Bug 228807 – Www-client/mozilla-firefox-3.0-r1: mailto links do not work

• Product: Gentoo Linux
• Status: RESOLVED NEEDINFO

[Description thomas 2008-06-21 22:03:53 UTC]

Clicking on a mailto link does not open the mail application set in config:network.protocol-handler.app.mailto.
I have set "thunderbird" there. This did work with Firefox 2. Now, with the same user profile, it does not work with Firefox 3.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. in about:config, set network.protocol-handler.app.mailto to thunderbird
2. click on a mailto link
3. nothing happens

Actual Results:  
Nothing.

Expected Results:  
Thunderbird should be called.

[Comment 1 thomas 2008-06-22 20:19:39 UTC]

I have done some investigation and found this out:
When I start with a fresh profile, Firefox asks me what to do when I click on a mailto-link.
Firefox remembers the answer in my profile folder in mimeTypes.rdf. In my migrated Firefox 2.0 profile, I can see this:
  <RDF:Description RDF:about="urn:scheme:handler:mailto"
                   NC:useSystemDefault="true"
                   NC:alwaysAsk="false">

Now, there are 2 problems with that:
1. Despite the fact, that thunderbird is my system default browser (using KDE3), Firefox 3 does not start it for mailto-links.
2. I cannot edit default apps for mime types in Firefox 3, see also bug #228665

Workaround: Start with a fresh profile or change the entry in mimeTypes.rdf, setting NC:alwaysAsk="true". Then the next time, Firefox 3 will ask which program to start.

So, the remaining problem for this bug here is: Firefox 3 does not start the default mail app for mailto-links under KDE3.

[Comment 2 Raúl Porcel (RETIRED) 2008-06-24 16:57:08 UTC]

I think this is related to 228665, can you check if enabling the gnome use-flag fixes it?

[Comment 3 thomas 2008-06-25 06:14:27 UTC]

I recompiled xulrunner and firefox with gnome use flag. Now I can see the list of applications in the preferences. For mailto, it recognizes correctly "thunderbird (default)", but it still does not start thunderbird when I click on a mailto link. To achieve this, I have to explicetely configure /usr/bin/thunderbird as mailto application.

[Comment 4 Raúl Porcel (RETIRED) 2008-11-17 11:01:35 UTC]

Still happening?

[Comment 5 Raúl Porcel (RETIRED) 2008-11-23 12:36:01 UTC]

Reopen if so

[Comment 6 thomas 2009-01-18 21:19:39 UTC]

Sorry for the delay.

Yes, this still happens. If I choose "thunderbird (default)" as mailto application, it does not start thunderbird when I click on a mailto-link. It only works, if I explicitely configure /usr/bin/thunderbird as mailto app.

[Comment 7 Nirbheek Chauhan (RETIRED) 2009-05-01 21:02:14 UTC]

I cannot reproduce this with mail-client/mozilla-thunderbird-bin-3.0_beta2 and firefox-3.5_beta4 -- somehow fixed there?

[Comment 8 Nirbheek Chauhan (RETIRED) 2009-07-07 16:01:15 UTC]

Please get back to us on the status w.r.t 3.5