URL Handler opens Firefox instead of Chrome

kcirick · 05-01-2014, 10:42 PM

Hi,

I use Google Chrome as main browser, but when I want to open a url, it opens firefox instead.

I know it has to do with mime-types, but I'm not too familiar with it. I tried including the following in ~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list:

x-scheme-handler/http=google-chrome.desktop;
x-scheme-handler/https=google-chrome.desktop;
x-scheme-handler/ftp=google-chrome.desktop;
x-scheme-handler/chrome=google-chrome.desktop;
text/html=google-chrome.desktop;
application/x-extension-htm=google-chrome.desktop;
application/x-extension-html=google-chrome.desktop;
application/x-extension-shtml=google-chrome.desktop;
application/xhtml+xml=google-chrome.desktop;
application/x-extension-xhtml=google-chrome.desktop;
application/x-extension-xht=google-chrome.desktop;

But I guess this is not enough or not the right thing to do... What do I have to do to make it work?

I have the same problem with torrent-magnet handling. It opens firefox where I would like transmission-gtk to handle it.

Thanks,

Didier Spaier · 05-02-2014, 12:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcirick

when I want to open a url

To help you, here is what we we need to know:

In which program or utility do you open the url?
Which desktop or windows manager are you using?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

kcirick · 05-02-2014, 01:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Didier Spaier

To help you, here is what we we need to know:

In which program or utility do you open the url?
Which desktop or windows manager are you using?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

Thanks for your quick reply. Here are the answers to your questions:

- The program could be anything, but as some examples, pidgin and evince.

- I have openbox as WM, but I use a lot of XFCE programs like xfce-terminal and thunar

I hope these are useful information.. let me know if I can provide further information.

lopid · 05-04-2014, 07:44 AM

Try xfce4-mime-settings.

kcirick · 05-07-2014, 05:25 PM

Hi,

I have tried xfce4-mime-settings, and I set all of the settings that has Firefox to google-chrome. I just tested pidgin, and it still opens the url in Firefox.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

beder · 05-07-2014, 06:35 PM

I have a similar, but maybe not so much, problem to yours.
My problem is that when I update firefox, any program (including Pidgin which you also mentioned) still tries to open the old binary (for ex, /usr/bin/firefox-21) but can't find it.
I got so tired of trying to fix it, that I eventually created a symbolic link /usr/bin/firefox-21 pointing to /usr/bin/firefox, which actually launches the latest version, so it "solved" the issue, even though not in a pretty way

So any answers you might find here may also help solve this upgrade-and-can't-find-the-right-binary-anymore problem

ruario · 05-08-2014, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beder

My problem is that when I update firefox, any program (including Pidgin which you also mentioned) still tries to open the old binary (for ex, /usr/bin/firefox-21) but can't find it.

I answered your one in a post the other day.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ruario

This should fix it:

Code:

$ rm ~/.local/share/applications/userapp-Firefox-*.desktop
$ sed -i '/userapp-Firefox/d' ~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list

Quote:

Originally Posted by ruario

Just to expand on the problem. This was caused by Firefox creating a userapp-Firefox-XXXXXX.desktop file and updating mimeapps.list to point to it. This will happen whenever you set Firefox as your default browser from within Firefox itself, rather than your via desktop environment. The breakage is because userapp-Firefox-XXXXXX.desktop can contain hardcoded paths (to binaries, icons, etc.), which might change with future Firefox releases.

I would recommend you set your default browser via the desktop environment itself, e.g. in KDE "System Setting > Default Applications > Web Browser". This avoids having to remove a broken userapp-Firefox-XXXXXX.desktop and correct mimeapps.list manually again in the future.

jamesf · 05-11-2014, 09:20 AM

You might have multiple things going on, here.

KDE and XFCE both subscribe to the xdg-* stuff, from portland.freedesktop.org

Note that all examples are done in XFCE's Terminal under XFCE. Just to make sure I'm using the xdg stuff.

xdg-open is used by KDE/XFCE programs/utilities to open something, so:

Code:

james@gaz:~$ xdg-open 'http://www.linuxquestions.org'

opens the website in your default xdg/freedesktop browser.

To see which browser that is, do this:

Code:

james@gaz:~$ xdg-settings --help
xdg-settings - get various settings from the desktop environment

Synopsis

xdg-settings { get | check | set } {property} [value]

xdg-settings { --help | --list | --manual | --version }

Use 'man xdg-settings' or 'xdg-settings --manual' for additional info.
james@gaz:~$ xdg-settings --list
Known properties:
  default-web-browser           Default web browser
james@gaz:~$ xdg-settings get default-web-browser
firefox.desktop
james@gaz:~$

Use xdg-settings set to set it to something else, like chrome.desktop or something. I guess? Haven't done it myself.

This whole thing is in the xdg-utils package, for -current:

Code:

james@gaz:~$ ls -l /var/log/packages/xdg*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8253 Jul 28  2012 /var/log/packages/xdg-user-dirs-0.14-i486-1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1485 Nov  1  2013 /var/log/packages/xdg-utils-1.1.0_rc1-noarch-2
james@gaz:~$

Also xdg-mime for mime-type handling:

Code:

james@gaz:~$ xdg-mime
xdg-mime - command line tool for querying information about file type handling
and adding descriptions for new file types

Synopsis

xdg-mime query { filetype | default } ...

xdg-mime default application mimetype(s)

xdg-mime install [--mode mode] [--novendor] mimetypes-file

xdg-mime uninstall [--mode mode] mimetypes-file

xdg-mime { --help | --manual | --version }

Use 'man xdg-mime' or 'xdg-mime --manual' for additional info.
james@gaz:~$

Non-freedesktop.org / portland (project name?) Desktop Environments use system mime types and similar, I _think_. So, depending upon whether you're using KDE/XFCE programs or, e.g., Window Maker or something, you can expect different behavior.

Hope this helps somebody some.