478722 - Firefox on linux Mailto: "calls" to Thunderbird aren't capable of recognizing when Thunderbird is already running

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 1084993

(Firefox :: Shell Integration, defect)

Description

[Jordan]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.2a1pre) Gecko/20090209 Minefield/3.2a1pre
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.2a1pre) Gecko/20090209 Minefield/3.2a1pre

This problem might very well be related to several others that have already been filed about the "mailto" functionality, although my setup seems to be more functional than most.  As long as Thunderbird isn't running before I click on a "mailto" link, everything works perfectly - but if Thunderbird IS already running, I get a message that indicates that Firefox is trying (and failing) to open an entirely new instance of the program: "Thunderbird is already running, but is not responding" (Thunderbird remains responsive, by the way).  I've tested this operation (using identical syntax where applicable) in the OS's pre-installed version of Firefox (3.0), and no such problem occurs, so this is definitely (a) not a Thunderbird issue, and (B) unique to the nightlies.  

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Open Thunderbird
2.Open Minefield
3.Find a webpage with a "mailto" address, and click on it.  
Actual Results:  
Minefield passes the "mailto" information in such a way that Thunderbird then tries to open a second, separate instance of itself.  

Expected Results:  
If Thunderbird is already open, it should be passed the "mailto" info in such a way that it can simply open a new "Compose" Window, instead of being forced to try to start a new instance of itself.

Comment 1

[komputes]

I can confirm this, but I don't know how to change the status of the bug to confirmed on bugzilla. I have the exact same issue on Ubuntu 9.10 using Firefox 3.5.5 and Thunderbird 2.0.0.23. 

This seems to be a recurring issue which gets fixed and then regresses to old behavior:
https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mozilla-thunderbird/+bug/12097

I think it also may have to do with mishandled upgrades. I think creating a new profile, or using the following workaround may work. https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox-3.0/+bug/222944/comments/3

Comment 2

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

I've never seen this.

Is it a linux thing?

Comment 3

[komputes]

Indeed this is a Linux issue Wayne, which is why it was reported for the "x86 Linux" platform.