Thunderbird/Linux not opening HTTP links

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tomri
Posts: 43
Joined: November 18th, 2004, 3:30 am

Thunderbird/Linux not opening HTTP links

Post by tomri »

Hi folks,

I don't know how many times I have solved this problem during the last 15 or so years, but this time I am stuck. After upgrading my Linux machine to Debian 10, Thunderbird does not open HTTP and HTTPS links in Firefox any more. In $profile/handlers.json I have the following:

{"defaultHandlersVersion":{},"mimeTypes":{"application/pdf":{"action":4,"ask":true,"extensions":["pdf"]},"application/x-xpinstall":{"action":0,"ask":true,"extensions":["xpi"]}},"schemes":{"https":{"action":2,"ask":true,"handlers":[{"name":"Chromium %u","command":"/usr/bin/chromium %u"},{"name":"Firefox %u","command":"/opt/firefox/firefox %u"}]},"http":{"action":2,"ask":true,"handlers":[{"name":"Firefox %u","command":"/opt/firefox/firefox %u"},{"name":"Chromium %u","command":"/usr/bin/chromium %u"}]}}}

/opt/firefox/firefox %u does open a web site from the command line; however not from within Thunderbird.
The option /usr/bin/chromium %u works from within Thunderbird.

Any idea how to fix this?

Thanks
kapqa
Posts: 40
Joined: April 18th, 2020, 2:50 am

Re: Thunderbird/Linux not opening HTTP links

Post by kapqa »

hello , i always resorted to this help here and has helped me anytime i had this problem

https://www.ghacks.net/2013/01/20/fix-f ... ing-links/
tomri
Posts: 43
Joined: November 18th, 2004, 3:30 am

Re: Thunderbird/Linux not opening HTTP links

Post by tomri »

kapqa wrote:hello , i always resorted to this help here and has helped me anytime i had this problem

https://www.ghacks.net/2013/01/20/fix-f ... ing-links/
I followed the procedure but it did not help. Actually all prefs were already set to true and I get the "choose application" dialog shown at the bottom of that web page. I also tried toggling all prefs mentioned to false and back to true, but that did not help either.
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tanstaafl
Moderator
Posts: 49647
Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Re: Thunderbird/Linux not opening HTTP links

Post by tanstaafl »

See if http://kb.mozillazine.org/Changing_the_ ... hunderbird gives you any ideas.

"You used to do this by setting the path for the browser with the network.protocol-handler.app.http and network.protocol-handler.app.https settings. While that setting is normally associated with Linux, it worked under Windows and OS X too. With recent versions you need to set network.protocol-handler.warn-external.http and network.protocol-handler.warn-external.https true and chose the desired browser from a popup window instead."
tomri
Posts: 43
Joined: November 18th, 2004, 3:30 am

Re: Thunderbird/Linux not opening HTTP links

Post by tomri »

tanstaafl wrote:See if http://kb.mozillazine.org/Changing_the_ ... hunderbird gives you any ideas.

"You used to do this by setting the path for the browser with the network.protocol-handler.app.http and network.protocol-handler.app.https settings. While that setting is normally associated with Linux, it worked under Windows and OS X too. With recent versions you need to set network.protocol-handler.warn-external.http and network.protocol-handler.warn-external.https true and chose the desired browser from a popup window instead."
That's exactly what I am doing but it does not work. At least not for Firefox. Crazy.
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tanstaafl
Moderator
Posts: 49647
Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Re: Thunderbird/Linux not opening HTTP links

Post by tanstaafl »

I'm using Windows 10 and my system is set to default to the Vivaldi browser. I toggled network.protocol-handler.warn-external.http and network.protocol-handler.warn-external.https, exited and restarted Thunderbird, and selected Firefox in the popup window after clicking on a link. Worked fine. I'm using Firefox 75.0

While not a practical long term solution I suggest you try installing the Open With add-on and see if that lets you open a link in Thunderbird using Firefox.
tomri
Posts: 43
Joined: November 18th, 2004, 3:30 am

Re: Thunderbird/Linux not opening HTTP links

Post by tomri »

systemctl disable apparmor
reboot
fixed it.
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