Closed Bug 691766 Opened 13 years ago Closed 5 years ago

Command-line option "-private" is non-intuitive

Categories

(Developer Documentation Graveyard :: Mozilla Platform, defect, P5)

x86
Windows XP
defect

Tracking

(Not tracked)

RESOLVED WONTFIX

People

(Reporter: samwyse, Assigned: sheppy)

Details

(Whiteboard: u=mozdev p=0 c=Platform)

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:7.0.1) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/7.0.1 Build ID: 20110928134238 Steps to reproduce: When I visit certain sites, I like to do it with privacy mode turned on. I'd like to have a desktop shortcut to do this quickly. I've tried various combinations of -private and a URL to start Firefox from Windows XP. (Searching for similar bugs, I've discovered a -private-toggle, but haven't had a chance to test it without closing my current Firefox windows, and losing the data entered for this bug.) Actual results: When Firefox is not running: use -private -> opens window in privacy mode use -private and URL -> opens two windows, one in privacy mode, one with URL When Firefox is running: use -private -> does nothing use -private and URL -> opens tab with URL Expected results: I would like to have a window opened in privacy mode with the specified URL. If a private mode window is already open, a new tab would suffice.
Using -privacy-toggle seems to work better. When Firefox is not running: use -private-toggle -> opens a window in privacy mode use -private-toggle and URL -> opens two tabs, one explaining privacy mode, one with URL When Firefox is running: use -private-toggle -> opens a window in privacy mode; previous windows disappear use -private-toggle and URL -> opens two tabs, one explaining privacy mode, one with URL; previous windows disappear It's unfortunate that this command line switch isn't better documented. (It isn't referenced at https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Command_Line_Options, for example.) Perhaps using -private when Firefox is already running could cause a pop-up explaining -private-toggle.
Component: General → Private Browsing
QA Contact: general → private.browsing
This is really a documentation bug.
Component: Private Browsing → Documentation Requests
Product: Firefox → Mozilla Developer Network
QA Contact: private.browsing → doc-request
Version: 7 Branch → MDN
Version: MDN → unspecified
Component: Documentation Requests → Documentation
Component: Documentation → General
Product: Mozilla Developer Network → Developer Documentation
Odds are this has all changed with per-window privacy mode. We need to investigate and update docs appropriately.
Assignee: nobody → jypenator
Component: General → Mozilla Platform
Whiteboard: u=mozdev p=0
Whiteboard: u=mozdev p=0 → u=mozdev p=0 c=Platform
Assignee: jypenator → eshepherd
The -private switch does not seem to work any longer (probably for a while). Tested on Windows 7 Pro 64, Firefox 43.0.4, by creating a shortcut as well as trying from the Start menu. The other switches would probably need investigating as well.
Priority: -- → P5
MDN Web Docs' bug reporting has now moved to GitHub. From now on, please file content bugs at https://github.com/mdn/sprints/issues/ and platform bugs at https://github.com/mdn/kuma/issues/.
Status: UNCONFIRMED → RESOLVED
Closed: 5 years ago
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX
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