446220 - browser.contentHandlers.* + gecko.handlerService.schemes.* + network.protocol-handler.* = WTF?

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Ryan S. Scheel [:havvy]]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.1) Gecko/2008070208 Firefox/3.0.1
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.1) Gecko/2008070208 Firefox/3.0.1

There seems to be a major conflict in the way Firefox chooses what to do with URLs.  I don't really know much, so I'll just write the Steps to Reproduce.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.  Make Mibbit your default IRC handler.  (http://mozillalinks.org/wp/2008/07/set-mibbit-as-your-irc-client-in-firefox/)
2.  Install Chatzilla (This can be done before step 1, I think)
3.  Click on an IRC:// link, such as irc://irc.mozilla.org/firefox
Actual Results:  
Chatzilla opens up, and a user cannot find the way to have Mibbit open up unless Chatzilla is disabled/uninstalled.

Expected Results:  
Mibbit client should have opened.

Marking bug as Major, as this is a major problem with protocol handling.

Comment 1

[Ryan S. Scheel [:havvy]]

I don't know enough of the internals of how Firefox handles links to write anymore information then a failed use-case.  Maybe the list for what Firefox should send to a Plugin, should send to a Webapp, and should be handled by the OS.

From what I've heard, the code for it seems to be a mess, and from what I see, it looks like a mess.

Comment 2

[Matthias Versen [:Matti]]

If an protocol can be handled internal, then the internal handler will be of course used.
Example: Ie registers as default handler for https, should firefox open IE if the users clicks on https ? no, right
This is by design and no bug, marking invalid

try setting :
"network.protocol-handler.external.irc" to false

Comment 3

[James Ross]

Setting "network.protocol-handler.external.irc" to true (NOT false) does actually work, but there are bugs with Firefox here: Firefox makes no attempt to show that IRC links are handled internally when a protocol handler is installed, nor does it let the user change it (which could just toggle this pref in addition to the screwing with mimeTypes.rdf it does).