303921 - remote -openfile fails

Status: NEW

(Firefox :: File Handling, defect)

Description

[Jonathan Baron]

Up to recent builds of Deer Park, I was able to use
firefox -remote "openfile (myfile,new-window)"
to open myfile (with its full path).  Now I get an
error message:
Error: Failed to send command: 500 command not parseable

I can still use the File menu to open local files, but
this is a pain.  I had this -remote command on a simple
alias.

Comment 1

[Jonathan Baron]

I have now discovered that I do not need to use openfile()
anymore.  So in some sense this is not a bug.  All I need to say is 

firefox myfile

or words to that effect.

So perhaps this is a problem with the documentation, not the program,
although it might be easy to fix the program to restore the original
function, so that the documentation is correct.  It is at
http://www.mozilla.org/unix/remote.html
which also has links to the relevant source code.

Comment 2

[Tanner M [:Tannn3r]]

Reporter, can you still reproduce this bug in Firefox 10.0.2?

Please update to Firefox 10.0.2 or later, update your plugins, and retest in a new profile. If you still see the issue with the updated version of Firefox, please post here. Otherwise, please close as RESOLVED > WORKSFORME.

http://getfirefox.com/
http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Managing+profiles

Comment 3

[Jonathan Baron]

The original bug, as reported, is still present in the current Minefield, with a new profile. However, in my second comment, I pointed out that there is an easier way to do the same thing, which works fine, and that the real bug is in the documentation. Now that bug has been replaced with a new bug concerning documentation. If I say "man firefox" on the Fedora version, I get the following:

-remote command
              Execute   command   in   an   already   running   Firefox   process.    For  more  info,  see:
              http://www.mozilla.org/unix/remote.html

The web page cited is the one I cited originally, but it is no longer there. Perhaps this is a Fedora problem.

So, in sum, the original bug is not a bug, but the documentation needs to make clear how to open files. The man page that comes with Fedora does not do this, and I cannot tell whether the official documentation is correct because I cannot find it.