1677248 - Thunderbird opens empty mailto tab when embedded mailto link is clicked

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Thunderbird :: Mail Window Front End, defect)

Description

[Peter Choma]

Attachment: Pete's Posse Zoom concert - email address to register to attend.eml

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:82.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/82.0

Steps to reproduce:

v78.4.3 & v79.4.2
Received email with RSVP button which invokes mailto:

To join=2C click on the RSVP button below to get the Zoom link and passwor=
d. Laura will be checking her email before and during the event=2C so don'=
t worry about it being too late.
RSVP: Email Laura for Zoom info (mailto:[e-mail]?subject=
=3DZoom%20info%20for%20Nov%2014th%20Pete's%20Posse%20Concert&body=3DI%20re=
ceived%20the%20email%20from%20Mostly%20Waltz%20and%20would%20like%20to%20a=
ttend%20the%20on-line%20concert%20on%20November%2014th%0A%0APlease%20send%=
20me%20the%20zoom%20information.%0A%0A)

Actual results:

Thunderbird opens new tab which just hangs

Expected results:

Should have opened a compose window. I have been told this used to work back in August 2020 with older versions of Thunderbird.
I have been told that this bug also breaks Mailchimp.

Comment 1

[Peter Choma]

Attachment: Tbird_Capture.JPG - show new tab opened by mailto link

Comment 2

[Peter Choma]

Confirmed this is a regression bug.
Open email file under old Thunderbird version 68.3.1, clicked on RSVP button and a compose window came up with no problems.
So the current Thunderbird version no longer supports a capability that worked in the past.

Comment 3

[asdfjkloa]

I have the same problem in Thunderbird version 78.4.3.

Comment 4

[steve.patco]

I have the same problem 78.5 with mailto link in groups.io group. Look at the status bar at the bottom of image

Comment 5

[steve.patco]

Attachment: image.png

Here is a screen shot showing the link at the bottom of the image. TB 78.5 32bit

Comment 6

[steve.patco]

Major defect. Thunderbird is doomed to end up in the internet boneyard along with Netscape and all the others.

Comment 7

[Jonathan Kamens]

The behavior may be different depending on whether the link has target="_blank". In my testing, links without target="_blank" work, while links with it do not.

Comment 8

[marty]

I now have this problem with V 78.5.1, it is the first time I've experienced it.
Any email with a Mailto: link opens a new tab that hangs.

Comment 10

[Matt]

Attachment: Source from the bottom of a groups.io message that demonstrates the issue

The attached demonstrates multiple mailto links that open of a useless tab which never goes on to load anything. The entire source is available if you want more.

I can not find anything in the source mentioning iframes or _blank

This bug appears to have been reported a year ago in Bug 1589968 But regardless. Thunderbird behaviour should not vary regardless of the presence of _Blank. We are the mail client and do not do compose in a new tab, only a new window.

Comment 11

[Matt]

(In reply to Jonathan Kamens from comment #7)

The behavior may be different depending on whether the link has target="_blank". In my testing, links without target="_blank" work, while links with it do not.

My last response here I think demonstrates I at least can reproduce without the presence of _Blank. Perhaps something in the changes in Bug 1638092 has further regressed this.

The status bar does, however, show the unescaped mailto: link, not the escaped one in the source. We have reports on Windows and Linux, so I think we can assume operating systems all.

Comment 12

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin] (away, back June 30)]

On trunk, the mailto does open properly. But we also get the blank open tab.
Geoff, any idea where this is handled now?

Comment 14

[Geoff Lankow (:darktrojan)]

I see the same.

The protocol itself will be handled in nsSmtpService::NewChannel although I don't know enough about it to know why it appears to work now. We could refuse to open the new tab in nsBrowserAccess (mailWindow.js) but that doesn't really feel right.

Comment 15

[Marie Maurer]

I had a different email, which I think falls into same category. Open new windows, but leaves one "Loading..." in the background:

...
<div style=3D"text-align: center;"><a target=3D"_blank" class=3D"cta-button=
" href=3D"mailto:?bcc=[e-mail],ulrike.mueller@euro=
parl.europa.eu,[e-mail],christine.schneider@europarl.e=
uropa.eu,[e-mail],[e-mail]=
a.eu,[e-mail],[e-mail],alex=
[e-mail],[e-mail]&subject=3DThe%=
20=E2=80=98End%20the%20Cage%20Age=E2=80=99%20European%20Citizens=E2=80=99%2=
0Initiative%20needs%20your%20voice&body=3DDear%20Member%20of%20the%20Europe=
an%20Parliament,%0D%0A%0D%0AAhead%20of%20the%20upcoming%20European%20Parlia=
ment%20Hearing%20of%20the%20=E2=80=98End%20the%20Cage%20Age=E2=80=99%20Euro=
pean%20Citizens=E2=80=99%20Initiative,%20scheduled%20for%2015%20April%20202=
1,%20I%20ask%20you%20to%20support%20an%20end%20to%20the%20use%20of%20cages%=
20in%20animal%20farming.%0D%0A%0D%0ATogether%20with%201.4%20million%20peopl=
e%20across%20the%20EU%20and%20over%20140%20renowned%20scientists,%20includi=
ng%20Dr.%20Jane%20Goodall,%20I%20call%20on%20you%20to%20spare%20the%20unnec=
essary%20suffering%20of%20the%20hundreds%20of%20millions%20of%20farmed%20an=
imals%20across%20the%20EU.%0D%0A%0D%0AEven%20in%20=E2=80=98enriched=E2=80=
=99%20cages,%20egg-laying%20hens%20have%20only%20the%20space%20of%20about%2=
0an%20A4%20sheet%20of%20paper.%20Rabbits%20raised%20for%20meat%20do%20not%2=
0have%20enough%20space%20to%20perform%20a%20single%20hop.%20Almost%20all%20=
adult%20female%20pigs%20spend%20nearly%20half%20of%20every%20year%20inside%=
20crates,%20in%20which%20they%20cannot%20even%20turn%20around.%0D%0A%0D%0AM=
ajor%20food%20producers%20and%20retailers%20confirmed%20that%20a%20cage-fre=
e%20future%20is%20possible%20and%20called%20on%20the%20EU%20to%20act.%20It%=
20is%20about%20time%20for%20the%20EU%20to%20enter%20the%2021st%20Century%20=
and%20ban%20the%20outdated%20practice%20of%20caging%20animals.%0D%0A%0D%0AY=
ours%20sincerely,%0D%0A%0D%0A...%0D%0A%0D%0A" style=3D"-moz-border-radius: =
3px; -webkit-border-radius: 3px; background-color: #52a733; border-bottom: =
15px solid #52a733; border-left: 25px solid #52a733; border-radius: 3px; bo=
rder-right: 25px solid #52a733; border-top: 15px solid #52a733; color: #fff=
fff; display: inline-block; font-family: absara, Helvetica, Arial, sans-ser=
if; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; text-align: center; text-decorati=
on: none;" rel=3D"noopener">Geben Sie den Tieren in Europa eine Stimme</a><=
br /></div>
...

If you need the complete email, please let me know.

Comment 16

[Dave Labrecque]

I have the same issue on 78.13.0 (64-bit). Interesting that the mailto: links in browsers or PDFs work fine, but from inside TB there's no compose window and a blank tab that appears to be hanging.

Looks like 10 months in this hasn't been officially processed as a bug here at Bugzilla. Any ideas why?

Comment 17

[steve.patco]

I am using version 91 and the problem has gone away. Download v 91

Comment 18

[Dave Labrecque]

Steve—Good to know, thanks. If I don't like 91, can I slip back to 78 without problems? I assume 91 is more of a beta, yes?

Comment 19

[Matt]

(In reply to Dave Labrecque from comment #18)

Steve—Good to know, thanks. If I don't like 91, can I slip back to 78 without problems? I assume 91 is more of a beta, yes?

No on both counts. It is the current release version and offered for download on Thunderbird.net. It is just that automatic updates have not been enabled as yet for that version for existing users. Profile per install and profile folder changes resulting in Version 91 makes "slipping back" is just about impossible using the same profile.

Comment 20

[Dave Labrecque]

Interesting. The fact that it's not on the automatic update channel is what had me thinking it's not quite ready for prime time. Why isn't it on the update channel, if not because it's a bit of a beta version? Do you know? Are there any risks to making the move?

Is that likely why it hasn't been fixed in v. 78? Because it was fixed later, and everybody will get their eventually?

Comment 22

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Does this reproduce with version 115?

Comment 23

[Jonathan Kamens]

This seems to be fixed in TB115? mailto links and don't open a blank tab, as far as I can tell.
Leaving the needinfo flags set for the other respondents to chime in if they're seeing different behavior.