Ubuntu
firefox-3.0 package

Firefox calls external helper application without options

Bug #123044 reported by Erik Forsberg
2
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
firefox (Fedora)
Expired
Low
firefox-3.0 (Ubuntu)
Invalid
Low
Unassigned

Bug Description

Binary package hint: firefox

When firefox version 2.0.0.4+1-0ubuntu1 uses a helper application to open a file it doesn't honor the command line options specified in the helper applications .desktop file.

For example, after installing nautilus-cd-burner, which installs a .desktop-file with the following lines:

MimeType=application/x-cd-image;
Exec=nautilus-cd-burner --source-iso=%f

..then trying to open a .iso file from the web with nautilus-cd-burner, nautilus-cd-burner is called with the filename as first argument, not with --source-iso <filename>. This is repeatable every time. However, after downloading, the file can be opened correctly by clicking the 'open' link in the download manager window.

The same problem has been observed in the firefoxes in Fedora Core 6 and 7: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=246089

Revision history for this message
In , Peter (peter-redhat-bugs) wrote :

Some applications installs .desktop files with mime types and an Exec line which
contains options. For example, nautilus-cd-burner installs
/usr/share/applications/nautilus-cd-burner-open-iso.desktop, which contains:

MimeType=application/x-cd-image;
Exec=nautilus-cd-burner --source-iso=%f

Firefox picks this up, so that when Firefox gets an ISO file, it presents a
dialog which allows the user to open the ISO file with Nautilus. However, the
*first* time after starting Firefox, it calls the external application with the
file as the first argument, without options:

astrand 32016 2.2 3.3 107640 34532 pts/10 S 14:33 0:00
/usr/bin/nautilus-cd-burner /tmp/tl-1.6.0-clientcd.iso

In this case, the applications gives an error. If you try again, the application
is called correctly:

astrand 32030 3.5 3.3 107604 34268 pts/10 S 14:33 0:00
nautilus-cd-burner --source-iso=/tmp/tl-1.6.0-clientcd-1.iso

and things works as expected.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
firefox-2.0.0.4-2.fc7 as well as firefox-1.5.0.12-1.fc6. I've verified the
problem both on FC6 and F7.

How reproducible:
Start Firefox. Go to http://www.cendio.com/downloads/clients and click on
"Client CD".

Siegfried Gevatter (rainct)
Changed in firefox:
importance: Undecided → Low
Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in firefox:
status: Unknown → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
John Vivirito (gnomefreak) wrote :

Thank you for the bug report,
Does this happen with epiphany,konqueror, galeon, or just firefox.
Is this the same way to reproduce in Ubuntu:
How reproducible:
Start Firefox. Go to http://www.cendio.com/downloads/clients and click on
"Client CD".
If not can you please give us step by step instructions on how to reproduce?

Changed in firefox:
assignee: nobody → mozilla-bugs
status: New → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Erik Forsberg (forsberg) wrote :

It doesn't happen with galeon (2.0.2-4ubuntu1). I tried konqueror, but nautilus-cd-burner doesn't appears as a choice, and none of the available alternatives have an Exec-line (in their .desktop file) where "%f" should be replace by the filename. Haven't tried epiphany.

The bug can be reproduced on ubuntu just as in the Fedora bug. To make sure www.cendio.com was not the problem, I also tried downloading a debian businesscard ISO, getting the same behaviour. So, in detail, here's another way to reproduce:

1. Start firefox.

2. Visit http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/4.0_r0/i386/iso-cd/

3. Click on debian-40r0-i386-businesscard.iso

4. Select "open with", "nautilus-cd-burner"

5. Click OK.

6. Download file and then notice the error message from nautilus-cd-burner - "unable to create CD/DVD - no files were selected".

7. In the process list (ps -ef), notice that nautilus-cd-burner is run without the --source-iso argument. It should get an --source-iso argument if firefox parsed the .desktop file correctly.

Please note that nautilus-cd-burner is just an example application used to trigger the behaviour. Any helper application that requires an option to accept a filename will fail with firefox.

Revision history for this message
In , Matěj (matj-redhat-bugs) wrote :

At this point, we're going to only be taking security fixes and major stability
fixes into this release of Fedora. However, we still want to ensure the bug is
fixed in the next version. We'd appreciate if you could test Firefox 3,
available at http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html or now shipping
as the default in Fedora rawhide and provide feedback as to whether it still
exists so we can file a ticket upstream to try to fix it in Firefox 3 before it
is released.

Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in firefox:
status: Confirmed → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
In , Matěj (matj-redhat-bugs) wrote :

Since there are insufficient details provided in this report for us to
investigate the issue further, and we have not received feedback to the
information we have requested above, we will assume the problem was not
reproducible, or has been fixed in one of the updates we have released for the
reporter's distribution.

Users who have experienced this problem are encouraged to upgrade to the latest
update of their distribution, and if this issue turns out to still be
reproducible in the latest update, please reopen this bug with additional
information.

Closing as INSUFFICIENT_DATA.

[This is a mass-closing request, if you think that this bug shouldn't be closed,
please, reopen with additional information.]

Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in firefox:
status: Incomplete → Invalid
Revision history for this message
John Vivirito (gnomefreak) wrote :

Thank you for taking the time to file this ubg report with us. Closing due to age. If this is still a problem in 3.0.7 please reopen this bug.
Also please reopen with all new information on how to reproduce this bug by giving us step by step instructions.
We also need what happens what is expected to happen.
To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New". Thanks again!

Changed in firefox (Ubuntu):
assignee: mozilla-bugs → nobody
Changed in firefox-3.0 (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Invalid
Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater)
Changed in firefox (Fedora):
importance: Unknown → Low
status: Invalid → Expired
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