Visit Homepage link is non-functional

[Doug McMahon]

Nothing happens if clicked on. Additionally if one does right click > 'copy url' nothing is copied.
The only thing that appears correct is the tooltip when hovering over "Visit Homepage"

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.04
Package: synaptic 0.80~exp1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.8.0-17.27-generic 3.8.6
Uname: Linux 3.8.0-17-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.9.2-0ubuntu8
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Apr 14 12:52:37 2013
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-03-31 (13 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Alpha amd64 (20130318)
MarkForUpload: True
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: synaptic
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Ads20000 (ads20000)]

To clarify to others, it doesn't look like a hyperlink either. (i.e. not in blue and underlined)
Should be an easy fix for anyone who knows what they are doing.

[Robert Roth (evfool)]

Thanks for the report, I have investigated and fixed the Copy URL not working and the homepage not opening problems. The fixes should be available in the development version of ubuntu after the next release of synaptic.

[Simplehuman (simplehuman)]

Ubuntu 13.10 x64, the bug is still there

[Doug McMahon (mc3man)]

On 10/23/2013 02:34 AM, Corlija Vladimir wrote:
> Same as Dmitriy, here in Saucy 13.10 AMD64, 'Copy URL' doesn't seem to
> write to the clipboard and also left-clicking doesn't open the link,
> does nothing.
>
>
> ** Attachment added: "synaptic 0.80.2 'Copy URL' screenshot, on Xfce Saucy"
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/synaptic/+bug/1168915/+attachment/3888194/+files/Screenshot%20-%2010232013%20-%2008%3A30%3A42%20AM.png
>
This is fix committed, not released so 13.10 would still be affected
I've tried the fix & it works fine, would expect to see in 14.04

[Doug McMahon (mc3man)]

This is now working in 14.04 (0.80.4), though no mention in changelog of specifically fixing

[Doug McMahon (mc3man)]

Well, not completely fixed. Works fine if default browser is already open, if not then, at least in Firefox produces attached error

[antonioni (antonioni-rocha)]

In my 14.04 (updated) this problem continues. I have Firefox how the standard navigator, and Chrome installed, too. When I click in "Visit Homepage" link, nothing happens. (The other options, how "Get screenshot" and "Get Changelogs" works fine.)

[antonioni (antonioni-rocha)]

"Visit homepage" link don't work.

[Doug McMahon (mc3man)]

On 05/18/2014 12:17 AM, antonioni wrote:
> "Visit homepage" link don't work.
>
> ** Attachment added: "Video about '"Visit homepage" link don't work.'"
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/synaptic/+bug/1168915/+attachment/4114786/+files/out.ogv
>
As mentioned works fine here as long as the apt has a valid url for
"Homepage: ..." ( apt-cache show appname) & your default browser is
already open.

[Futur (fusionneur)]

workaround: drag and drop the "visit homepage" button into your browser

[PoxyPig (poxypig)]

This appears to be caused by the fact that synaptic usually insists on opening as root.
If I open synaptic from the menu it requires that I enter my admin password. The Visit Homepage link is there but does nothing. I can drag it to my open browser (as suggested above) where it works.
When I open synaptic from a terminal it opens in user mode rather than root mode. The link then works fine.

[Roger (rifrelepeg)]

Similar problem in Mint 17.x, only instead of doing nothing it puts up an error box that says "Failed to execute default Web Browser. Input/output error."

Apparently the problem is that it tries to launch Firefox under the regular user account but using the root environment.

[Mark Ramsell (mramsell2450)]

So what happens when Synaptic clicks on a link?

# change user to root
sudo su
# try to launch any WebBrowser
exo-open --launch WebBrowser
root@Computer:~# Running Firefox as root in a regular user's session is not supported. ($XAUTHORITY is /home/$USER/.Xauthority which is owned by insert_real_username_here.)

It doesn't work because screen access is not allowed. You can go through the trouble of gaining access to .Xauthority, a pain but possible, OR

# launch application with correct user, NOT root. Here's a link from Synaptic for 2048 game.
su -c 'exo-open --launch WebBrowser "https://github.com/xiaoyong/2048-Qt"' insert_real_username_here

That works. It will open a new browser or open an existing browser if it is the Default.

Don't delay, fix today. Of course it's a bit more complex cause you need to check $SUDO_USER if running with [ $UID -eq 0 ] and translate that to the appropriate code language.

[antonioni (antonioni-rocha)]

In Kubuntu 18.04 it works fine.

[Roger (rifrelepeg)]

In Mint Mate 19.1, problem still exists. "Visit Homepage" links *are* colored and underlined, but when you click on them you get error box "Profile Missing Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible."

If your firefox is already running before you run synaptic, then the problem doesn't occur. That is a workaround but not a fix.

Apparently the problem is what Mark says above (running firefox as wrong user)

[Julian Groß (juliangro)]

The issue is still occuring for me as well.
Running Linux Mint 19.2 with the Vivaldi browser as standard, clicking the "Visit Homepage" button does nothing. Copying the link with right click on the other hand works.
Also doesn't work if Vivaldi is already open.