583696 - Thunderbird can't open an external web browser for external http/https protocols

Status: VERIFIED WORKSFORME

(Thunderbird :: OS Integration, defect)

Description

[Saurav]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.2.8) Gecko/20100722 Firefox/3.6.8
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:2.0b3pre) Gecko/20100731 Shredder/3.2a1pre

If I click on an HTTP or HTTPS link in an email, or on "Help -> Release Notes" or "Help -> Help contents", nothing happens.  Older versions of TB used to launch the default web browser pointed to the URL.

My system:
-----------
Linux 2.6.31-22-generic #60-Ubuntu SMP Thu May 27 00:22:23 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux
Firefox 3.6.8
Thunderbird 3.1.1

This same problem exists in this (latest?) nightly builds also:
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:2.0b3pre) Gecko/20100731 Shredder/3.2a1pre

Tried starting Thunderbird with "-safe-mode" and without it.  Also disabled all extensions.

network.protocol-handler.app.ftp;/opt/firefox/firefox %s
network.protocol-handler.app.http;/opt/firefox/firefox %s
network.protocol-handler.app.https;/opt/firefox/firefox %s

network.protocol-handler.warn-external.file;true
network.protocol-handler.warn-external.ftp;true
network.protocol-handler.warn-external.http;true
network.protocol-handler.warn-external.https;true

System -> Preference -> Preferred Applications
==============================================
  Web Browser - custom
                Command: /opt/firefox/firefox "%s"

  Mail Reader - custom
                Command: /opt/thunderbird/thunderbird "%s"

I have also tried setting thi
sghosh@:~$ gconftool-2 -g /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/http/command
/opt/firefox/firefox "%s"
sghosh@:~$ gconftool-2 -g /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/https/command
/opt/firefox/firefox "%s"
sghosh@:~$ gconftool-2 -g /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/ftp/command
/opt/firefox/firefox "%s"
sghosh@:~$ gconftool-2 -g /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/http/enabled
true
sghosh@:~$ gconftool-2 -g /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/https/enabled
true
sghosh@:~$ gconftool-2 -g /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/ftp/enabled
true

Misc Settings
----------------
xdg-open http://www.yahoo.com => works

gnome-open http://www.mozilla.org => works

/etc/alternatives/x-www-browser is a symlink to /opt/firefox/firefox

All other applications launch a FF window/tab when I click on a link inside them, like terminal, OpenOffice, VirtualBox, etc., except Thunderbird (which is the one I need to open lots of links outside itself, in FF).



Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Click on a link inside an email.
2. Or click on "Help - Release Notes"
3. Or click on "Help - Help Contents"
Actual Results:  
Nothing happens

Expected Results:  
A web browser window or tab navigating to the URL clicked on. 

I see this everytime I click on something that should launch a browser:

Error console
-------------

1. When I click on a link inside an email

Error: uncaught exception: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) [nsIExternalProtocolService.loadUrl]"  nsresult: "0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND)"  location: "JS frame :: chrome://communicator/content/contentAreaClick.js :: openLinkExternally :: line 188"  data: no]

2. When I click "Help -> Release Notes" or "Help -> Help contents"

Error: uncaught exception: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) [nsIExternalProtocolService.loadURI]"  nsresult: "0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND)"  location: "JS frame :: chrome://messenger/content/mailCore.js :: openFormattedURL :: line 423"  data: no]

3. When I click "Tools -> Add ons -> Get Add-ons -> Browse all Add-ons"

Error: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) [nsIExternalProtocolService.loadUrl]"  nsresult: "0x80520012 (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND)"  location: "JS frame :: file:///opt/thunderbird/components/mailContentHandler.js :: mch_OpenInExternal :: line 61"  data: no]
Source File: file:///opt/thunderbird/components/mailContentHandler.js
Line: 61

Comment 1

[Ludovic Hirlimann [:Usul]]

>network.protocol-handler.app.ftp 

These aren't working anymore we rely on gconf2 for that.

How did you install Thunderbird ?

Comment 2

[Saurav]

I downloaded the .tar.bz2 files (both standard and nightly builds) from mozilla's website and unzipped to /opt.

I have also tried the ubuntuzilla builds (to no avail):

http://sourceforge.net/projects/ubuntuzilla/files/

Comment 3

[Ludovic Hirlimann [:Usul]]

Something is broken on your install, but I don't see what :-(

Comment 4

[Wolfgang Rosenauer [:wolfiR]]

The interesting things are the reported exceptions. NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND sounds suspicious but not really clear to me what the issue is.

Comment 5

[Saurav]

I noticed that for all new profiles, TB was able to launch FF for http/https links.  So I hacked around in my old profile directory and finally deleted all xml nodes with "http" and "https" from mimeTypes.rdf.  Now TB can launch FF for external links.

Thanks for your time.