277733 - Seamonkey uninstaller changes default browser even if Seamonkey isn't the default browser at the time of uninstallation

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(SeaMonkey :: Installer, defect)

Description

[Tom Hessman]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.8a6) Gecko/20041220
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.8a6) Gecko/20041220

If you set Seamonkey as the default browser, and then install another browser
(such as Firefox) and set it as the default browser, when you uninstall
Seamonkey it will set the default browser back to whatever the default browser
was before installing Seamonkey (most likely IE), even though Seamonkey wasn't
the default browser at the time of uninstallation (Firefox was, in this
example).  This is a problem because it is inappropriate for Seamonkey to change
another program's settings, which is essentially what's happening (in this
example, the Seamonkey uninstaller is changing the default browser from Firefox
to IE).

Seamonkey should not revert the default browser back to what it used to be when
it was first installed unless it is still the default browser.  This could be a
very confusing bug for end users, such as if someone moved from Seamonkey to
Firefox and later decided to uninstall Seamonkey...they'd be pretty surprised
when IE suddenly became their default browser again!

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Make sure that IE is set as the default browser.
2. Install Mozilla (Seamonkey) 1.7.5 and set it as the default browser.
3. Install Firefox 1.0 and set it as the default browser.
4. Uninstall Mozilla.

Actual Results:  
Internet Explorer became the default browser.

Expected Results:  
Firefox should have still been the default browser.

I originally saw this bug on Windows XP SP2 when uninstalling Mozilla 1.7.3 on a
machine that had Firefox 1.0 as the default browser.  I since tested it on
Windows 2000 with Mozilla 1.7.5 and a recent trunk build, and with Firefox 1.0
and a recent trunk build.

Comment 1

[OstGote!]

I guess this is because Mozilla, Firefox, Netscape 7 share some registry keys
for that. So Mozilla Uninstaller thinks it was the default browser.

look at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\Desktop and subkeys

similiar is Bug 195119 and others (set Moz as default + alert me, so NS/FF will
warn even if they are not set as default before)

Comment 2

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This is an automated message, with ID "auto-resolve01".

This bug has had no comments for a long time. Statistically, we have found that
bug reports that have not been confirmed by a second user after three months are
highly unlikely to be the source of a fix to the code.

While your input is very important to us, our resources are limited and so we
are asking for your help in focussing our efforts. If you can still reproduce
this problem in the latest version of the product (see below for how to obtain a
copy) or, for feature requests, if it's not present in the latest version and
you still believe we should implement it, please visit the URL of this bug
(given at the top of this mail) and add a comment to that effect, giving more
reproduction information if you have it.

If it is not a problem any longer, you need take no action. If this bug is not
changed in any way in the next two weeks, it will be automatically resolved.
Thank you for your help in this matter.

The latest beta releases can be obtained from:
Firefox:     http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/
Thunderbird: http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/releases/1.5beta1.html
Seamonkey:   http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/

Comment 3

[Tom Hessman]

I can confirm that this bug still exists, using Seamonkey 1.0 Alpha and various
other browsers.

To reiterate, it seems that when setting Seamonkey as the default browser, it
remembers what was the default browser at that moment.  Then, when running the
uninstaller, it sets that other browser to be the default, without first
checking if Seamonkey still is the default browser, and not some other browser
such as Firefox or Opera.  This causes what can be a very confusing issue, as
stated above.

In response to comment #1, this happens with other non-Mozilla browsers too
(such as Opera), so I don't think it has to do with those registry keys.

I have reproduced this bug in the following ways, on a clean install of Windows
2000 SP4 (with IE 5):

-Set IE as default browser, install Mozilla 1.7.12 and set as default, install
Firefox 1.0.7 and set as default, uninstall Mozilla 1.7.12.  IE becomes the
default browser again, but it should have remained as Firefox 1.0.7.

-Set IE as default browser, install Seamonkey 1.0a and set as default, install
latest 1.8-branh build of Firefox (2005-09-29) and set as default, uninstall
Seamonkey 1.0a.  IE becomes the default browser again, but it should have
remained as Firefox.

-Install latest 1.8-branch build of Firefox (2005-09-29) and set as default,
install Seamonkey 1.0a and set as default, set IE as default, uninstall
Seamonkey 1.0a.  Firefox becomes the default browser again, but it should have
remained as IE.

-Set IE as default browser, install Seamonkey 1.0a and set as default, install
Opera 8.5 and set as default, uninstall Seamonkey 1.0a.  IE becomes the default
browser again, but it should have remained as Opera.

-Install Opera 8.5 and set as default, install Seamonkey 1.0a and set as
default, set IE as default, uninstall Seamonkey 1.0a.  Opera becomes the default
browser again, but it should have remained as IE.

Comment 4

[Hideo Oshima]

*** Bug 316035 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 5

[Hideo Oshima]

Confirming because bug 316035 that has been
duplicate of this bugs is this bug.

Comment 6

[j]

This happens [w/1.0.1] even if you do NOT set seamonkey as the default browser; apparently it asserts itself that way.  This is one among many zero-level problems with seamonkey, IMO, that render it useless.  

Comment 7

[Tom Hessman]

This bug no longer occurs with Seamonkey 2.0 Beta 2 (though it does still occur with Seamonkey 1.1.18), so I'm going to close it. (c:=

Comment 8

[Jason Bassford]

The bug or patch that fixed this doesn't seem to be known.