Preserve externally launched Thunderbird actions (mailto) across FELT authentication
Categories
(Enterprise Products :: Thunderbird, enhancement, P3)
Tracking
(Not tracked)
People
(Reporter: tobyp, Unassigned)
References
(Blocks 2 open bugs)
Details
User Story
As a Thunderbird Enterprise user, when I launch Thunderbird by activating a mailto: link from another application, I want Thunderbird to authenticate through FELT/SSO and then perform the requested action so that the link is not lost during enterprise authentication. Acceptance Criteria - Activating a mailto: link while Thunderbird Enterprise is not authenticated launches Thunderbird and starts the required FELT authentication flow. - After successful authentication, the original mailto: URI is still available to Thunderbird. - Thunderbird performs the action represented by the original mailto: URI after authentication. - mailto: parameters are preserved correctly, including recipients and supported query parameters such as subject, body, cc, and bcc. - The external action is not executed prematurely by an unauthenticated Thunderbird process. - The external action is not lost if Thunderbird has to wait for or transition through the FELT authentication UI. - The behaviour works both when Thunderbird is already running and when it is launched from a completely stopped state. - The implementation provides a mechanism that can be reused for other externally initiated Thunderbird actions, rather than being hard-coded solely around mailto:. - Appropriate automated tests cover the authenticated and unauthenticated launch paths. - Manual testing verifies launching Thunderbird from at least Firefox and a non-browser application using a mailto: link. - The implementation does not introduce a way for untrusted external input to bypass FELT authentication or otherwise operate on Thunderbird's authenticated session before authentication succeeds.
Thunderbird Enterprise will require authentication through FELT/SSO before the Thunderbird application can access the user's authenticated session.
This creates a potential problem for actions that launch Thunderbird from outside the application, such as activating a mailto: link in Firefox, a document, or another application.
Today, an external launch can contain meaningful information that needs to be processed by Thunderbird after startup, for example:
- the recipient and parameters contained in a mailto: URI
- potentially other launch arguments or externally initiated actions in the future
When Thunderbird Enterprise is not yet authenticated, the application may need to enter the FELT authentication flow before it can continue processing the external launch request. The original URI/action therefore needs to survive the authentication/startup process and be delivered to Thunderbird once the authenticated session is ready.
Firefox Enterprise has a similar requirement for externally initiated URLs and uses an Enterprise/FELT launch flow that preserves and forwards pending external URLs through authentication/startup. This bug should investigate and implement the equivalent mechanism for Thunderbird, using the existing Thunderbird/FELT integration where appropriate.
Description
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