1600153 - Two tabs are opened when clicking on external link

Status: REOPENED

(Core :: Widget: Cocoa, defect, P2)

Description

[blake]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.15; rv:70.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/70.0

Steps to reproduce:

Summary here - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250833674?answerId=251702252022#251702252022

Since upgrading to catalina macOS, firefox has the following annoying property. If I click on a link outside of firefox (e.g. in a mail message), two firefox windows are always opened. The first one is blank while the second one contains the webpage of the link.

I've tried this with a new/fresh user account under Catalina. Same results... two firefox windows still open up when clicking an email link or link on the desktop.

Actual results:

two firefox windows are always opened. The first one is blank while the second one contains the webpage of the link.

Expected results:

only one window should open. other browsers work just fine.

Comment 1

[blake]

Forgot to mention, this only happens when the Firefox application is not running.

Comment 2

[Florencia Di Ciocco, NI to vbalducci]

Hi Blake,

Thanks so much for the details. I was able to reproduce this bug on Mac Catalina on Release 70.0 (64-bit) but not on Nightly 72.0a1 (2019-12-02) (64-bit) nor Beta 71.0 (64-bit). Which means that this bug has already been resolved and it will eventually work on future Firefox Release versions.

Firefox Nightly is made by codes and fixes made by Mozilla developers, that are compiled into a common code repository (Mozilla-central) to create a pre-release version of Firefox for testing purposes. After the code on Nightly matures, it is merged into stabilization repositories (Beta, ESR and Dev Edition) where that code will be polished until reaching the final version of Firefox (Release).

I leave you the link with the Firefox Release Calendar (https://wiki.mozilla.org/Release_Management/Calendar). When Release reaches Beta's (tomorrow) actual version (71) you will no longer encounter the problem.

I’ll mark this ticket as resolved since once the natural cycle is complete you won't have this bug; but feel free to reopen it if you experience this behaviour in the future once the migration to Release has been made.

Best regards, Flor.

Comment 3

[blake]

Thank you Flor!

Comment 4

[blake]

Multiple users are seeing that Release 70.0 is still showing the issue. Can you please take a second look, and make sure this bug is taken care of for the next release?

Thanks,
Blake

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250833674?answerId=251702252022#251702252022

Comment 5

[JmRy]

Hello,

Under Catalina 10.15.1 (19B88), I just updated Firefox to version 71 and Firefox Developer 72.0b2 and the bug is still present.

If Firefox is not open, all clicks on an external link (email, desktop, etc.) always open 2 windows (1 empty and then one containing the link)

It should reopen this bug, thank you in advance

Cordialy

Comment 6

[JmRy]

Hello,

Under Catalina 10.15.1 (19B88), I just updated Firefox to version 71 and Firefox Developer 72.0b2 and the bug is still present.

If Firefox is not open, all clicks on an external link (email, desktop, etc.) always open 2 windows (1 empty and then one containing the link)

It should reopen this bug, thank you in advance

Cordialy

Comment 7

[Florencia Di Ciocco, NI to vbalducci]

Hi,

Thanks for the details. I apologize for the inconveniences, you are correct, I was able to reproduce the bug on Mac Catalina on the following versions:

Release 71.0 (64-bit) and Nightly 73.0a1 (2019-12-04) (64-bit).

Doing a Mozregression by hand I noticed that this issue was created by version 72.0a1, build ID 20191201093732.

I've chosen a component. If you consider that there's another component that's more proper for this case you may change it.

Best regards, Flor.

Comment 8

[JmRy]

Thank's Flor. ;-)

Comment 9

[Stephen A Pohl [:spohl]]

(In reply to Florencia Di Ciocco from comment #7)

Doing a Mozregression by hand I noticed that this issue was created by version 72.0a1, build ID 20191201093732.

Could you provide the URL to the regression range that mozregression returned for this?

Comment 10

[Florencia Di Ciocco, NI to vbalducci]

Hi Stephen,

I cannot provide the URL since this is a bug that only happens if FF is not running, therefore Mozregression cannot be done (that is why I had to do it manually.)

Regards, Flor.

Comment 11

[Stephen A Pohl [:spohl]]

I misunderstood your comment 7 and thought you had figured out a way of running mozregression in this instance.

This is most likely a duplicate of bug 1580799.

Comment 12

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

Bugbug thinks this bug is a regression, but please revert this change in case of error.

Comment 13

[blake]

Sorry, newbie here. What does " status-firefox71: affected → wontfix" mean?

Does this indicate that this bug will never be fixed?

Thanks,
Blake

Comment 14

[Stephen A Pohl [:spohl]]

It means that it will not be fixed in Firefox 71. For bugs that will never get fixed, the status (rather than the tracking flag) is set to CLOSED->WONTFIX.

Comment 15

[Brett]

Same issue with Firefox 72.0.1 on macOS 10.15.2. Do not see this issue on a similarly configured system running macOS 10.14. Hoping for a fix soon, very annoying behavior.

Comment 17

[Johannes Pfrang [:johnp]]

A colleague of mine who's experiencing this bug and I had a look at the code and found two possible sources of this bug:

• There is a possible race condition between setting up the event handlers and nsCommandLineServiceMac::sBuildingCommandLine, statically set to false and set to true in the startup path, which can lead to two cmdLines being created: one in the main process startup path and one in the openURL-call created by the event handler, where nsCommandLineServiceMac::AddURLToCurrentCommandLine returns false because SetupMacCommandLine hasn't been called from the main thread yet.
• openURL returns NO when the URL is added to the startup URLs. openFile returns YES in that case, which should be the correct return value, but I don't think it actually matters, since I don't see a caller that actually cares about the return value. I may have missed something, since I'm not familiar with the code.

I don't run macOS and don't have Objective-C++ experience, so I can't actually create a patch or test any of this.

Comment 18

[Johannes Pfrang [:johnp]]

After having had another look, the native event loop should not be running yet during the window for the aforementioned race condition, since it's started via XRE_mainRun which eventually calls nsAppShell:Run -> nsAppStartup::Run -> nsApp:Run, so this apparently can't be the cause :/

Comment 19

[blake]

I've noticed what might be another clue:

• In the background window (with no content - blank page), the macOS menu bar shows the normal "Firefox, File, Edit, View, History, ......."

• In the foreground window (with the target url content), the macOS menu bar ONLY shows "Firefox". There is no access to any of the Firefox dropdown menus.

Thanks,
Blake

Comment 20

[Cristian Fogel [:cfogel]]

(In reply to blake from comment #19)

I've noticed what might be another clue:

• In the background window (with no content - blank page), the macOS menu bar shows the normal "Firefox, File, Edit, View, History, ......."

• In the foreground window (with the target url content), the macOS menu bar ONLY shows "Firefox". There is no access to any of the Firefox dropdown menus.

Thanks,
Blake

This particular issue is tracked in 1603956.

Comment 21

[Jerry]

Thanks Pascal, wewait for firefox75.

I've also noticed the Firefire menu bar is only showing "Firefox" tab, if you hover the menu bar near "Firefox" you get a empty drop down menu without a header where File, edit, view.... should be.

Comment 22

[Jerry]

Attachment: emptyMenuTabs

Comment 25

[Jaanus Kase]

"me too". This keeps happening to me with Firefox 75.0, macOS 10.15.4.

With 74.0, it behaved with the menu labels missing as described in #1603956. With 75.0, the menu labels are fixed, but two windows still open. This is 100% reproducible for me.

Comment 26

[Ralph LERALE]

Hi,

I have the same issue. I'm under MacOS Catalina, 10.15.4.
Before upgrading to Catalina (I had Mojave before), there were no matters with Firefox.
Since the upgrade, 6 months ago, I have this problem with Firefox (actually in version 75).

I think I tried everything I could... but, noway, the issue is still there. If Firefox is not running, a click on an external link opens 2 windows. Otherwise, if Firefox is already running, the link is open in a new tab (normal function).

I'm desperate... :-(

Comment 27

[time2sit]

Ralph LERALE, there is nothing you can do as it is a FF problem and they know about it.

So many times last year I posted about this on numerous community boards. Finally, in January (I think) someone posted a reply saying it would be fixed with the FF upgrade in early February (I think it was Feb 7, 2020). That came and went and the problem still exits.

Why is FF not fixing this? Seems FF is telling those of us who use Macs & FF that we are not wanted or needed? And some of us have been using the FF browser since its beginning.

Not sure what to do. If anyone has any 'group' ideas for contacting FF please let me/us know?

Comment 28

[JmRy]

(In reply to time2sit from comment #27)

Why is FF not fixing this? Seems FF is telling those of us who use Macs & FF that we are not wanted or needed? And some of us have been using the FF browser since its beginning.

Yes it is heartbreaking ...

But I don't think mac users are forgotten.

I especially believe now that Firefox is losing a lot of users. It is even surpassed by Edge in users number. 8-/

So the Mozilla team has more urgent things to do than fix a bug they consider minor ... :(

Hope that with the new appointment of Mitchell Baker at the fondation head, we will see the difference! She wishes to refocus the team only on Firefox, so await the result ...

But please, not too long

Comment 29

[Ralph LERALE]

Firefox 76 installed today. Same issues. The problem still persists. I'm so disappointed !!!

Comment 30

[JmRy]

Also installed 76 version. Same as the result. This bug not fixed !

In my opinion, it will not be resolved for a long time, because in the Mozilla team nobody is assigned to correct it !!

:-(

Comment 31

[Ralph LERALE]

OK.
Does someone know how to inform Mozilla's people for this issue ?
I used Firefox since a very long time and I'm not ready to switch on another one...

Comment 32

[JmRy]

(In reply to Ralph LERALE from comment #31)

Does someone know how to inform Mozilla's people for this issue ?

They know that this bug exists -> https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/buglist.cgi?f1=cf_status_firefox_esr68&o1=equals&v1=fix-optional

Also read the comments https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1600153#c2
and my comment https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1600153#c28

Comment 33

[time2sit]

Yes, they know. They, mozilla/firefox, just do not care about Apple users. I've been dealing with and letting them know for months now, maybe a year or more. They know. They do not care. I'm disgusted and while I do not like safari am now just 'assuming' that mozilla has a back room deal with apple and they may be doing this and getting a pile of money from apple to 'force' many of us to leave FF.

Comment 34

[Stephen A Pohl [:spohl]]

Please refrain from posting any more "me-too" comments. I have taken a look at this bug and the most promising approach is to rework the way we handle external links by not appending them to a "command line", but rather leverage our session restore mechanism in some shape or form. I have other important work to wrap up and will then take another look at this.

Comment 35

[Jerry]

Comment on attachment 9130219 [details]
emptyMenuTabs

Menu Tabs returned in FF update 75, but 75 and 76 did not fix 2 windows opening from external source (apple mail)
also Apple update 10.15.4 did not fix 2 windows. Safari works great.

Comment 36

[time2sit]

Then close the thread? Sound as tho you are a big bugzilla boss so surely you can do that if you do NOT want our posts?

I was one of the first posters of this problem to sites & boards & communities a long time ago. I even have email communications from them re this. THEY DO NOT CARE.

Sweet that you want to control or own this but there were others, myself for one, who were on this waaaaaay before you chose to jump in. Since you protest my post then maybe that demonstrates your involvement, too, in this (imagined or possible) back room deal? Maybe there is a secret behind the scenes effort with apple & FF to stop us from using FF.

Comment 37

[Mike Hoye [:mhoye]]

Hi, everyone -

This has turned into a bit of a pile-on, so I'm going to restrict this bug to editbugs-privileged users only. If anyone has something they would like to add to this bug that would materially move it towards a resolution or has any further concerns please fell free to contact me directly and I'll make sure to add it to the bug.

Please bear in mind that, like all Mozilla forums, Bugzilla is governed by the Mozilla Community Participation Guidelines as well as the Bugzilla etiquette guidelines, available here:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/governance/policies/participation/
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/page.cgi?id=etiquette.html

As you can see from my colleague's description above, the solution to this bug is unlikely to be as simple and obvious as its symptoms; thank you for bearing with us while we prioritize and schedule the work we need to do to to get it fixed.

Comment 46

[Kelimutu [:kiki]]

Another report about this on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thecesrom/status/1406706145092259841

Comment 53

[Kelimutu [:kiki]]

Another report on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BadGooner/status/1481719275358355457

Comment 56

[Kris Wright :KrisWright]

I can confirm this is still an issue in the latest versions of firefox. Taking this bug as I'm actively working on it.

Comment 57

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

The severity field for this bug is relatively low, S3. However, the bug has 18 duplicates and 53 CCs.
:KrisWright, could you consider increasing the bug severity?

For more information, please visit auto_nag documentation.

Comment 59

[Kris Wright :KrisWright]

Removing my assignment on this bug as I haven't had the free time to work on it for a few months. I will revisit this if I have the time. Here's some things I was able to gather from investigating:

• This bug is happening early in startup, somewhere during our command line firing phase
• This bug is not an issue of exercising our actual command line building in nsCommandLineService; rather, this build phase seems to be fired twice from a location that I haven't been able to pinpoint.
• There is no race in the command line building step in nsCommandLineService; rather, it seems this is happening some time before or after we set the flag to indicate that we are building a command line. Therefore, setting a monitor or other check hasn't been an effective fix.

From here we'd need to investigate where exactly we're opening the two instances of Firefox from; this is very early in our startup code and in my experience it is very difficult to debug. For anyone who would like to try this yourself, I'd suggest packaging your changes into a build and using the open with option from a desktop link to see how many windows you get.

Comment 61

[Dave Townsend [:mossop]]

Is this still reproducible? I just tested in macOS Ventura with Firefox 107 and could not reproduce.

Comment 62

[Dave Townsend [:mossop]]

(In reply to Dave Townsend [:mossop] from comment #61)

Is this still reproducible? I just tested in macOS Ventura with Firefox 107 and could not reproduce.

Actually it does reproduce, seems intermittent somehow though.

Comment 63

[Simon Mainey]

Apparently this has been fixed by Bug 1792466

Comment 64

[Marco Castelluccio [:marco]]

Can we close this as fixed by bug 1792466, or can you still reproduce?

Comment 65

[Markus Stange [:mstange]]

(In reply to Dave Townsend [:mossop] from comment #62)

Actually it does reproduce, seems intermittent somehow though.

Did you end up finding out what causes it?

Comment 66

[Dave Townsend [:mossop]]

(In reply to Marco Castelluccio [:marco] from comment #64)

Can we close this as fixed by bug 1792466, or can you still reproduce?

Bug 1792466 has changed the nature of this bug slightly. Now instead of two windows we end up with two tabs, one the new tab page and the other blank. This doesn't match the behaviour on other platforms so I would still consider this to be a bug.

(In reply to Markus Stange [:mstange] from comment #65)

Did you end up finding out what causes it?

Bug 1792466 (or specifically this changeset) resolved a race condition where if we received an external request to open a new url and a browser window was in the process of being opened but had not yet completed loading we would open a second window for the new url.

So I think what is going on is on macOS when we get to the point of seeing the url that the user tried to open we've already started opening the first browser window. Prior to bug 1792466 that meant that we'd go ahead and open a new browser window for the url but now we wait for the inititial browser window to open and then open a new tab in it.

Comment 67

[Sören Hentzschel]

Apparently this has been fixed by Bug 1792466

I don't know if it's since bug 1792466 (that was fixed in Firefox 109 Nightly) but compared to Firefox 108 Beta the bevaviour is much worse in Firefox 109 Nightly.

Until Firefox 108 Beta Firefox used to open two windows: one windows with the last session and another one with the opened link. Now Firefox only starts the window with the last session. The URL from the link does not open at all, neither in a new window nor in a new tab. Clicking a link just opens Firefox and you have to press the link in the email a second time to open it in Firefox.

Comment 68

[:Gijs (he/him)]

(In reply to Sören Hentzschel from comment #67)

Apparently this has been fixed by Bug 1792466

I don't know if it's since bug 1792466 (that was fixed in Firefox 109 Nightly) but compared to Firefox 108 Beta the bevaviour is much worse in Firefox 109 Nightly.

Until Firefox 108 Beta Firefox used to open two windows: one windows with the last session and another one with the opened link. Now Firefox only starts the window with the last session. The URL from the link does not open at all, neither in a new window nor in a new tab. Clicking a link just opens Firefox and you have to press the link in the email a second time to open it in Firefox.

Can you file a separate bug for this and link it to this one? It's not a given that it gets fixed when this bug does.

Comment 71

[Sören Hentzschel]

Can you file a separate bug for this and link it to this one? It's not a given that it gets fixed when this bug does.

Sure, Gijs. I filed bug 1818194.