Firefox cant cope with default browser setting

[Kyromaster]

Binary package hint: firefox

In edgy, when I let firefox check whether its the default browser, it always issues at start that its not the default browser, even if I set it to be the default browser.

[Chris Burgan (cburgan)]

Thanks for the report.

However, I can't reproduce this error at all, was there a time where Firefox wasn't your default browser? Do you even have/use other browsers? Any steps you can give to make this reproducible would really help in figuring out the source of this bug.

[Kyromaster (kyromaster)]

Firefox is always my default browser. Strange, I can reproduce this every time, when I tell firefox to check the check always fails even if I set it the default browser.

[Chris Burgan (cburgan)]

That's really strange, well I'm going to have to move it back to unconfirmed for now. Hopefully we can shed some light on why this might happen so it can be corrected in the future.

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

Can you try running "sudo update-alternatives --config x-www-browser" and than see if it keeps it as default without asking you.

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

Hi,

what desktop environment are you using?

What steps do you take to enable that firefox tries to set itself as default browser?

[Hilario J. Montoliu (hjmf) (hmontoliu)]

Thank you for the bug report however this report lacks information we need to investigate it further. For this reason, we are now going to close the bug - please feel free to reopen when you have more information at hand.

Further information can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MozillaTeam/Bugs

[amadeov (amadeo3d)]

I am using Ubuntu Edgy Eft 6.10 and have this EXACT SAME PROBLEM. I cannot do anything to make Firefox not ask me if it is my default browser each time (besides unchecking the box for that behavior). I have tried the "sudo update-alternatives --config x-www-browser" suggestion and the terminal informs me that it is the only program that provides web browsing. When I go to System --> Preferences --> Preferred Applications, the following is listed in the box for "Command" under "Web Browser": " /usr/lib/firefox-2.0/firefox "%s" ". When I change that to firefox "%s", it changes it back when I reload my browser and tell it that yes, indeed, it is the default browser, AGAIN.

Any ideas?

[amadeov (amadeo3d)]

I am now running Ubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04 and still have the same problem. I am currently trying to reinstall Firefox using "sudo aptitude reinstall firefox" at the terminal. I have no idea whether this will do anything. I am also unable to get the Java plugin working... and I am starting to wonder if the two are related?

[Fabio Ornellas (fabio-ornellas)]

I found the problem in 7.04. Here it is:

GNOME settings: set Firefox as default, sets the command line to

firefox %s

Firefox does not recognize this string as the default browser, so it sets up:

/usr/lib/firefox/firefox "%s"

as the default browser. However, this is broken, not only due to lack of integration with GNOME. With Firefox's setting, ubuntu-bug breaks. If I call it with Firefox settings, the folloing URL fails to be opened:

file:///home/fabio/%22https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+filebug/3ZJdXVjcYM2DH4kDR7Is7BHgz5e?%22

It works fine with GNOME setting, not containing the local path leading the URL. Some way, calling Firefox by /usr/lib/firefox/firefox breaks opening URLs on the command line.

Also, GNOME settings for Firefox to open in new window and new tab are broken. When one of this is set

firefox -remote "openurl(%s,new-window)"
firefox -remote "openurl(%s,new-tab)"

No new Firefox is opened. It only works if a Firefox is already running. For new tab and no Firefox opened, this error comes to the console:

Error: No running window found

The temporary solution is to use GNOME's setting with no new window / new tab option and hack Firefox settings to get the desired behavior.