mailto link always attempts to open a fresh thunderbird instance

[Stuart Bishop]

Clicking on a mailto link in firefox will attempt to spawn a new instance of
Thunderbird even if it is already running. This of course fails because the
profile is locked.

[Brian Heung (bheung)]

Created an attachment (id=1404)
Gentoo Linux thunderbird startup bash script

This is the thunderbird script used in Gentoo Linux that might be adapted to
Ubuntu.

[Brian Heung (bheung)]

I attached an attachment that is the script that is used in Gentoo linux to
handle this problem. Also I think there is a *much* simplier script floating
around in the forums for this issue too.

[Dan (holmsand)]

Created an attachment (id=1991)
Patch for working /usr/bin/mozilla-thunderbird

There are two problems with /usr/bin/mozilla-thunderbird that causes this bug:

1. It uses the wrong application id (or whatever it is the mozilla folks call
this): Mozilla-Thunderbird instead of mozilla-thunderbird.

2. It doesn't respond to -mail, used by default (for some reason) in the
"Preferred Applications" thingy instead of -compose.

This tiny patch fixes both issues. It would be great if it could find its way
into Hoary.

[Matt MacLeod (mmacleod)]

If I make these changes the compose window launches successfully, but when I
send the e-mail or close the compose window thunderbird exits. This is on Breezy.

(Gecko:10598): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_widget_get_toplevel: assertion
`GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget)' failed

Is what appears in the terminal window of the original instance.

[Xavier Poinsard (xpoinsard)]

The patch works for me.
Couldn't it be integrated in the package ?

[Tollef Fog Heen (tfheen)]

*** Bug 16890 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Tollef Fog Heen (tfheen)]

mozilla-thunderbird (1.0.6-0ubuntu6) breezy; urgency=low

  * Apply patch to handle -mail correctly. Ubuntu #5703.
  * Add --enable-xinerama to the call to configure. Ubuntu #8125
  * Really apply patch from upstream to fix ISO 14755 compliance
    (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=269228 is the upstream
    bug). Ubuntu #11388.

 -- Tollef Fog Heen <email address hidden> Wed, 31 Aug 2005 12:57:56 +0200

[Peter Adolphs (dokphqwgucon)]

After upgrading to 1.0.7-0ubuntu05.04, the problem reappeared. Applying the
patch does not help since it is already included in 1.0.7-0ubuntu05.04. Please
reopen.

[Adam Conrad (adconrad)]

Dang, I think I accidentally dropped half of this patch on the last update to
breezy. I'll try to sneak in the 5-character fix in the next breezy update.
For now, it's easy enough (in breezy, not hoary, I suspect), to choose the GNOME
default mail app as Tbird, the click "custom" and change "-mail" to "-compose".

[Peter Adolphs (dokphqwgucon)]

The problem is still present in Breezy. Although the workaround suggested in
comment #9 works fine, it's still just a workaround...

[Matt MacLeod (mmacleod)]

Still present in Dapper, for that matter.

[Matt MacLeod (mmacleod)]

Thunderbird 1.5 is looking less and less likely in Dapper. Is it possible to get just this trivial-to-fix bug fixed on the 1.0.x series soon? The security fix version from Breezy has still not been superseded by any Dapper version, which is probably not a good thing for users either.

[Eric Feliksik (milouny)]

thunderbird 1.5 is in dapper now, and this issue seems to be fixed. (for related unfixed dapper-stuff, you can check bug 38730 )
If you think I am mistaken, please re-open.

[Dixuaf+firefox3 (dixuaf+firefox3)]

User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.2a1pre) Gecko/20090209 Minefield/3.2a1pre
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.2a1pre) Gecko/20090209 Minefield/3.2a1pre

This problem might very well be related to several others that have already been filed about the "mailto" functionality, although my setup seems to be more functional than most. As long as Thunderbird isn't running before I click on a "mailto" link, everything works perfectly - but if Thunderbird IS already running, I get a message that indicates that Firefox is trying (and failing) to open an entirely new instance of the program: "Thunderbird is already running, but is not responding" (Thunderbird remains responsive, by the way). I've tested this operation (using identical syntax where applicable) in the OS's pre-installed version of Firefox (3.0), and no such problem occurs, so this is definitely (a) not a Thunderbird issue, and (B) unique to the nightlies.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Open Thunderbird
2.Open Minefield
3.Find a webpage with a "mailto" address, and click on it.
Actual Results:
Minefield passes the "mailto" information in such a way that Thunderbird then tries to open a second, separate instance of itself.

Expected Results:
If Thunderbird is already open, it should be passed the "mailto" info in such a way that it can simply open a new "Compose" Window, instead of being forced to try to start a new instance of itself.

[komputes (komputes)]

I can confirm this, but I don't know how to change the status of the bug to confirmed on bugzilla. I have the exact same issue on Ubuntu 9.10 using Firefox 3.5.5 and Thunderbird 2.0.0.23.

This seems to be a recurring issue which gets fixed and then regresses to old behavior:
https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mozilla-thunderbird/+bug/12097

I think it also may have to do with mishandled upgrades. I think creating a new profile, or using the following workaround may work. https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox-3.0/+bug/222944/comments/3

[komputes (komputes)]

I have experienced this in Karmic with
thunderbird | 2.0.0.23+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu1
firefox | 3.5.5+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.9.10.1

Possible regression. Can anybody confirm?
Stuart, Adam, Please let me know if you would like me to create a new bug for this issue.

[Doctor Colossus (z-launchpad-doctorcolossus-e4ward-com)]

I'm experiencing this bug in Windows. The config parameter network.protocol-handler.app.mailto is not used by Firefox in Windows, and the Options->Applications dialog is too "user-friendly" to allow command-line arguments or textual paths -- the only two options are selecting apps from drop-down lists and finding them in a graphical file browser.

Any ideas? \-: Thanks in advance.

[oriolpont (oriolpont)]

I am also experiencing this bug in Karmic with updated thunderbird and firefox. I discovered that the problem is that I am running firefox with "--no-remote" option. It seems that this enables the environment variable MOZ_NO_REMOTE, which affects thunderbird also. Running thunderbird with "env -u MOZ_NO_REMOTE" solves the bug for me.
Actually, I find quite strange that this env variable is common to both programs, since they are completely independent processes and have independent profiles.

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

Can anyone confirm that new profile will fix it?

[Vseerror (vseerror)]

I've never seen this.

Is it a linux thing?

[komputes (komputes)]

Indeed this is a Linux issue Wayne, which is why it was reported for the "x86 Linux" platform.

[oriolpont (oriolpont)]

The bug is still present in Ubuntu when MOZ_NO_REMOTE variable is set (i.e., when you use multiple profiles).
The workaround #18 does not work anymore on Natty because "Preferred applications" are now hardcoded.

[Randell Jesup (randell1)]

Note: this is https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1084993 and applies to at least Windows and Linux.
The linkage via env vars is likely since both Thunderbird and Firefox are based on the same code

[Rjesup (rjesup)]

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 1084993 ***

[Frédéric Grosshans (fgrosshans)]

7 years later, I have this bug in Hirsute ! (or at least the same symptoms: I click on a mailto link and a window named “close Thunderbird” appears, with the message :
“Thunderbird is already running, but is not responding. To use Thunderbird, you must first close the existing Thunderbird process, restart your device, or use a different profile.”

Firefox version 89.0 (64bits)
Thunderbird version 78.8.1 (64 bits)