User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:6.0.1) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/6.0.1 Build ID: 20110830092941 Steps to reproduce: I defined a protocol handler in gconf and in xdg such that if I do the following from the command line they both open a browser with the corresponding website: gnome-open http://www.google.com xdg-open http://www.google.com Actual results: If I open an email and click on a URL the same as the ones listed above it asks what application It should use and offers no suggestions. Expected results: It should be able to look at the OS default and use the OS default automatically without prompting. I have to configure thunderbird in an environment where the email client has to be autoconfigured. I used gconf to do this previously but this has stopped working.

(In reply to grants from comment #0) > I have to configure thunderbird in an environment where the email client has > to be autoconfigured. I used gconf to do this previously but this has > stopped working. You need to refer to this work-around: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Actions_for_attachment_file_types#Hacking_Thunderbird.27s_settings

I confirm this bug. Thunderbird 17.0,6 Ubuntu 13.04 "raring ringtail" XFCE 4.10.2-0ubuntu1 I had set my default browser to Chromium, from Firefox, using Start - Settings - Preferred applications in the XFCE menu It set this correctly on the back end: % sudo update-alternatives --query x-www-browser Name: x-www-browser Link: /usr/bin/x-www-browser Status: auto Best: /usr/bin/chromium-browser Value: /usr/bin/chromium-browser Alternative: /usr/bin/chromium-browser Priority: 40 Alternative: /usr/bin/firefox Priority: 40 In Thunderbird's about:config I see it is configured to use x-www-browser Edit - Preferences - Advanced - Config Editor network.protocol-handler.app.http and network.protocol-handler.app.https were both set to x-www-browser (manually, a while ago) Whether I leave those set to x-www-browser or reset them to defaults, Thunderbird will only bring up links using Firefox. It will not recognize the current system default browser. I can provide config files or logs if necessary.

I have found what I believe is the cause of the problem. It was definitely the cause on my machine, and the problem is solved there. Even though the browser preference was set in the OS, and through each browser "check to see if I'm the default browser" preference - there was a conflicting setting which took precedence. In Thunderbird - Edit - Preferences - Attachments both "http" and "https" were set to Firefox. When I changed these to Chromium, links are now opened properly in Chromium. The root cause seems to be that the logic for determining default browser in Linux is needlessly complicated. See this for an explanation: http://kevinlocke.name/bits/2012/07/18/thunderbird-default-browser-linux/