Thunderbird won't open browser

[not_yet]

thanks beta worked great

my tbird is under my home folder / no change of permissions required

cheers

[beta]

Thanks very much for your helpful input. I can report that this works - though for some reason it only seems to work for root. I have changed the permission on all the folders and files mentioned to read/write and execute for all and have checked my paths - but all to no effect. I made a file in the below named directories and changed permission on this to rwx for all too:

Hi... Maybe u added file user.js in your root home folder not in your user home folder... If your non-root-user is "abc" you should have a directory called /home/abc; inside this you should have directories called .thunderbird and .mozilla, thery are hidden, so, if u are using kde, for example, enable "view> show hidden file" in your file manager menu... these directories are different from the program directory... in every user's home dir there's a program folder for user preferences...

so try to put user.js in those directories. e.g. /home/yourusername/.thunderbird

...if u still have problems with permissions another possibility -purists maybe won't like it- is to install thunderbird and firefox under your home directory.

[raid517]

OK I cracked it. It took a bit of time and experimenting, but at least you provided the hint I needed. Using your method I could get Firefox to open a mailto link on a webpage with thunderbird. But for the life of me, I couldn't get it to go the other way round. So in the end I looked at the other files that were in the /thunderbird1/defaults/pref folder. In there I found a file called all-thunderbird.js. On opening this I was able to see that this contained the global preferences for thunderbird. The syntax was slightly different - but not radically. So instead of the prefix user_pref I simply edited this to 'pref' and then set out the rest of the line as prescribed. In my case it was as follows:

Code: Select all

pref("network.protocol-handler.app.http", "/usr/bin/firefox/");

(Which itself was a symlink to my install directory for firefox, e.g. /usr/lib/firefox/firefox).

After I did this everything worked normally.

Hopefully this will help anyone who runs into any similar issues to resolve this matter once and for all.

I still can't work out why on Earth these are not simple user selectable options from within the thunderbird and firefox applications themselves. It literally took me (like everyone here) months before I figured out (with lots of help) how to fix this.

It really should be more obvious.

GJ

[KrisM2]

to get Tbird to link to FF
In Tbird: using the about:config extension
about:config
right click choose add new string
name: network.protocol-handler.app.http
string value: /usr/bin/firefox/


if the variable is already there, just modify it.
hth
Kristi

[mkmelin]

Will the above script find the correct PID of thunderbird if many instances of thunderbird are running as different users?

I too had this problem, the solution i found was using -remote "ping()" instead of pidof. This is the script if anyone is interested:
<code>
#!/bin/sh

# Script adapted from
# http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=72353

url="$1"

# !!!MAKE SURE THIS PATH IS CORRECT FOR YOUR INSTALLATION!!!
export MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME=/usr/local/thunderbird1.0

# Check if an instance of the thunderbird is running already.
# (2> /dev/null redirects stderr to /dev/null so we don't
# have to see the "Error: No running window found." )
$MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME/thunderbird -remote "ping()" 2> /dev/null

# exit status ($?) of the previous command will be 0 if thunderbird is running
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
# thunderbird is running
url=`echo "$url" | sed -e's/^mailto://'`
$MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME/thunderbird -remote "mailto($url)"
else
# thunderbird is not running
if [ -z "$url" ]; then
# no url given, just start the program
$MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME/thunderbird
else
# arg given, start with compose window
$MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME/thunderbird -compose $url
fi
fi
</code>
It is mostly the same as the one posted by Beastux earlier. Seems to work fine at least for me.
BTW, why isn't some script like this included in the thunderbird releases?

[russp]

I followed the instructions below and it works -- Thank-you!.
I made one change and there was one error on stdout...My question is at the end...


I'm using this on solaris 9, with CDE:I had to change one line in the openlink.sh script:
=-=-=-=-=-
from:
export MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME=${HOME}"/firefox"
To:
MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME=${HOME}"/firefox"
export MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME
=-=-=-=-=-
(placing the "export" command on its own line)
For some reason, the /bin/sh was throwing a "not an identifier" error.

This is my error on stdout:
/export/home/russp/firefox/mozilla-xremote-client: Error: Failed to send command: 509 internal error
Any familiar with this?

[paintitmatt]

FIREFOX: open thunderbird when clicking on a "mailto:" link

1.Go to the .mozilla directory in your home directory (it is usually a hidden directory like /home/user/.mozilla or /home/user/.mozilla/firefox)
2.Go your firefox profile directory (with a random-generated name, like this Xbcgev.default). To be sure u're in the correct directory check if a file named "prefs.js" exists.
3. Create an empty file called "user.js". (If it already exists skip this passage)
4. Open "user.js" and write this line (if the file already exists append the line at the end):

user_pref("network.protocol-handler.app.mailto","/usr/bin/thunderbird/thunderbird");

/usr/bin/thunderird/thunderbird is the path to execute thunderbird

5.That's all

It's really simple and for me it worked perfectly (suse 9.1 personal).
Hope this post could help who, like me, had been googling for hours to find a solution to these problems Let me know.
Greets

This works great for me except if Thunderbird is already open. Then I get the "choose profile" dialog, and I can't use my default (and only) profile because it is already in use...
I have Ubuntu Linux 4.10 using Gnome, Firefox 1.0, and Thunderbird 1.0
Any ideas?

Also, I tried Beastux's instructions but could not install MozEX. Like at least one other person on this thread posted, it doesn't show up in the extensions manager. mozex.jar file shows up in /home/matt/.mozilla/firefox/default.alx/chrome and there are references to it in /home/matt/.mozilla/firefox/default.alx/chrome/chrome.rdf. Is there a way to "unintall" it by editing that chrome.rdf file and deleting mozex.jar?

[xopher1]

Beastux 's openlink.sh script didn't quite work for me on SuSE 9.2. Well, at least not the part about opening in a new tab in Firefox, instead of a new window. Through fiddling a bit, I got this one to work. I'm posting it in case anyone wants to use it.

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh

export MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME="/opt/MozillaFirefox"

url="$1"
if [ "x$url" = "x" ]; then
url="about:blank"
fi

if $MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME/bin/firefox.sh -remote "openURL($url,new-tab)"; then
exit 0
fi
exec $MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME/bin/firefox.sh "$url" 

[Chris Sharman]

thunderbird nows invokes firefox ok for me. Is there a way to give focus to the firefox tab if it was already open ?

The mozEX extension seems to have gone, so I can't see how to get the other way working ?
Any suggestions anyone ?

[silverbirch]

[quote="kristiQ"]to get Tbird to link to FF
In Tbird: using the about:config extension
about:config
right click choose add new string
name: network.protocol-handler.app.http
string value: /usr/bin/firefox/



Okay I installed the about:config extension. When I go to it there is a long list of names but no "add new string". I checked down and among the network lists there's no "protocol-handler.app.http". At the top of the window which opens there is space which says "filter". Am I perhaps meant to enter something here? New to linux so a bit scared about trying to follow one of the scripts supplied.

Thanks

[mkmelin]

Okay I installed the about:config extension. When I go to it there is a long list of names but no "add new string". I checked down and among the network lists there's no "protocol-handler.app.http". At the top of the window which opens there is space which says "filter". Am I perhaps meant to enter something here?

Right click somewhere on the page... New -> String

[silverbirch]

Okay I installed the about:config extension. When I go to it there is a long list of names but no "add new string". I checked down and among the network lists there's no "protocol-handler.app.http". At the top of the window which opens there is space which says "filter". Am I perhaps meant to enter something here?

Right click somewhere on the page... New -> String

Thanks for that - it worked and I added the new string - but unfortunately doesn't work. Back to the rute tutorial!

[RobF]

I tried the alternative method of URL dispatching for Thunderbird, contributed by kristiQ, and I got it to work for Xandros 2.0 (running Thunderbird 1.0 and Firefox 1.0). Since kristiQ's description was highly condensed, I've written up a very detailed recipe for dummies like myself - see below.

Beastux' procedure opens a new tab in Firefox if Firefox is already open, whereas kristiQ's procedure opens a new window in Firefox. Also, Beastux' will pop up Firefox regardless of whether Firefox is already open and how many tabs are open. kristyQ's only pops up Firefox if it isn't already open - if Firefox is already open, a new window will open for the URL but it won't pop up, you have to go to the bottom tray to bring up Firefox. Also, kristyQ's method seems to be slower than Beastux' - but it is easier to implement.

If you have used Beastux' method and now want to try kristyQ's, you will have to delete or rename openlink.sh and user.js (I renamed them to xopenlink.sh and xuser.js), and reset or modify any entries of network.protocol-handler.app.xxx in about:config.

Beastux' method is described here:

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=224329

kristyQ's method using the extension about:config is described below.

---------------------------------------------------------

How to get Firefox launched when you click on a link in Thunderbird

Go to

https://update.mozilla.org/extensions/?application={3550f703-e582-4d05-9a08-453d09bdfdc6}

Find the extension "AboutConfig 0.4" (e.g. under "Newest Thunderbird Extensions"), click on it and follow the install instructions. This will download the file "install.php" to your download directory.

Open Thunderbird > Tools > Extensions > Install > Files of type -> All Files. Navigate to your download directory, click on "install.php" and open it. This will open an install window. Click on Install Now.

Close Thunderbird and restart it. Go to Tools > Extensions. AboutConfig 0.4 should be properly listed there. On my first try, it hadn't been properly installed, and I had to go through a cycle of install extension, close TB, open TB, uninstall extension, close TB, open Tb, install once more, close TB, open TB. When AboutConfig is properly installed, right-clicking on the entry in the extensions list should allow you to access the menu item "About AboutConfig".

Next, go to Tools and click on about:config (this is a new entry at the bottom of the Tools menu). Scroll down to network.protocol-handler.app.xxx. If there is already a user set entry (or entries) for http, https or ftp, modify it as explained below by right-clicking on it.

If there is no entry, right-click somewhere in the window, then go to New > String. Enter the preference name network.protocol-handler.app.http; then under Enter string value enter the path to your Firefox executable, e.g. in my case /home/robert/firefox/firefox. Do the same thing for network.protocol-handler.app.https and network.protocol-handler.app.ftp.

Close Thunderbird and restart it. Clicking on a link now should open Firefox.

[silverbirch]

Unfortunately for me - using the expanded instructions above for about:config haven't done the trick

I am trying to gather enough iformation to understand the CLI instructions. Might seem silly but only time have played about have had someone giving me key by key (almost) instructions. Obviously need practice and more learning.

Thanks anyway
silverbirch

[silverbirch]

Had a try at doing this using vi.

Couple of questions/problems. Found the files okay to know the paths to enter.
Do I enter the script with lines between each line as presented in the post, or no lines?
Is each character immediately adjacent to the next? i.e. are there any spaces, say between 'if' and $?

At the end when I tried to save and exit, I got this " Can't open file for writing". The file is in my home directory and probably installed there as root.

Sorry if these questions seem dumb but I'm on foreign territory here - definitely NOT a geek!

Any help appreciated
thanks
silverbirch