Open Bug 554351 Opened 14 years ago Updated 4 months ago

When called from link in email or other app, Firefox launches but does not open the URL

Categories

(Core :: Widget: Cocoa, defect, P2)

Product:
Core
Component:
Widget: Cocoa
Platform:
x86
macOS
Type:
defect

Tracking

()

People

(Reporter: harvey.kabaker, Unassigned)

References

Details

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; en-US; rv:1.9.2.2) Gecko/20100316 Firefox/3.6.2
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; en-US; rv:1.9.2.2) Gecko/20100316 Firefox/3.6.2

When Firefox preference is to open a blank page on startup, Firefox will not go to the URL in an e-mail link unless it already is active. Must click once in the email to launch Firefox, then again to display the page.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Configure Firefox to open a blank page on startup.
2.Close Firefox.
3.Open e-mail and click a valid link

Actual Results:  
Firefox launches with blank page, nothing in address field.

Expected Results:  
Firefox launches, URL appears in address field, browser opens the specified page.
Same happens when preference is to open the home page on startup. Clicking link in email launches Firefox with Home page displayed, but you have to click the link in the email a second time to go there.
This also happens from other apps besides email.

I'm using Firefox 3.6.3.  I upgraded to Snow Leopard and I am pretty sure this started happening when I upgraded.

Can we change this to confirmed?
With Snow Leopard I didn't have this problem until the upgrade to Firefox 3.6.3.
This still happens to me on Firefox 4 betas 1, 2 and 3. Running OS X 10.6.4
Thanks for the cc email, inviting me to this page. It took 3 click to get here.
1. Click in email. Firefox opens blank.
2. Click in email again to bring into focus.
3. Click link again.

Confirmed, but not resolved.
Slightly fixed in beta 4 release. Now opens two windows, one with the home page, one with the desired link. Desired outcome should be only one window opened with the desired link.
In Beta 4 this Issue has been resolved for me, but now in Beta 6 it's back again. Even with a plain profile without any AddOns,  no matter where the Link I am clickning is coming from. If I get Safari as default Browser, this is not gonna happen. 

I am running Snow Leopard 10.6.4 and Mac Mail on an early 2009 MacBook Pro
Version: unspecified → 3.6 Branch
Still the same. Firefox 9.0.1, Lion 10.7.2
Are any of you using profiles? This could be related to bug 704373.
Yes, I have 2 profiles. After clicking the link I get the profile selection dialog, then a blank Firefox page. I have to click to re-focus the calling application and click the link again.
Hmm, can you test if this happens if this happens with restoring tabs on startup? I'm inclined to think this is a dupe.
It happens when you start with a blank page, restore tabs from the previous session, or open with the home page. Maybe the key is that the URL gets lost in the profile selection.

In my initial description I neglected to include something in the Actual Results and Expected Results:

Actual Results:  
Firefox launches with profile selection dialog, then a blank page (or tabs from previous session), nothing in address field for a new tab.

Expected Results:  
Firefox launches with profile selection dialog, URL appears in address field of new page or tab, browser opens the specified page.
I'm going to go ahead and mark this as a dupe of bug 704373.
OK, great, we resolved 704373. This one has been around for two months shy of two years. I'm not a programmer, so I hope somebody will pick it up.
(In reply to harvey.kabaker from comment #15)
> OK, great, we resolved 704373. This one has been around for two months shy
> of two years. I'm not a programmer, so I hope somebody will pick it up.

Bug 704373 was resolved because I marked it as a duplicate of this one. It hasn't actually been fixed. I'm attaching the original description to this bug because I think it provides more information about the bug:

(note: this is in Firefox > General because I haven't reproduced it with other programs, e.g. Camino. It's quite possible it should be moved to Core.)

Build info:
Firefox Nightly, downloaded 11/21/11
Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; rv:11.0a1) Gecko/20111121 Firefox/11.0a1

Steps to reproduce:
1. Make sure that you'll be prompted to choose a profile when you start Nightly
2. Make sure Nightly is the default browser (this bug doesn't depend on this, but we need the link to open in Nightly.)
3. Close the browser
4. Open a link from another program, such as Mail.
5. Select a profile to open
6. Notice how the link SHOULD open, but doesn't

Reproducible: Always

I was again able to reproduce this in the latest Nightly today, 4/2/12. User agent:
Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; rv:14.0) Gecko/20120402 Firefox/14.0a1
Built from mozilla-central, revision 3e46009daea3.
Can you please change the version of this from 3.6 branch to Trunk? Also, you may want to reconsider the summary, given that we have determined that it's a broader issue than what you originally reported.
Revised summary:

When Firefox is not open, and a valid link is selected in an email or other application, Firefox opens the profile selection box but does not go to the specified URL after the selected profile is open. User must refocus the calling application and click the link again.
Version: 3.6 Branch → Trunk
Awesome, thanks.
You should update the bug summary with (possibly a slightly shorter version) of that.
Summary: Firefox launches from valid link in e-mail but does not open the URL → When called from link in email or other app, Firefox launches but does not open the URL
Should also be noted that this happens (to me at least) even with only one profile and no profile selection box popping up.
(In reply to chiklit from comment #20)
> Should also be noted that this happens (to me at least) even with only one
> profile and no profile selection box popping up.

That sounds like a separate bug. I've no idea what might be causing it, though.
Still see this on Mac?
(I do this lots on windows and don't see the problem)
Flags: needinfo?(harvey.kabaker)
This seems to happen now only if a plugin that was updated also attempts to show a page.

For example, I click on a link in another app with Firefox set as default browser. Firefox opens my homepage and a Firebug "what's new" page as the plugin has just updated, but not the link I clicked on. If I quit Firefox and click on the external link again then Firefox will open the link correctly.

Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.8; rv:21.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/21.0
Yes, still happening, whether there is a plug-in update alert or not. Do you think a plug-in loading at startup could block the go-to action? I'll try setting prefs not to load plug-ins, if I can do that without uninstalling them.
Flags: needinfo?(harvey.kabaker)
I used Add-Ons Manager to disabled all extensions and plug-ins at startup. No change. In the email from bugzilla-daemon I clicked the link to this page, I got the profile selection popup, clicked a profile; Firefox started and showed a blank page as per my preference but did not continue to this page.
Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.9; rv:30.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/30.0 ID:20140428174145 CSet: 9c77192752db

Seeing this behavior here, regularly - Firefox set to start with a specified home page. If program is not running, and link is called from an external program (e.g. clicked in Thunderbird email, etc.) Firefox launches but only loads home page.

Single profile, I don't use multiple profiles. No recent plugin/extension updates according to Add-ons Manager.
Problem still not resolved as of v 36.0.1
I've got this problem too (with firefox 36.0.1) on Linux Mint 17.1

Problem still not resolved as of 70.0.1 (64-bit).

OS Mojave 10.14.6
70.0.1

New behavior: Status bar reports Firefox seems slow... to... start and offers a cleanup remedy. Firefox is slow to start. The first tab shows a black page, then a white page, and the name of the target url page. After a long delay, the target page fills up.

Four weeks ago I did the recommended cleanup, so I don't know whether it's is an issue here.

Severity: major → S3
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Component: General → Widget: Cocoa
Ever confirmed: true
Priority: -- → P2
Product: Firefox → Core
You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.