/busy. +no good tree when i'd have had the time to land it.

[Mkmelin+mozilla (mkmelin+mozilla)]

changeset: 18374:588b9a776ce8
http://hg.mozilla.org/index.cgi/mozilla-central/rev/588b9a776ce8

->FIXED

[Mkmelin+mozilla (mkmelin+mozilla)]

Removed the options from the dev pages. This was the earlier version:
http://developer.mozilla.org/index.php?title=En/Command_Line_Options&revision=20

[Ted (ted-l-wood)]

Confirmed still in Ubuntu 8.10 with Firefox 3.0.4.

If you run: "firefox -chrome http://google.com/ -width 800 -height 600" it will work. However, if you run, "firefox -width 800 -height 600" or "firefox http://google.com/ -width 800 -height 600" it will not work. Looks like it requires the -chrome argument to work properly.

[Basic (basicxp)]

Problem remains in both Ubuntu 9.04 and Windows on version 3.5.
I tried to run it with -chrome attribute, so I got a window with title (window name) beyond screen bounds!

[Micah Gersten (micahg)]

New Upstream Bug is to remove options from help menu

[Micah Gersten (micahg)]

Firefox 2 is EOL

[Micah Gersten (micahg)]

Firefox 3.0 is only receiving Security Updates and major bug fixes at this point.

[Micah Gersten (micahg)]

This was fixed with the initial release of Firefox 3.5
The options have been removed from the help information on the console.