x-www-browser, sensible-browser and gnome-www-browser don't use the default browser

[Thomas]

I set up firefox as my prefered web browser in gnome.

But x-www-browser and gnome-www-browser opens the "GNOME Web Browser" and not firefox.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: gnome (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-19.28-generic-pae 2.6.32.10+drm33.1
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-19-generic-pae i686
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia wl
Architecture: i386
Date: Tue Apr 13 20:15:13 2010
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Beta i386 (20100406.1)
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=de_DE.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: meta-gnome2

[Thibault Lemaitre (thibault.lemaitre)]

 gnome-default-applications-properties is part of gnome-control-center

[Thibault Lemaitre (thibault.lemaitre)]

I tried to reproduce this bug. I'm running Ubu 10.10 and I have Firefox and Chromium installed. Chromium installed after Firefox.

I first set the default web browser to Firefox with gnome-default-applications-properties.

Then I tried several command in relation with web browser.

Some of them opened the default browser I chose:
xdg-open http://ubuntu.com
gnome-open http://ubuntu.com

The others opened Chromium, that I didn't choose:
x-www-browser
gnome-www-browser
sensible-browser

The gnome-default-applications-properties should set all these command to the default web browser you selected in.

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

This isn't a bug in gnome-control-center. gnome-www-browser and x-www-browser use the dpkg alternatives system, which is a system configuration rather than a user setting.

[Thibault Lemaitre (thibault.lemaitre)]

Ok, it's not in gnome-control-center, but I find it's however a bug. In fact I think this affects many application, for example, the bug #718807 in wireshark or the Help of grass (for this one I'm sure they use x-www-browser).

I have not enough knowledge to link this bug to the good package.

Ah, and what about sensible-browser : the same than gnome-www-browser and x-www-browser?

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

Yes, it's the same issue for sensible-browser too.

This is a long-standing issue, and it is well known that the alternatives system sucks for this type of thing. The alternatives system is not a user-configurable preference, but is a system-wide preference that can only be configured by the root user. In an ideal world, applications shouldn't be using x-www-browser and gnome-www-browser at all, as there are other ways to do this

[Thibault Lemaitre (thibault.lemaitre)]

Ok, I understand it : applications should not use x-www-browser, gnome-www-browser or sensible-browser cause they are linked to the alternatives which are not editable by the nomal user and it's normal the applications which use that aren't linked to the preferred applications of the user.
So, to open an URL, these applications should use xdg-open or gnome-open?

[MestreLion (mestrelion)]

@Thibault: xdg-open, for sure, and for 2 main reasons:

- xdg-open is more portable: it chooses the most appropriate "open" command for your system, be it Gnome, KDE, LXDE, XFCE, etc, while gnome-open works only in gnome. In fact, in Gnome systems xdg-open used to end up calling gnome-open. So let it choose the suitable opener for you.

- gnome-open is deprecated, and was replaced by gvfs-open. A quick googling reveals https://live.gnome.org/LibgnomeMustDie , and also https://developer.pidgin.im/ticket/15556 offers some insight. xdg-open was updated a long time ago to use gvfs-open if it was available, and fallback to gnome-open for (really) old systems

Worth note that gvfs-open (and thereby xdg-open too) uses the xdg mime database system to choose an application based on mime-type handlers, which is the system used by Preferred Applications, so it respects the *user* preferences.