205647 - long .exe filename breaks Default Browser integration when using some network mapped drives

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Firefox Build System :: General, defect)

Description

[David Tenser [:djst]]

The new name MozillaFirebird.exe doesn't work in NT4. If you register Mozilla
Firebird as the default browser and then double-click on a file you get an error
message about "MOZIL~D.EXE not found".

Comment 1

[Michael Newton]

It's working in Win2k, which uses the same registry settings, and same short
file name format.  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MozillaHTML\shell\open\command should have
a default string value of C:\PROGRA~1\MOZILL~1\MOZILL~1.EXE -url "%1".  I don't
know where that MOZIL~D.EXE would have come from.

Comment 2

[rogers]

> I don't know where that MOZIL~D.EXE would have come from.

I always get those ?wrong? 8.3 filenames when acessing files on a Novell
networked drive.

Comment 3

[David Tenser [:djst]]

That could be it; the NT machines I've tested on are running Novell servers.

I've suggest renaming it to "browser.exe".

Comment 4

[Michael Newton]

Why do we need to shorten it to an 8.3 name anyway?  All the windows platforms
are 32-bit, and with no spaces in the filename, it's not an issue to have a long
filename in the registry.

Comment 5

[rogers]

> Why do we need to shorten it to an 8.3 name anyway?

It's Windows that does this, also when you use the SendTo menu. That's why I
still prefer real 8.3 file-names for my own EXEs.

Comment 6

[David Tenser [:djst]]

> Why do we need to shorten it to an 8.3 name anyway?

To avoid breakage on Windows NT?

Comment 7

[Robert Parenton]

You don't need to shorten it to 8.3.  Just set it in the registry with the full
long file name.  If we rename it to "browser.exe" then it will be too difficult
to determine what it is in the process list.  Win NT/2K/XP have a browser
service.  Can't remember if it shows up as "browser.exe" though.  If we must
shorten it, I think "Firebird.exe" would be a getter choice.  However, there
really is no reason to shorten it as long as it is set properly in the registry.

Comment 8

[Steffen Wilberg]

Just Browser isn't very descriptive.
Call it Firebird. Or MozFireB. Or MzFirebd. Or MFirebir. Or MFire.
I'd prefer Firebird.

Microsoft .exe files all have got 8.3 names...

Comment 9

[tyl2]

May I suggest MozFB.exe or MozillFB? I prefer the former...

Comment 10

[David Tenser [:djst]]

I need to clarify this bug report: The drive I was installing
MozillaFirebird.exe on was a mapped network drive, possibly Novell. I haven't
been able to install it on a local drive.

So this may not be a blocker bug for Windows NT, just for installations on
mapped Novell network drives.

Comment 11

[Steffen Wilberg]

David,
what happens if you rename MozillaFirebird.exe to a 8.3 filename, e.g.
Firebird.exe? Does that help?
If so, we should simply use a 8.3 filename to fix this.

Comment 12

[David Tenser [:djst]]

Yes, that's what I suggested from the beginning. Long filenames for .exe files
should be avoided if possible.

Comment 13

[Joseph Myers]

I heard that it would be dangerous to name it "Firebird.exe" because of the trademark 
infringement problem. If some variants of NT require an 8.3 filename, one could simply shortcut 
the problem by giving the browser the same name that would be automatically assigned anyway. 
So of course an 8.3 name should be used, but probably not firebird.

Comment 14

[Kevin Teuscher]

David: This is possibly a problem with filename mangling (long to short).  Can
you change the registry entry to use the long filename instead?  the registry
entry in comment #2 would have a value similar:

"H:\Some long dir with spaces\Anotherone\MozillaFirebird\MOZILLAFirebird.exe"
-url "%1"

Comment 15

[David Tenser [:djst]]

Changing summary, target milestone and severity.

Comment 16

[Joe Llywelyn Griffith Blakesley]

I usually call the browser MFB.  This seems to me to be short and simple, and
suitable for file or directory names on all OS's.

Comment 17

[Mike Connor [:mconnor]]

The long filename needs to go before 1.0 at the latest.

Adding conversion keyword (since this would be enough to prevent adoption in
some corporate environments).

Comment 18

[Mike Connor [:mconnor]]

targetting for 1.0, for reasons in previous comment

Comment 19

[Jeremy Overesch]

This recently caused me problems in XP, since I was trying to install the
palmsync extension for Thunderbird.  I have two subdirectories, MozillaFirebird
and MozillaThunderbird in the same directory, Program Files.  When I installed
the module, it installed everything in the Firebird directory, because it
assumed Mozill~1 rather than Mozill~2.  When looking in the registry, it had all
paths incorrectly written as Mozill~1.  I understand that this problem may have
not been the direct cause, and I will mention it in the palmsync bug as well. 
However, problems like this wouldn't exist if the path was written correctly.
Perhaps have some sort of flag depending on NT4 vs other operating systems and
writing the path/filename accordingly?

Comment 20

[Oleg Sidletskiy]

FIXED, firefox.exe :D

Comment 21

[Michael Lefevre]

actually I don't think the name change stuff has been checked in to the trunk
yet, but I guess we can leave this fixed on the assumption that it will be soon.

Comment 22

[David Tenser [:djst]]

Checked in