Firefox browser usurped link-opening. [Solved]

[MXRobo]

Hello,
I hope MX-25 development is going as smoothly as possible.

MX-21.3 Xfce ahs, NOT 23

Shortly after installing firefox and going through the settings and installing a few extensions, a pop-up appeared that read something like this:
"Enable link opening in Firefox", now TB opens in FF if FF is installed.

Unnecessary background: I installed firefox as I wanted to create a separate profile (no profile knowledge/exp) as I thought this might help in creating a relatively anonymous FB (marketplace) account, and it was suggested that one use a proxy rather than a VPN.

After installing firefox and going through the settings and installing a few extensions, a pop-up appeared that read something like this: "Enable link opening in Firefox". It did not say make FF your default browser, and it did not say make FF the DEFAULT browser for opening of links, or ALL links; that's the only reason that I enabled the permission. I'm very suspicious of enabling such permissions, but I assumed that FF surely wouldn't blatantly mislead one with the wording in their notifications – well, they did.

I tried deleting and reinstalling FF with MXPI, I tried "sudo apt purge firefox" twice to no avail. Thunderbird links open in FF if installed, and only work as before – in my Default Browser – with FF not installed. I tried an F-Search and removing just about everything that was firefox or mozilla related, unless I thought it might be TB related. and I don't know what's what, but again to no avail.

My Timeshift snapshots are old as I'm very tight for space (might not accept one) and I thought that I'd install MX-25 soon.

This isn't that big of an issue because I can just reinstall MX-25 without attempting to copy my TB/mozilla configs (first time) and set up TB again from scratch if necessary – I don't know if the changes were made elsewhere or in TB, but it will be a little inconvenient and I'd like to know how to copy my TB configs anyway.

QSI:

Code: Select all

Snapshot created on: 20240803_1654
System:    Kernel: 6.12.6-1-liquorix-amd64 [6.12-7~mx21ahs+1] x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1 
           parameters: audit=0 intel_pstate=disable amd_pstate=disable 
           BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.12.6-1-liquorix-amd64 root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash 
           acpi_backlight=native_wmi_ec 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.18.1 tk: Gtk 3.24.24 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm 4.18.0 vt: 7 
           dm: LightDM 1.26.0 Distro: MX-21.3_ahs_x64 Wildflower November 22  2021 
           base: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye) 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: VivoBook_ASUSLaptop X512DA_F512DA v: 1.0 
           serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: ASUSTeK model: X512DA v: 1.0 serial: <filter> UEFI: American Megatrends 
           v: X512DA.310 date: 12/24/2019 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 16.0 Wh (59.9%) condition: 26.7/37.1 Wh (72.0%) volts: 7.8 min: 7.8 
           model: ASUSTeK ASUS Battery type: Li-ion serial: N/A status: Not charging cycles: 34 
CPU:       Info: Dual Core model: AMD Ryzen 3 3200U with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx bits: 64 
           type: MT MCP arch: Zen family: 17 (23) model-id: 18 (24) stepping: 1 microcode: 8108102 
           cache: L2: 1024 KiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm bogomips: 20761 
           Speed: 2126 MHz min/max: 1400/2600 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 1: 2422 
           2: 2482 3: 3171 4: 3171 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected 
           Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected 
           Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
           Type: mds status: Not affected 
           Type: meltdown status: Not affected 
           Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected 
           Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected 
           Type: retbleed mitigation: untrained return thunk; SMT vulnerable 
           Type: spec_rstack_overflow mitigation: Safe RET 
           Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl 
           Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
           Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines; IBPB: conditional; STIBP: disabled; RSB 
           filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not affected 
           Type: srbds status: Not affected 
           Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:  Device-1: AMD Picasso/Raven 2 [Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Vega Mobile Series] 
           vendor: ASUSTeK driver: amdgpu v: kernel bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:15d8 
           class-ID: 0300 
           Device-2: IMC Networks USB2.0 HD UVC WebCam type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-6.2:5 
           chip-ID: 13d3:56dd class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter> 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.14 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.18.0 driver: loaded: amdgpu 
           display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1 
           Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x286mm (20.0x11.3") 
           s-diag: 583mm (23") 
           Monitor-1: eDP res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 142 size: 344x193mm (13.5x7.6") 
           diag: 394mm (15.5") 
           OpenGL: renderer: AMD Radeon Vega 3 Graphics (raven2 LLVM 14.0.5 DRM 3.59 
           6.12.6-1-liquorix-amd64) 
           v: 4.6 Mesa 22.0.5 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: AMD Raven/Raven2/Fenghuang HDMI/DP Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           bus-ID: 02:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:15de class-ID: 0403 
           Device-2: AMD ACP/ACP3X/ACP6x Audio Coprocessor driver: snd_pci_acp3x v: kernel 
           alternate: snd_rn_pci_acp3x,snd_pci_acp5x,snd_pci_acp6x,snd_acp_pci,snd_rpl_pci_acp6x,snd_pci_ps,snd_sof_amd_renoir,snd_sof_amd_rembrandt,snd_sof_amd_vangogh,snd_sof_amd_acp63,snd_sof_amd_acp70 
           bus-ID: 02:00.5 chip-ID: 1022:15e2 class-ID: 0480 
           Device-3: AMD Family 17h/19h/1ah HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel 
           v: kernel bus-ID: 02:00.6 chip-ID: 1022:15e3 class-ID: 0403 
           Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k6.12.6-1-liquorix-amd64 running: yes 
           Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yes 
           Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.19 running: no 
Network:   Device-1: Intel Wireless 8265 / 8275 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel modules: wl 
           bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:24fd class-ID: 0280 
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
           IF-ID-1: proton0 state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A 
           IF-ID-2: pvpnksintrf0 state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: <filter> 
Bluetooth: Device-1: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 
           bus-ID: 1-6.1:4 chip-ID: 8087:0a2b class-ID: e001 
           Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 4 state: down bt-service: N/A rfk-block: 
           hardware: no software: no address: <filter> 
           Info: acl-mtu: 1021:4 sco-mtu: 96:6 link-policy: rswitch hold sniff 
           link-mode: slave accept 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 119.24 GiB used: 80.89 GiB (67.8%) 
           SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required. 
           ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: SanDisk model: SD9SN8W128G1102 size: 119.24 GiB 
           block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> 
           rev: 6002 scheme: GPT 
Partition: ID-1: / raw-size: 24 GiB size: 23.46 GiB (97.73%) used: 16.29 GiB (69.4%) fs: ext4 
           dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2 
           ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 1024 MiB size: 1022 MiB (99.80%) used: 440 KiB (0.0%) 
           fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1 
           ID-3: /home raw-size: 16.01 GiB size: 15.67 GiB (97.86%) used: 11.33 GiB (72.3%) 
           fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda3 maj-min: 8:3 
           ID-4: /tmp raw-size: 4 GiB size: 3.84 GiB (96.10%) used: 41.6 MiB (1.1%) fs: ext4 
           dev: /dev/sda6 maj-min: 8:6 
Swap:      Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) 
           ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 2 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 dev: /dev/sda4 
           maj-min: 8:4 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 67.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 67.0 C 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 2900 
Repos:     Packages: 2635 note: see --pkg apt: 2619 lib: 1289 flatpak: 16 
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64] https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/ bullseye main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye-updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye main contrib non-free
           2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64] https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/megasync.list 
           1: deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/meganz-archive-keyring.gpg] https://mega.nz/linux/repo/Debian_11/ ./
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
           1: deb https://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ bullseye main non-free
           2: deb https://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ bullseye ahs
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list 
           1: deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vivaldi.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64] https://repo.vivaldi.com/stable/deb/ stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/protonvpn-stable.sources 
           1: deb https://repo.protonvpn.com/debian stable main
Info:      Processes: 336 Uptime: 3h 34m wakeups: 4 Memory: 9.67 GiB used: 5.42 GiB (56.0%) 
           Init: SysVinit v: 2.96 runlevel: 5 default: 5 tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 10.2.1 
           alt: 10 Client: shell wrapper v: 5.1.4-release inxi: 3.3.06 
Boot Mode: UEFI

I searched but found some potential solutions that seemed a little esoteric or not specific enough for MX, and something for, IIRC Fedora or something but I had doubts that it would work with a Debian based distro.

I'd still like to install FF and create a profile(s), but as it stands, TB (and possibly other) links would open in FF if it's installed.

Anyway, any help/suggestions would be much appreciated.

Cheers!

[Eadwine Rose]

You can open the links in a browser of your choice.

In the menu, find Default Applications (just start typing that in the top bar), and there you can set your browser and mail reader.

Now.. that might not be enough, so..

Open terminal, and enter

Code: Select all

update-alternatives --config x-www-browser

and enter the browser you want


To make this systemwide for all users, su to root first.



To add.. in Thunderbird's settings you can type browser in the search box, and then there is this window with on the left content type, and on the right content action. Make sure to set all fitting options (like http https and html) to the browser of your choice.

[Stevo]

Since we package the current Firefox release in a newer version than Debian and ship it as the default browser, this quite naturally brings up the question of what the heck is going on here with you installing it?

[MXRobo]

@Stevo
Re. the pronoun querry – because my parlormaid doesn't do windows or linux.

I originally had probably over half-a-dozen browsers instaledl but I became so tight on space a few years ago that I removed many unnecessary programs, so I reinstalled FF recently.

@Eadwine Rose
I should have mentioned that "Default Applications" was the first thing that I checked, it does not change when FF is installed as it still indicates:
Default Applications" → Internet – brave-browser-stable; I don’t' know about the items under: Default Applications" → Others.

MX-21.3 Thunderbird 115.10.1, the search did not work, but I searched online for "linux thunderbird browser settings"
and I changed these from False to True - under Config Editor in TB:
network.protocol-handler.warn-external.http
network.protocol-handler.warn-external.https

Some sights suggested changing these to True as well:
network.protocol-handler.warn-external.default
network.protocol-handler.warn-external.ftp

And I found "Content type" and "Action" under Settings → General → Files and Attachments

A few sites said that I would then have to open a link and then select a the Browser under Other, or:

"Now, go back to Edit -> Settings. Again, on the General tab, scroll about halfway down the screen to where it says “Files & Attachments.” You should now see an entry for “https” (or http if the link went to an unencrypted website). You can now modify this option. I set mine to “Use System Handler (default)”.

per: https://www.ryananddebi.com/2025/05/07/ ... underbird/

but all that is available is Content type - Portable Document Format PDF, Action - Preview in Thunderbird, or "Use Other" under the "Preview in Thunderbird" dropdown.

But it seems to be working correctly again in Brave without doing any of these steps – so that's good.
I may wait for other advice, and to check to see if this works with other types of links, not just PDF and after I logout/in and reboot too.

Also, and I'm still not certain, but I originally thought that my enabling of the notification would affect some programs other than Thunderbird.

I'm a little apprehensive about enter terminal commands that I don't understand, or know what they'll do, but if I need to I'll search "update-alternatives --config x-www-browser" to see what it does – thought it may be related to "Default Applications" if the GUI doesn't work properly.
And I don't know how to modify "update-alternatives --config x-www-browser" with "brave-browser-stable %U", although I'm relative certain that I wouldn't include the "%U".

Thanks for the help - you too @Stevo Have a good evening.
Cheers!

[MXRobo]

In rushing my forum response, I forgot to install FF first to test it – needed to leave soon – which I realized soon after posting.
Anyway, I installed FF today and it did not work, I had to do the following per: https://overflow.adminforge.de/exchange ... n-chromium

EDIT: SOLUTION

Open Thunderbird. In 24.6.0, the menu can be accessed on the right hand side of the top menu bar (next to the search bar and is represented by three horizontal lines).

Click Edit > then click Preferences >, a new window will open. You will need to select the Advanced tab, at the bottom of that tab Open the Config Editor.

Then, search for both
network.protocol-handler.warn-external.http and
network.protocol-handler.warn-external.https.

These two are most likely to have a current value of false. Change the value to true (do this by simply right clicking on them) and the next time you try to open a link from some e-mail it'll ask you which browser to use. Chromium isn't likely to be shown in the list of choices, so use the navigate button. You can find Chromium at /usr/bin/chromium-browser.

If using google chrome as your browser of choice you may want to make it /usr/bin/google-chrome or /usr/bin/google-chrome-stable

Re: If using google chrome as your browser of choice you may want to make it /usr/bin/google-chrome or /usr/bin/google-chrome-stable
Obviously I used/selected : "/usr/bin/brave-browser-stable" from Thunar, after finding path in: Whisker Menu → R.Click over Brave → Edit Application.
END SOLUTION

This should work now – again, I originally thought that it probably would affect other programs too, not just TB, so I just search for TB, I searched regarding the OS.

I'll mark solved in a day or two.

Thanks again.