1451756 - Bookmarks folder can't be set as Start Page

Status: NEW

(Firefox :: Settings UI, defect, P3)

Description

[Oana Botisan, Desktop QA]

[Affected versions]:
- Firefox 59.0.2
- beta 60.0b10
- Nightly 61.0a1

[Affected platforms]:
- Windows 10 x64
- Ubuntu 16.04 x64
- macOS 10.13

[Prerequisites]:
Have a few bookmarks in the same folder (e.g. "Other Bookmarks")

[Steps to reproduce]:
1. Go to about:preferences
2. From "When Firefox starts" section select "Show your home page"
3. From "Home page" section click on "Use Bookmarks..."
4. Select the folder (in this example "Other Bookmarks") and click OK

[Expected result]:
- The field above is populated with the sites that are in the chosen folder and separated by "|".
- When the browser is closed and reopened, the start pages are the ones from the chosen file, opened in different tabs.

[Actual result]:
- In the field about:blank appears.
- When the browser is closed and restarted, the start page is about:home. 

[Regression range]:
This is a really old regression. 
- last good build: 2011-02-13
- first bad build: 2011-0214

Comment 1

[Sam Foster [:sfoster] (he/him)]

I can only reproduce this following the STR to the letter and selecting the "Other Bookmarks" folder. However, on a new profile the "Other Bookmarks" is an empty folder, so "about:blank" is the expected result. If I select "Bookmarks Menu" > "Mozilla Firefox" - which has a few bookmarks in it - I get the expected results of each URL separated by a "pipe", and those pages opened up in new tabs next time I restart Firefox with this profile. 

I really appreciate the effort you must have gone to get the regression range and file this bug. Can you confirm my findings, or alternately add any more detail on how to reproduce this?

Comment 2

[Oana Botisan, Desktop QA]

I investigated more using beta 60.0b11 on Windows 10 x64.
It's true that if you select the "Mozilla Firefox" folder the issue is not reptoducing.

But I tried using other folders, just like "Bookmarks Toolbar", but I got the same behaviour, even if there were links saved in that folder. The issue reproduces even when you select the " Bookmarks Menu" folder (which contains the "Mozilla Firefox" folder).

On the other hand, when I created a folder and saved my bookmarks there, the issue didn't reproduce. 

My conclusion is that the problem is reproducible only with the main folders ("Bookmarks Menu", "Bookmarks Toolbar" and "Other Bookmarks"). If the folders are inside the main folders, the field is populated with the bookmarks' links.

Comment 3

[Oana Botisan, Desktop QA]

I think that this might be a relatively important issue considering the fact that the default folder where bookmarks are saved is "Other Bookmarks".