Shows "Chromium isn't your default browser" since 15.10.

[Alex N.]

Since the 15.10. upgrade Chromium shows on every launch "Chromium isn't your default browser", even when i select "Set as default" or "Don't ask again".

Chromium is set as default application for "Web" at System Settings -> Details -> Default Applications.

Version 45.0.2454.101 Ubuntu 15.10 (64-bit)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Saikrishna Arcot (saiarcot895)]

Same on KDE, so this is DE-independent.

[Chad Miller (cmiller)]

The problem is that the XDG utilities aren't written very well. If you have more that one action in a "desktop" file (as we do, for "new temporary profile" and "open an incognito window"), then it doesn't count desktop files right. I fixed upstream XDG, but need to include a local copy that we always use until it's fixed everywhere.

[Or Schiro (orschiro)]

Dear Chad,

Thanks for the fix!

> I fixed upstream XDG, but need to include a local copy that we always use until it's fixed everywhere.

What does this mean for the user? Does the user need to do anything other than waiting for the update?

Thankfully,

~ Robert

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[atti (spamtub)]

same on Lubuntu 15.10 (64bit)
Chrome Version 46.0.2490.86 (64-bit)

[Alex N. (a-nox)]

Problem was fixed for me after resetting my unity settings.

[Or Schiro (orschiro)]

Dear Alex,

Can you please describe briefly how you reset the unity settings?

Thankfully,

~ Robert

[Alex N. (a-nox)]

i should be more precise, i reset my gnome settings like this:
cd ~
rm -rf .gnome .gnome2 .gconf .gconfd .metacity

[Or Schiro (orschiro)]

Dear Alex,

Thanks for sharing! I thought there was a GUI setting somewhere that I had missed. :)

~ Robert

[Alex N. (a-nox)]

But beware, the above command will delete configuration files and you might have to reconfigure a lot of settings!

[NicDumZ (nicdumz)]

Would there be a way to provide a less destructive workaround than #9?

[Chad Miller (cmiller)]

Everyone experiencing this, please paste the result of this in a terminal:

$ apt-cache policy xdg-utils; grep http ~/.config/mimeapps.list
~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list

On Tue, Nov 24, 2015 at 2:41 AM, NicDumZ <email address hidden> wrote:

> Would there be a way to provide a less destructive workaround than #9?
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are a bug assignee.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1509139
>
> Title:
> Shows "Chromium isn't your default browser" since 15.10.
>
> Status in chromium-browser package in Ubuntu:
> Confirmed
> Status in xdg-utils package in Ubuntu:
> Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> Since the 15.10. upgrade Chromium shows on every launch "Chromium
> isn't your default browser", even when i select "Set as default" or
> "Don't ask again".
>
> Chromium is set as default application for "Web" at System Settings ->
> Details -> Default Applications.
>
> Version 45.0.2454.101 Ubuntu 15.10 (64-bit)
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
>
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/chromium-browser/+bug/1509139/+subscriptions
>

[Domain Administrator (493poc-ycm05-d18eca)]

$ apt-cache policy xdg-utils; grep http ~/.config/mimeapps.list
xdg-utils:
  Installed: 1.1.0~rc3+git20150907-1ubuntu2
  Candidate: 1.1.0~rc3+git20150907-1ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 1.1.0~rc3+git20150907-1ubuntu2 0
        500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ wily/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
grep: /home/xxxxx/.config/mimeapps.list: No such file or directory

NB I stopped reminders and don't get them but I cannot make Chromium the default browser in Chromium Settings

[Alex N. (a-nox)]

watch the newline, the testing command should be: "apt-cache policy xdg-utils; grep http ~/.config/mimeapps.list ~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list"

i dont experience this anymore, but here is my output anyway:

$ apt-cache policy xdg-utils; grep http ~/.config/mimeapps.list ~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list
xdg-utils:
  Installed: 1.1.0~rc3+git20150907-1ubuntu2
  Candidate: 1.1.0~rc3+git20150907-1ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 1.1.0~rc3+git20150907-1ubuntu2 0
        500 http://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/ubuntu/ wily/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
/home/xxx/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list:x-scheme-handler/http=chromium-browser.desktop
/home/xxx/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list:x-scheme-handler/https=chromium-browser.desktop
/home/xxx/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list:x-scheme-handler/https=chromium-browser.desktop;

[Andreas Brudin (andreas-brudin)]

I am experiencing this issue (Swedish package repositories):

$ apt-cache policy xdg-utils; grep http ~/.config/mimeapps.list ~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list
xdg-utils:
  Installed: 1.1.0~rc3+git20150907-1ubuntu2
  Candidate: 1.1.0~rc3+git20150907-1ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 1.1.0~rc3+git20150907-1ubuntu2 0
        500 http://ftp.lysator.liu.se/ubuntu/ wily/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
/home/xxx/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list:x-scheme-handler/http=google-chrome.desktop
/home/xxx/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list:x-scheme-handler/https=google-chrome.desktop

[Chad Miller (cmiller)]

Thanks, all. I have enough information now.

[Yanick Nedderhoff (yanicknedderhoff)]

The problem and a temporary workaround have been discussed here:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/688779/google-chrome-stable-keeps-asking-if-it-should-be-set-to-default

[Alex N. (a-nox)]

The suggested workaround disables the default browser check in Chrome. I think we should wait for a fix and not disable a useful feature.

[Yanick Nedderhoff (yanicknedderhoff)]

Yes, but until we have a fix, this removes the annoying message. That's why I said "temporary workaround".

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Boris Aranovich (nomaed)]

Happens on 14.04.01 as well, and has been happening for a while.

[Ron (shinazueli)]

The workaround at #19 does not work. You can edit the text file all day but as as soon as google-chrome starts up if overwrites the setting you just changed. 15.10.

[3vi1 (launchpad-net-eternaldusk)]

I can confirm what Ron says in #24. The workaround does not work with the current chrome stable release - it gets overwritten back to true shortly after restarting the browser (change was made after closing chrome).

[Yanick Nedderhoff (yanicknedderhoff)]

I can confirm that to. It used to work, and seems to continue to work if you don't reinstall chrome, but if you do, it automatically changes back to "true".

Btw, is there anything happening here at all?

[radoslaw (radoslaw-cz)]

Any working workaround?

[John (johnernaut)]

I'm having this exact issue as well.

[Tony (l-tony-w)]

I am hitting this issue too on a fresh 15.10 install, exactly as everyone else has described. This really needs to be triaged and looked at IMHO, although not a major issue it is a pretty poor experience.

[Dave Lyon (tuxrocket)]

Same here.

[Gustav Ekner (gustav-ekner)]

This seems to be fixed here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xdg-utils/+bug/1511154. But only for Xenial. Can it be patched to wily and other affected versions of Ubuntu?

[Nikita Unkovsky (niihelium)]

Chrome not only showing this notification, it also can't change default browser to itself.

[Tim Nolte (tim-nolte)]

Same as everyone else.

[Ryan Lux (alphalux)]

Gustav is correct. Editing the file /usr/bin/xdg-settings as described in the bug report has fixed the problem for me in 15.10. Perhaps this will help someone at least eliminate the annoyance for now.

The offending line for me is line #198
command="`grep -E "^Exec(\[[^]=]*])?=" "$file" | cut -d= -f 2- | sed -e 's/ .*$//'`"

rectified to:
command="`grep -E "^Exec(\[[^]=]*])?=" "$file" | cut -d= -f 2- | sed -e 's/ .*$//' | head -n 1`"

After making this change, you can set the default browser within the Chrome settings as Nikita mentioned, and it will succeed.

[Richard (rpbaptist)]

I can confirm this worked for me. Thanks!

[Mario Beauchamp (k-mario-t)]

This has also worked for me. Thank you!!

[Brandon Taylor (dmn2004404)]

Fix has been proposed, but not yet committed.

[Andriy Podanenko (podarokua)]

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/chromium-browser/+bug/1509139/comments/34 fixed it for me
Thanks

[Alan Hoyle (alanh)]

#34 appears to have fixed it for me as well.

[tdtrung17693 (trungsuper)]

#34 worked for me too. Thanks!!

[Leo Iz (leo2002b)]

#34 fixed the problem. Thank you Ryan Lux!

[Fawad Raza (fwd079)]

The link:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/chromium-browser/+bug/1509139/comments/34

fixed for me too, thanks Ryan.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Zachary Rash (zcrash)]

#34 fixes the issue for me as well. Thanks for the workaround.

[Ross McLean (gast0r)]

Unfortunately #34 did not fix this for me. It seems it's worked for everyone else perfectly, so I'm a little confused.

[Brandon Taylor (dmn2004404)]

Works in Ubuntu but not Linux Mint.

[Dany (wonder)]

#34 not works in Linux Mint (the line 198 is not the same).

Also, I try with:
change lines #177 and #202 in the file /usr/bin/xdg-settings from

command="`grep -E "^Exec(\[[^]=]*])?=" "$file" | cut -d= -f 2- | first_word`"

to

command="`grep -E "^Exec(\[[^]=]*])?=" "$file" | cut -d= -f 2- | first_word | head -n 1`"

But also, not works in Linux Mint (18 KDE).

[Simotek (simotek)]

From any desktop / window manager using the fallback mechanisms (enlightenment, XMonad tested)

$ xdg-settings get default-web-browser
firefox.desktop
$ xdg-settings set default-web-browser chromium-browser.desktop
$ xdg-settings get default-web-browser
firefox.desktop

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 414 Oct 1 22:16 /usr/share/applications/chromium-browser.desktop

openSUSE Bug report: https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1004321

This issue is sitting somewhere on my todo list, but probably won't be looked at this week.

[Spam-martin-schulze (spam-martin-schulze)]

I am not sure if this should go here as well (please tell me whether I should open another bug for that).

I am running KDE5 on Arch Linux and cannot xdg-settings set default-web-browser either.

Running with XDG_UTILS_DEBUG_LEVEL=3 I obtained:

> $ xdg-settings set default-web-browser chromium-browser.desktop
> Running KDE trader query "text/html" mimetype and "Application" servicetype
> make_default_kde: No kde runtime detected
> make_default_generic chromium-browser.desktop text/html
> Updating /home/username/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list
> Running KDE trader query "text/html" mimetype and "Application" servicetype
> make_default_kde: No kde runtime detected
> make_default_generic userapp-Firefox-65I9HY.desktop text/html
> Updating /home/username/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list

I dug a bit deeper into this and noticed, that xdg-mime still has some parts which are not aware of KDE 5. I attached a patch which does some superficial fixes but it is not working although the output changed:

> $ xdg-settings set default-web-browser chromium.desktop
> Running KDE trader query "text/html" mimetype and "Application" servicetype
> make_default_kde chromium.desktop text/html
> Updating /home/username/.local/share/applications//mimeapps.list
> kbuildsycoca5 running...
> Reusing existing ksycoca
> Recreating ksycoca file ("/home/username/.cache/ksycoca5_de_<redacted>", version 303)
> Still in the time dict (i.e. deleted files) ("apps")
> Menu "applications-kmenuedit.menu" not found.
> Saving
> make_default_generic chromium.desktop text/html
> Updating /home/username/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list
> Running KDE trader query "text/html" mimetype and "Application" servicetype
> make_default_kde userapp-Firefox-65I9HY.desktop text/html
> Updating /home/username/.local/share/applications//mimeapps.list
> kbuildsycoca5 running...
> Reusing existing ksycoca
> Recreating ksycoca file ("/home/username/.cache/ksycoca5_de_<redacted>", version 303)
> Still in the time dict (i.e. deleted files) ("apps")
> Menu "applications-kmenuedit.menu" not found.
> Saving
> make_default_generic userapp-Firefox-65I9HY.desktop text/html
> Updating /home/username/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list

[Spam-martin-schulze (spam-martin-schulze)]

Created attachment 127764
The superficial patch for KDE 5 support

[Spam-martin-schulze (spam-martin-schulze)]

After having read https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Default_applications#XDG_standard I symlinked as follows:

> $ ln -s ~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list ~/.config/mimeapps.list

And it seems to work now. As can be seen from the logs, xdg-settings changed ~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list while xdg-mime query reads ~/.config/mimeapps.list via ktraderclient5.

[Simotek (simotek)]

I've tracked down the issue, not sure how to solve it yet, desktop_file_to_binary treats filenames with a - in the format vendor-app.desktop so it is searching for browser.desktop in the chromium directory and failing. If "-" shouldn't be allowed in the desktop file filename there is a large number of broken files on this openSUSE Tumbleweed system, if they are allowed then desktop_file_to_binary needs fixing, i'll raise this on the xdg mailing list

find -iname "*-*" [Mon Nov 7 14:01:25 ACDT 2016|0]
./YaST2/samba-server.desktop
./YaST2/services-manager.desktop
./YaST2/iscsi-client.desktop
./YaST2/relocation-server.desktop
./YaST2/virtualization-config.desktop
./YaST2/add-on.desktop
./YaST2/yast-language.desktop
./YaST2/samba-client.desktop
./YaST2/auth-client.desktop
./YaST2/ntp-client.desktop
./YaST2/http-server.desktop
./kde4/active-documentviewer_chm.desktop
./kde4/active-documentviewer_comicbook.desktop
./kde4/active-documentviewer_djvu.desktop
./kde4/active-documentviewer_dvi.desktop
./kde4/active-documentviewer_epub.desktop
./kde4/active-documentviewer_fax.desktop
./kde4/active-documentviewer_fb.desktop
./kde4/active-documentviewer_ghostview.desktop
./kde4/active-documentviewer_ooo.desktop
./kde4/active-documentviewer_pdf.desktop
./kde4/active-documentviewer_plucker.desktop
./kde4/active-documentviewer_tiff.desktop
./kde4/active-documentviewer_txt.desktop
./kde4/active-documentviewer_xps.desktop
./textmaker-free.desktop
./planmaker-free.desktop
./presentations-free.desktop
./gtk-recordmydesktop.desktop
./yast2-metapackage-handler-ymu.desktop
./yast2-metapackage-handler.desktop
./claudia-launcher.desktop
./projectM-jack.desktop
./git-gui.desktop
./simple-scan.desktop
./vivaldi-stable.desktop
./lxqt-config-powermanagement.desktop
./lxqt-config-session.desktop
./lxqt-hibernate.desktop
./lxqt-leave.desktop
./lxqt-lockscreen.desktop
./lxqt-logout.desktop
./lxqt-reboot.desktop
./lxqt-shutdown.desktop
./lxqt-suspend.desktop
./lxqt-config-notificationd.desktop
./lxqt-about.desktop
./lxqt-config-appearance.desktop
./lxqt-config-brightness.desktop
./lxqt-config-file-associations.desktop
./lxqt-config-input.desktop
./lxqt-config-locale.desktop
./lxqt-config-monitor.desktop
./lxqt-config.desktop
./lxqt-config-globalkeyshortcuts.desktop
./pcmanfm-qt-desktop-pref.desktop
./pcmanfm-qt.desktop
./chromium-bsu.desktop
./gnome-mimeapps.list
./pavucontrol-qt.desktop
./notification-daemon.desktop
./gnome-calculator.desktop
./geoclue-where-am-i.desktop
./gpk-prefs.desktop
./bluetooth-sendto.desktop
./uget-gtk.desktop
./gcr-prompter.desktop
./mount-archive.desktop
./nautilus-autorun-software.desktop
./nautilus-classic.desktop
./gcm-calibrate.desktop
./gcm-import.desktop
./gcm-picker.desktop
./gcr-viewer.desktop
./lximage-qt-screenshot.desktop
./lximage-qt.desktop
./ibus-setup.desktop
./xscreensaver-properties.desktop
./exo-file-manager.desktop
./exo-mail-reader.desktop
./exo-preferred-applications.desktop
./exo-terminal-emulator.desktop
./exo-web-browser.desktop
./itweb-settings.desktop
./xfce4-power-manager-settings.desktop
./xfce4-about.desktop
./xfce4-screenshooter.desktop
./claws-mail.deskto...

[Rex Dieter (rdieter)]

According to the xdg specs (and my understanding), use of the vendor prefix means that

foo/bar.desktop
foo-bar.desktop

should be treated as equivalent. This code probably should too.

[Rex Dieter (rdieter)]

Sorry, so .... in short , use of - in filenames *should* be ok (and allowed)

[Simotek (simotek)]

Ok i'll patch desktop_file_to_binary to search for /usr/share/applications/foo-bar.desktop after its searched for /usr/share/applications/foo/bar.desktop (As an example)

[Simotek (simotek)]

Turns out the issue I was seeing was a regression in my fix for https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=44163 that never got upstreamed, i'll leave this ticket open as the kde patch is separate to this.

[Lehel (gladia2r)]

FYI, I made this work in Linux Mint 18 KDE by replacing the following line in /usr/bin/xdg-mime

 1000 # KTRADER=`which ktraderclient${KDE_SESSION_VERSION} 2> /dev/null`
 1001 KTRADER=`which ktraderclient 2> /dev/null`

It likely has to do with Plasma 5 and some greps.

 $ ktraderclient5 -v
ktraderclient 5.6.5

 $ ktraderclient -v
Qt: 4.8.7
KDE Development Platform: 4.14.16
KTraderClient: 0.0

Chromimum was able to set itself default after the change, and wont complain any more.

I see open Bug ref. with xdg-utils: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=98562 (hopefully they'll fix this for good some time)

[Rex Dieter (rdieter)]

fyi, applied fixes from bug #44163 now, any news/update here?

[leross (ross-moussouni)]

xdg-utils:
  Installed: 1.1.0~rc3+git20150907-1ubuntu2
  Candidate: 1.1.0~rc3+git20150907-1ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 1.1.0~rc3+git20150907-1ubuntu2 0
        500 http://ca.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ wily/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
x-scheme-handler/http=google-chrome.desktop
x-scheme-handler/https=google-chrome.desktop
x-scheme-handler/https=google-chrome.desktop;

[rtimai (rtimai)]

Chad, I don't agree that "the XDG utilities aren't written very well." The problem is that there's little agreement between both applications and platforms on how defaults are detected, and the script is doing its best to accommodate all the scenarios that cause issues. I believe I have tried EVERY fix (short of installing testing versions from PPAs of XDG-utils and Chromium) and Chromium STILL doesn't know that it's the default browser.

~$ apt-cache policy xdg-utils; grep http ~/.config/mimeapps.list ~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list
xdg-utils:
  Installed: 1.1.0~rc1+git20111210-7.4
  Candidate: 1.1.0~rc1+git20111210-7.4
  Version table:
 *** 1.1.0~rc1+git20111210-7.4 0
        500 http://httpredir.debian.org/debian/ jessie/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
/home/USERNAME/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list:x-scheme-handler/http=chromium.desktop
/home/USERNAME/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list:x-scheme-handler/https=chromium.desktop

~$ uname -a
Linux debian 3.16.0-4-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.16.43-2 (2017-04-30) x86_64 GNU/Linux

~$ lsb_release -d
Description: Debian GNU/Linux 8.8 (jessie)

~$ apt-cache policy chromium
chromium:
  Installed: 57.0.2987.98-1~deb8u1
  Candidate: 57.0.2987.98-1~deb8u1
  Version table:
 *** 57.0.2987.98-1~deb8u1 0
        500 http://httpredir.debian.org/debian/ jessie/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

/usr/bin/xdg-settings:
198# command="`grep -E "^Exec(\[[^]=]*])?=" "$file" | cut -d= -f 2- | first_word`"
199 command="`grep -E "^Exec(\[[^]=]*])?=" "$file" | cut -d= -f 2- | first_word | head -n 1`"
200# command="`grep -E "^Exec(\[[^]=]*])?=" "$file" | cut -d= -f 2- | sed -e 's/ .*$//' | head -n 1`"

Each line uncommented in turn with no change in chrome://settings: "Chromium is not currently your default browser."

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

@rtimai: this is an ubuntu bug, and you appear to be running chromium on debian. You’ll want to report that bug in the debian bug tracker. The issue might be very similar, and a fix might apply to both versions, but the chromium packages in debian and ubuntu are not identical, so issues need to be tracked separately.

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

If I read the report correctly, the issue was fixed in xdg-utils in xenial. Wily has been EOL for almost a year, so I am closing the bug.

[rtimai (rtimai)]

@osomon [re #51]: Thanks for your response, nice to see someone's paying attention. I have a feeling that this issue is not occurring with most users in Gnome 3 on Debian, and I AM because of a combination of pre-existing conditions (I installed Dave Steele's Gnome-Gmail (from his PPA) so that mailto links open my Gmail account in Chromium. Plus, the Ubuntu forums always show a LOT more activity. Debian-stable (Jessie) repos are always several version behind in many packages. I suppose I'll wait patiently for this to resolve in time. Thanks again for your comment.

[MR Zenwiz (mrzenwiz)]

xdg-utils is not fixed in xenial- this problem still occurs on bionic.

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

@mrzenwiz: is this the original problem, as quoted here:

 « Chromium shows on every launch "Chromium isn't your default browser", even when i select "Set as default" or "Don't ask again".

Chromium is set as default application for "Web" at System Settings -> Details -> Default Applications. »

or a separate issue?

[xChris (cs-.)]

Kubuntu 18.04 and still the bug occurs here!

[xChris (cs-.)]

Looks like f*ck-up when another browser (eg. firefox) is installed too.
I removed the other browser (firefox) and the chrome does not complain anymore.

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

xChris: glad to know that you found a way to make the problem go away, but this isn't a proper fix and I'd like to get to the bottom of the issue. If you reinstall firefox, does the problem re-appear? If so, can you share the output of the following command, run in a terminal:

    xdg-settings get default-web-browser

[Gitlab-migration (gitlab-migration)]

-- GitLab Migration Automatic Message --

This bug has been migrated to freedesktop.org's GitLab instance and has been closed from further activity.

You can subscribe and participate further through the new bug through this link to our GitLab instance: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xdg/xdg-utils/issues/99.