Nixpkgs: Firefox tries to set itself as a default browser on every run

[suhr]

Firefox is run with GTK_USE_PORTAL=0.

Console output:

Extension error: Error while loading 'jar:file:///nix/store/wflrb79xhkl5gx7sxm9si3bpf48k0dbq-firefox-unwrapped-67.0/lib/firefox/browser/features/[email protected]!/manifest.json' (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) resource://gre/modules/Extension.jsm:466 :: readJSON/</<@resource://gre/modules/Extension.jsm:466:18
onStopRequest@resource://gre/modules/NetUtil.jsm:123:17

1564594967521   addons.xpi  WARN    Exception running bootstrap method startup on [email protected]: Error: Error while loading 'jar:file:///nix/store/wflrb79xhkl5gx7sxm9si3bpf48k0dbq-firefox-unwrapped-67.0/lib/firefox/browser/features/[email protected]!/manifest.json' (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND)(resource://gre/modules/Extension.jsm:466:18) JS Stack trace: readJSON/</<@Extension.jsm:466:18
[email protected]:123:17
Extension error: Error while loading 'jar:file:///nix/store/wflrb79xhkl5gx7sxm9si3bpf48k0dbq-firefox-unwrapped-67.0/lib/firefox/browser/features/[email protected]!/manifest.json' (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) resource://gre/modules/Extension.jsm:466 :: readJSON/</<@resource://gre/modules/Extension.jsm:466:18
onStopRequest@resource://gre/modules/NetUtil.jsm:123:17

1564594967524   addons.xpi  WARN    Exception running bootstrap method startup on [email protected]: Error: Error while loading 'jar:file:///nix/store/wflrb79xhkl5gx7sxm9si3bpf48k0dbq-firefox-unwrapped-67.0/lib/firefox/browser/features/[email protected]!/manifest.json' (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND)(resource://gre/modules/Extension.jsm:466:18) JS Stack trace: readJSON/</<@Extension.jsm:466:18
[email protected]:123:17
Extension error: Error while loading 'jar:file:///nix/store/wflrb79xhkl5gx7sxm9si3bpf48k0dbq-firefox-unwrapped-67.0/lib/firefox/browser/features/[email protected]!/manifest.json' (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) resource://gre/modules/Extension.jsm:466 :: readJSON/</<@resource://gre/modules/Extension.jsm:466:18
onStopRequest@resource://gre/modules/NetUtil.jsm:123:17

1564594967527   addons.xpi  WARN    Exception running bootstrap method startup on [email protected]: Error: Error while loading 'jar:file:///nix/store/wflrb79xhkl5gx7sxm9si3bpf48k0dbq-firefox-unwrapped-67.0/lib/firefox/browser/features/[email protected]!/manifest.json' (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND)(resource://gre/modules/Extension.jsm:466:18) JS Stack trace: readJSON/</<@Extension.jsm:466:18
[email protected]:123:17
Extension error: Error while loading 'jar:file:///nix/store/wflrb79xhkl5gx7sxm9si3bpf48k0dbq-firefox-unwrapped-67.0/lib/firefox/browser/features/[email protected]!/manifest.json' (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) resource://gre/modules/Extension.jsm:466 :: readJSON/</<@resource://gre/modules/Extension.jsm:466:18
onStopRequest@resource://gre/modules/NetUtil.jsm:123:17

1564594967529   addons.xpi  WARN    Exception running bootstrap method startup on [email protected]: Error: Error while loading 'jar:file:///nix/store/wflrb79xhkl5gx7sxm9si3bpf48k0dbq-firefox-unwrapped-67.0/lib/firefox/browser/features/[email protected]!/manifest.json' (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND)(resource://gre/modules/Extension.jsm:466:18) JS Stack trace: readJSON/</<@Extension.jsm:466:18
[email protected]:123:17
Extension error: Error while loading 'jar:file:///nix/store/wflrb79xhkl5gx7sxm9si3bpf48k0dbq-firefox-unwrapped-67.0/lib/firefox/browser/features/[email protected]!/manifest.json' (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) resource://gre/modules/Extension.jsm:466 :: readJSON/</<@resource://gre/modules/Extension.jsm:466:18
onStopRequest@resource://gre/modules/NetUtil.jsm:123:17

1564594967531   addons.xpi  WARN    Exception running bootstrap method startup on [email protected]: Error: Error while loading 'jar:file:///nix/store/wflrb79xhkl5gx7sxm9si3bpf48k0dbq-firefox-unwrapped-67.0/lib/firefox/browser/features/[email protected]!/manifest.json' (NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND)(resource://gre/modules/Extension.jsm:466:18) JS Stack trace: readJSON/</<@Extension.jsm:466:18
[email protected]:123:17

[worldofpeace]

Disabling it asking this should quiet the issue until it's resolved.
I can confirm that the associations are at least correct.

[gloaming]

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1516290

[worldofpeace]

So I guess they should be doing the same as for snap?

• https://dxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/cb5734727c0a9d88e3e236a3e4a741a051509e0e/browser/components/shell/nsGNOMEShellService.cpp#188

In this case, I noticed that doing

optional cfg.gtkUsePortal "1";

will still return an empty list so it ends up doing

export GTK_USE_PORTAL=

By using lib.mkIf we can prevent that.

[gloaming]

I don't think that's quite it. There seems to be a fundamental confusion; the flatpak docs say that:

Portals are the framework for securely accessing resources from outside an application sandbox.

But of course you don't need to be running in a sandbox to use the functionality they provide. Yet firefox is using the presence of GTK_USE_PORTAL to determine if the application is running in a flatpak container. This isn't going to work if people use portals for other reasons.

What they _should_ be doing, I think, is the same as for snap, if the program is running in a flatpak.

They probably also need a more fine-grained way to instruct firefox to use a portal for the file chooser without affecting other functionality:

Setting GTK_USER_PORTAL=1 [sic] to get KDE native dialog is generally not a good idea. The GTK_USER_PORTAL variable is used to detect if the app runs as a flatpak and that means it cannot use the native print dialog and look for mimetype handlers in Firefox.

(Here's why it doesn't actually check the value of GTK_USE_PORTAL:
https://dxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/5f8aeb02af2259acfceed9e1abe987849fbb67ca/toolkit/system/gnome/nsGIOService.cpp#35)

[worldofpeace]

I don't think that's quite it.

That doesn't fix the issue in firefox, in the report this behavior was triggered even if the variable was set in the environment. And in general that probably shouldn't be happening so I fixed that.

[gloaming]

Not sure what you mean, but I wasn't disagreeing with the mkIf thing, just bouncing ideas about how Firefox could improve their behaviour. I'll take the suggestions upstream if I find the time.

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[jbaum98]

I still have this issue. Is there a workaround?

[starcraft66]

I am experiencing this issue atm. Every link I click tries to open in firefox but ends up doing nothing and firefox prompts me to set it as the default browser on every run.