336797 - Default handler for attachments not always correct

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Thunderbird :: General, defect)

Description

[Anders Conbere]

There appear to be some issues with the choice of applications used to open attachements.

The example given in refrence bug [33677] was the default handler for word documents (.doc files).  Aparently they were being opened as text files as opposed to the proper handler being I assume Microsoft Word or Open Office.

Comment 1

[Ryan Flint [:rflint] (ping via IRC for reviews)]

See bug 336777 for the orignal report. Beltzner said he'd give reproducing this a shot, though I'm not sure whether or not the orignal report will produce any useful steps for reproducing what's supposedly going on here.

Comment 2

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

Thunderbird (Mozilla generally) handles attachments according to the MIME type of the attachment, which is set by the sending client.  Many clients, including Outlook & Outlook Express, often (always?) send these documents and many other types with the generic "application/octet-stream" MIME type, which means nothing but "this is binary data."  It is not feasible to allow the user to say "open files with application/octet-stream in Microsoft Word" because the file could be a JPEG or a PDF.  And because Mozilla is cross-platform, it is not feasible to use extensions as the primary determiner of a file's type.

This is the most common cause of problems of this type, by far.  Whether this is the problem encountered by Doctor Science in the other bug, I cannot say;
if he still has the original message he can check it.

With TB 1.5, under Windows, opening a file of type application/octet-stream, the extension *is* referred to as a backup; the appropriate application is looked up via the Windows registry.  I don't know if the Mac has a similar facility.

(With TB 2.0 (not yet in beta), under Windows at least, this has been changed to allow *only* Save To Disk (part of a "fix" for Firefox 2.0; xref TB bug 346332, Firefox bug 347230)).  But this could not be what original reporter ran into, as that change was not checked in until June and the other bug was opened in May.  Also, given the apparent impatience with unexpected software behavior, reporter probably was not using a pre-beta release of TB.)

Comment 3

[Gary Kwong [:gkw] [:nth10sd] (NOT official MoCo now)]

Reporter, does the issue still occur in the latest supported 2.0.0.x / Shredder trunk nightlies?

(1.5.0.x is now end-of-life and the latest supported 2.0.0.x is now 2.0.0.16)

Comment 4

[Joshua Cranmer [:jcranmer]]

RESO INCO per lack of response to previous comment. If you feel this change was made in error, please respond to the bug with your reasons why.