middlemouse.contentLoadURL resets to false

[Adam Funk]

Binary package hint: firefox

Every time I start Firefox 4, it resets the value of middlemouse.contentLoadURL, so I have to open about:config and manually change it for every session. This is a recurrence of a bug that has occurred in previous versions.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: firefox 4.0.1+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.11.04.3 [modified: usr/lib/firefox-4.0.1/omni.jar]
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic x86_64
Architecture: amd64
Date: Wed Jun 8 20:29:13 2011
ExecutablePath: /usr/lib/firefox-4.0.1/firefox-bin
FirefoxPackages:
 firefox 4.0.1+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.11.04.3
 flashplugin-installer 10.3.181.22ubuntu0.11.04.1
 adobe-flashplugin N/A
 icedtea-plugin N/A
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: firefox
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-06-08 (0 days ago)

[Adam Funk (a-funk)]

I even tried the extreme solution here and this value still gets reset to false every time.

http://shallowsky.com/blog/tech/web/firefox4-content-load.html

[Adam Funk (a-funk)]

The problem is still there in the 5.0+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.11.04.1 package.

[Ivo (78luphr0r-lannyu5gq-a811i2i3y)]

The problem seems to be caused by the Ubuntu Firefox Extensions. Disabling that addon (Tools -> Addons -> extensions; click disable) or removing the package altogether (sudo dpkg -P xul-ext-ubufox) fixed the problem for me.

[Adam Funk (a-funk)]

Disabling the Ubuntu Firefox Extensions add-on fixed the problem, and I haven't noticed anything else I use not working as a result of the change. Thanks!

Should this problem (overriding the user's middlemouse.contentLoadURL setting) be treated as a bug in the Ubuntu Firefox Extensions?

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

No, this a bug in firefox with the way that it handles default preferences that are overridden by an extension. It's also a duplicate of another bug somewhere

[jherazob (jherazob)]

Workaround:

The real package responsible for this is "xul-ext-ubufox", the direct descendant of "ubufox", the Ubuntu Firefox modifications. This is responsible for adding extensions via apt and many other ubutifications of Firefox. It can be safely removed.

But in case you prefer to keep it:
The file /usr/share/xul-ext/ubufox/defaults/preferences/ubuntu-mods.js is the one that keeps that particular preference. In xul-ext-ubufox 0.9.1-0ubuntu0 from Natty is in line 18, where it forcibly resets middlemouse.contentLoadURL to false.

So i just commented that line out and added one that set it to true:
pref("middlemouse.contentLoadURL", true);

Restart firefox and Bingo! it works again.

I'm looking for the preference that requires pasted links to be complete URLs with "http://" and all, which wasn't needed before, if you pasted something it tried it's best to load it, but until then this is at least something.

[Dave Gilbert (ubuntu-treblig)]

Low -> 'Bugs that affect a non-essential aspect and limited scope of the application'

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Harald Hannelius (harald-arcada)]

Still present in OneIRIC.

[Adam Funk (a-funk)]

About once a month or so, an upgrade (including the upgrade from natty to oneiric) switches Ubuntu Firefox Modifications back on in my add-ons list, and I have to disable it again and reset middlemouse.contentLoadURL to true.

Am I missing anything useful by having that add-on disabled?