283348 - When Mozilla is set to the default browser, it does not set HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\shell\open\command

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(SeaMonkey :: Installer, defect)

Description

[Dan Roca]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X Mach-O; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041201 Camino/0.8.2
Build Identifier: 

Build Identifier: Mozilla 1.7.3

When Mozilla is set to the default browser, they do not set 
'HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\shell\open\command' so that mailto links are properly
handled by the 
default mail client. Both Eudora and Outlook set this registry setting as well
as the 
'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\clients\mail' setting.


Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Install Mozilla
2. Set it as the default mail client
3. Check 'HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\shell\open\command' mail in the registry
Actual Results:  
The registry setting does not change. This will cause many applications to use
whatever was last set in that registry entry to be used as the mail client
instead of Mozilla.



Expected Results:  
Mozilla should set the 'HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\shell\open\command' to itself so 
that Mozilla will be used when mailto links are passed to the OS.

Do not mark this as a dupe unless it is a dupe of a Mozilla suite bug. I already
had bug 272625 marked as a dupe of 202497 which in turn was closed because the
bug was fixed in Thunderbird. This needs to be fixed in the Mozilla suite - I am
aware that it is fixed in Thunderbird.

Comment 1

[Dan Roca]

I tried it in 1.8a6 and the bug is still there. It's there in the official build
(1.7.5).

Comment 2

[Frank Wein [:mcsmurf]]

Also see Bug 279627, it seems to be caused by not setting this value (but that
is a recent regression in combination with MAPI).

Comment 3

[Dan Roca]

Yeah, this bug is more concerned with simply setting the value in the first
place. Whether or not Mozilla asks me if I want it to be the default client is
much less important. Users can click Yes every time the app starts, but they
will not go into the registry and modify this setting themselves.

Comment 4

[OstGote!]

> Do not mark this as a dupe unless it is a dupe of a Mozilla suite bug. I already
> had bug 272625 marked as a dupe of 202497 which in turn was closed because the
> bug was fixed in Thunderbird. This needs to be fixed in the Mozilla suite - I am
> aware that it is fixed in Thunderbird.

Bug 202497/bug 277833 fixed it for both Mailnews and TB. But is was never
checked in into the branches AFAIK, so Mozilla 1.7.x and TB 1.0.x don't include
that patch. Otherwise, this patch was checked in after 1.8a6 and caused the
mentioned regression, so it still does not work, see bug 277833 comment 5.

Comment 5

[Dan Roca]

Yes, it is possible that this bug has been caused by Bug 279627, but I highly
doubt that.

The bug that I am reporting AFAIK has never worked in Mozilla, ever. 279627 was
reported in January, and the bug I am reporting has been around for years at the
least. I do not believe this is a dupe of 279627 nor do I believe it will be
fixed by 279627.

The cause of 279627 might be because someone put in a check to see if
HKCR\mailto\shell\open\command was set and it is not. But it's not set because
it was never set to begin with. Thunderbird is the only one that has ever set
this registry properly. So I'm guessing someone checked in this default mail
checker into the Mozilla trunk without seeing if Mozilla actually set that key.

Please note that Bug 202497 was fixed for Thunderbird - but it was not fixed for
Mozilla.

And please note that in the comments of 279627, in comment #17, he states that
the bug did not appear until after Jan 19th. My original bug for this very issue
was Bug 272625, which was reported in 12/01/04, but which I knew about long
before that.

Comment 6

[Alexander Opitz]

this was resolved by bug 277833 which was checked in on 19.01.05 ... so you can
try it with one of the latest nightlies of trunk.

Comment 7

[Dan Roca]

Nope. If you use the steps to rep with build 1.8b1 of Mozilla (built on Feb 26, 2005), it will not be 
resolved. HKCR will still show your previous Mail client in the mailto\shell\open\command registry 
setting. This bug has NOT been fixed by bug 277833

Comment 8

[Alexander Opitz]

The 26. Feb. is a bit long ago, please use a newer nightly. There seem problems
on some systems and Bug 279627 fixed this.

Comment 9

[Dan Roca]

Alrighty, so I check in the latest nightly build of Mozilla. It was built yesterday (March 30th, 2005). This 
bug is not resolved in that build.

Please reopen this bug - it is not fixed.

Comment 10

[Alexander Opitz]

Mail from reporter:

Hi,

I've been trying to get this particular bug fixed for over 5 or 6
months now. The bugs keep getting closed by various developers claiming
that they've been fixed by other bugs. When in actuality, they have not
been fixed. Please test this for youself and you will find that the
latest nightly build does NOT resolve this bug.

Please reopen this bug. This is the 4th times that my bug write-up has
been closed prematurely by a developer who didn't really know the issue
and did not get anyone to verify the fix.

Please reopen the bug. I do not want to have to write up a new one.
This is a customer problem that Meeting Maker, Inc. has. It is not
simply a personal bug, but a company bug.


-Dan Roca
Senior QA Engineer
Meeting Maker, Inc.

Comment 11

[Alexander Opitz]

I can't test it myself (cause I don't have windows) but I asked moz developers
in #mozilla.de which have tried your steps to reproduce but all they had do with
latest nightlies didn't showed the bug. I also looked inside the patches and all
looks well. So if thunderbird is also installed it may be you see another bug
else it maybe something other on your system. Will CC 2 developers.

Please go to the about page and post the version number you are using (Full line
starting with Mozilla/5.0)

Comment 12

[Carsten Book [:Tomcat]]

Tested this again with and Eudora, Outlook 2003 and Mozilla Mozilla/5.0
(Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8b2) Gecko/20050401 on Windows 2000 and
XP 2 -> WFM.

Mail/News sets the correct Registry Key when its selected as the Default Mail
Application on the prompt when opening Mail/News (or under Preferences -> Mail &
Newsgroup).

Comment 13

[Carsten Book [:Tomcat]]

Attachment: Registry Capture under Windows XP SP2

I made a Capture of the Registry where you can see that the Default
Mail-Programm was changed from Outlook to Mozilla and that click on a mailto
Link opens Mail/News Composer.

Comment 14

[Dan Roca]

Ah, ok. It is fixed in the latest nightly build. I don't think the installer worked properly on the version I 
was using, so I was still on an older version.

But please, in the future, do not close bugs unless you have either personally tested them, got someone 
else to test it, or spoken to the author of the bug. It is very difficult dealing with Mozilla as a company, 
especially when developers close your bugs over and over without knowing the details or even being 
willing to talk to the reporter.