Firefox on Slackware 10.2: '-remote' command fails on a dual-head system
 

This is my first post to this forum. I have already asked this question on Firefox support at Mozilla but got 0 (zero) replies so I thought I'd ask here as there probably are more tech savy readers about.

I run Slackware 10.2 in a dual-head configuration with PWM as the window manager. I usually have firefox running on display :0.0. When I try to call firefox from display :0.1, usually from rmail or gnus, nothing happens. Trying from a shell prompt on display :0.1 gives this:

$ firefox -display=:0.0 -remote "openURL(localhost, new-tab)"; echo "$?"
Error: No running window found
2
NOTE: in the actual command I used the proper form for the URL but the system here won't let me post it.

and as a further test:

$ firefox -display=:0.0 -remote "ping()"; echo "$?"
Error: No running window found
2

When these commands are run from display :0.0 everything runs as expected with or without the '-display' option. As a further check, other programs, xterm, xeyes etc., work fine with the display option and appear where expected every time.

If anyone has any ideas on how to fix this or what the problem may be it would be much appreciated.

Joe

For what it's worth, I've had a similar problem with Firefox and Slackware 10.2 on a dual-head also, except with KDE. If I open a Firefox window on one display and then attempt to open another Firefox instance on the second, Firefox complains that there's already a running process and it must be closed before the second instance will be opened.

Maybe the solution will be similar as well.

Matt Bragano

So, we have pretty much the same problem.

AFAIK firefox has never been able to run more than one instance. In this case
however, I'm wondering if this is a Slackware/Firefox compatibilty issue as no other forums appear to have reported the problem or seem to have any ideas as to its solution.

Joe

AFAIK, firefox can not share one profile at two different instance (display location); there can be only one lock file in your profile directory, however, once I had seemonkey build to work with dual display, Anyway, this is workaround:
first you create a second profile(or make a duplicate of firefox profile with different name):

firefox --display=:0.1 -ProfileManager

Create a Icon on your Desktop/Display with following command build-in:

firefox --display=:0.1 -browser -P name of your second profile

Modify your Icon on your other Desktop/Display with following command:

firefox --display=:0.0 -browser -P default

Interesting snippet filed for future reference. Thanks.

However, this doesn't really solve my problem which is using the -remote command from display :0.1 to open a URL in a new tab in an already running firefox on display :0.0. All I ever get is "Error: No running window found". I'm beginning to think it can't be done - does firefox implement the -display command properly - or at all? I'm just wondering because running

firefox -display=:0.0 -P default2

from a shell on display :0.1 starts a new instance on :0.1. :eek:

Anyway, as it's looking more like a firefox problem than a Slackware/firefox one, these questions would seem to be more appropriate for the firefox forums so I'll try there (again).

Thanks,

Joe

Ok, I thought you are trying to run two firefox at same time on two different display/monitors.

Check this link for remote on unix, http://www.mozilla.org/unix/remote.html.

and you may have to rebuild your firefox to support remote,