mailto links in chrome under Fedora 21

mccfrank · 2015-07-06 21:35:02

Discovered today that mailto links do not work in Google-Chrome. I have set the
default mailreader as Thunderbird in the XFCE settings manager, but Chrome
can't open mailto links.
The mime list of default apps lists exo-mailreader.desktop which doesn't work.
The old freedesktop xsettings apparently doesn't work with the latest XFCE

http://picpaste.com/Screenshot_-_060715 … 5CDqwO.jpg

What's the solution, anyone ??

Last edited by mccfrank (2015-07-06 21:43:33)

ozjd · 2015-07-07 06:58:55

I've heard Adblock can cause this to happen.

mccfrank · 2015-07-07 07:31:53

Disabled it. No change.

MountainDewManiac · 2015-07-07 15:29:30

Do they work in a different web browser or is it all web browsers?

Regards,
MDM

mccfrank · 2015-07-07 15:57:16

They work in Firefox the only other browser I have installed. I have my suspicions
because if I allow Gmail to be the mail handler, everything works. I have prowled the
chrome forums where a lot of people have the same or similar problems and
there doesn't seems to be a solution...other than allowing Gmail to handle mailto
links.

MountainDewManiac · 2015-07-07 20:25:48

Hmm... A Google product can only work with another Google product? Sounds like a Microsoft attitude, lol. And, methinks, the solution is the same - purge Google products from your system.

Regards,
MDM

mccfrank · 2015-07-07 20:28:14

Not a solution to the problem. Thanks anyway.

ToZ · 2015-07-07 20:46:46

I wonder if this is somehow related to the xdg-open issue being discussed here? I don't have a fedora install handy to check myself, but what does your /usr/bin/xdg-open file look like? Does the detectDE() function try to identify the xfce environment based on the value of the XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP environment variable or the result of running an xprop command (that fails).

If the latter, have a look at the workaround listed there to see if it helps.

mccfrank · 2015-07-07 21:46:04

This is the relevant section:

detectDE()
{
# see https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=34164
unset GREP_OPTIONS

if [ -n "${XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP}" ]; then
case "${XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP}" in
ENLIGHTENMENT)
DE=enlightenment;
;;
GNOME)
DE=gnome;
;;
KDE)
DE=kde;
;;
LXDE)
DE=lxde;
;;
MATE)
DE=mate;
;;
XFCE)
DE=xfce
;;
esac
fi

if [ x"$DE" = x"" ]; then
# classic fallbacks
if [ x"$KDE_FULL_SESSION" != x"" ]; then DE=kde;
elif [ x"$GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID" != x"" ]; then DE=gnome;
elif [ x"$MATE_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID" != x"" ]; then DE=mate;
elif `dbus-send --print-reply --dest=org.freedesktop.DBus /org/freedesktop/DBus org.freedesktop.DBus.GetNameOwner string:org.gnome.SessionManager > /dev/null 2>&1` ; then DE=gnome;
elif xprop -root _DT_SAVE_MODE 2> /dev/null | grep ' = \"xfce4\"$' >/dev/null 2>&1; then DE=xfce;
elif xprop -root 2> /dev/null | grep -i '^xfce_desktop_window' >/dev/null 2>&1; then DE=xfce
elif echo $DESKTOP | grep -q '^Enlightenment'; then DE=enlightenment;
fi
fi

if [ x"$DE" = x"" ]; then
# fallback to checking $DESKTOP_SESSION
case "$DESKTOP_SESSION" in
gnome)
DE=gnome;
;;
LXDE|Lubuntu)
DE=lxde;
;;
MATE)
DE=mate;
;;
xfce|xfce4|'Xfce Session')
DE=xfce;
;;
esac
fi

if [ x"$DE" = x"" ]; then
# fallback to uname output for other platforms
case "$(uname 2>/dev/null)" in
Darwin)
DE=darwin;
;;
esac
fi

if [ x"$DE" = x"gnome" ]; then
# gnome-default-applications-properties is only available in GNOME 2.x
# but not in GNOME 3.x
which gnome-default-applications-properties > /dev/null 2>&1 || DE="gnome3"
fi
}

So it look like a good version.

I thought XFCE used exo-open, that's the impression I got from two days of Googling
the problem.

I just checked the value of XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP in a terminal and it's empty.

However DESKTOP_SESSION indicates xfce (not xfce4)

I am baffled. Everything works under the Mate desktop and even under IceWm ( I export
the needed desktop_session variable in that case).

Last edited by mccfrank (2015-07-07 22:03:31)

MountainDewManiac · 2015-07-07 23:13:01

mccfrank wrote:

I thought XFCE used exo-open

Could that be part of the problem? IIRC, there was some kind of change to it earlier this year that screwed up some apps that used it which expected the old behavior and didn't get it. Seems like one I read of was web links in emails in Thunderbird suddenly stopped calling the user's web browser & loading the page. And then four or five days later the app received an update which fixed the issue. I may be incorrect about the specific situation I read about, but I do remember thinking, "I bet that one screws up a lot of applications until they update for it."

mccfrank wrote:

I just checked the value of XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP in a terminal and it's empty.

I just did a search and one of the results was this thread:
https://mail.xfce.org/pipermail/xfce-bu … 06098.html
I get the feeling from skimming that there are several methods of identifying the user's DE and that different desktops (and "boot menus, whatever they're called (I CRS!)") use different ones. Also, I think they were talking about how if a .file is present, it helps identify Xfce as the DE to some of them. IDK.

A good place to discuss this issue would be on the Xfce Developers email list and whatever medium the Chrome developers use that is comparable. It's probably a simple fix, the real issue is probably just figuring out for sure which thing (the browser? the desktop environment? Some small component of something else? Etc.?) is responsible for the unexpected behavior and getting its developer to agree.

Regards,
MDM

mccfrank · 2015-07-08 00:58:48

I read through your m.xfce.org link....it seems there is a lot of confusion even among developers as to what should be set where and when Too many distros...too many desktops...too many variables.

I strongly suspect XFCE is using exo-open to launch many things.
For example, if I drop to a shell and type exo-open --launch MailReader...up comes Thunderbird.
If I run google-chrome from a terminal, mailto links work. This may have to do with the fact that
way back when in the distant past I set up .bashrc to export MAILER=/usr/bin/thunderbird....I dunno. I guess I should try it
without that and see what happens. It's just that now I feel I am going around in circles and nobody seems
to have the definitive answer.

Thanks for your input

ToZ · 2015-07-08 00:58:52

mccfrank wrote:

So it look like a good version.

Yes.

I thought XFCE used exo-open, that's the impression I got from two days of Googling
the problem.

It does, but it looks like chrome uses xdg-open. If you look at the "open_xfce()" function in xdg-open, you'll see that it fires off exo-open. The purpose of xdg-open is to identify your DE and fire off the appropriate launching mechanism.

I just checked the value of XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP in a terminal and it's empty.
However DESKTOP_SESSION indicates xfce (not xfce4)

You're okay:

if [ x"$DE" = x"" ]; then
      # fallback to checking $DESKTOP_SESSION
      case "$DESKTOP_SESSION" in
         gnome)
           DE=gnome;
           ;;
         LXDE|Lubuntu)
           DE=lxde;
           ;;
         MATE)
           DE=mate;
           ;;
         xfce|xfce4|'Xfce Session')
           DE=xfce;
           ;;
      esac
    fi

..."xfce|xfce4|'Xfce Session')" means xfce or xfce4 or 'Xfce Session'.

I am baffled. Everything works under the Mate desktop and even under IceWm ( I export
the needed desktop_session variable in that case).

Yes, it is baffling indeed.

What version of exo do you have installed?
Does the following command open your mail reader at a compose message dialog?

xdg-open mailto:foo?subject=bar

Did mailto ever work on your system?

EDIT: Can you also try this command:

exo-open --launch MailReader mailto:foo?subject=bar

Last edited by ToZ (2015-07-08 01:04:39)

mccfrank · 2015-07-08 01:14:48

What version of exo do you have installed?

I don't know but the file is dated March 3rd.

Neither exo-open commands work here.

But exo-open --launch Mailreader does bring up Thunderbird !!

I don't recall whether mailto ever worked as I have only been using XFCE
lately having grown annoyed with Mate.

Last edited by mccfrank (2015-07-08 01:16:29)

ToZ · 2015-07-08 03:01:10

mccfrank wrote:

What version of exo do you have installed?
I don't know but the file is dated March 3rd.

If memory serves...

yum info exo

...should help.

Neither exo-open commands work here.

One of them is actually xdg-open. Hope you caught that.

mccfrank · 2015-07-08 14:32:02

Yes...yum info exo (sometimes I'm brain dead)

Name : exo
Arch : i686
Version : 0.10.2
Release : 9.fc21
Size : 2.2 M
Repo : installed
From repo : updates
Summary : Application library for the Xfce desktop environment
URL : http://xfce.org/
License : LGPLv2+ and GPLv2+
Description : Extension library for Xfce, targeted at application development.

This Fedora is updated.

Neither commands work here....sorry I did realize one was xdg-open.

If I remove the url from the xdg-open I get the expected 'can't determine url' response.

The command exo-open --launch MailReader mailto:foo?subject=bar does nothing...but if I remove
the mailto:foo?subject=bar thunderbird comes up ??

Weird

MountainDewManiac · 2015-07-08 14:41:38

Hmm...

I just read that xdg-open... Well, we knew all that, lol. But: "When no desktop environment is detected" (which seems to be happening in your case) "...xdg-open will use its own configuration files."

It appears that, while DEs identify themselves with it (okay, they should ), some WMs don't - and xdg-open allows for this by letting the user set things manually in its configuration files.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xdg-open

IOW, if it can detect the DE, it will simply pass the request on to that DE's file-handler (exo.open in Xfce's case)... but if it cannot, it falls back on its own configuration files and tries to open the file itself. So I'm thinking that exo-open never even gets called into play, since your variable is blank.

Can you set things up manually as above (might be relevant info in the environment variables link at the bottom, IDK)?

Or, if you use Xfce exclusively, can you create a small script that sets that variable to "xfce" and have it run at startup (after the DE/etc. is already loaded, I suppose)? I just read about issues others were having and changing a couple things or even just adding one line appeared to help them - but they were older reports. OtOH, seemed to be the same basic issue, not getting the variable properly filled.

Okay, I'm in way over my head, here (reading some of the links I've found). But it looks like there is some good information in them. Some is about Chromium, but as the two applications are remarkably similar it may be applicable, IDK. I hate to just post a list of links, but you - and, of course, ToZ - will be better able to make sense of them and may know at a glance whether or not they'll be of help.

http://budts.be/weblog/2011/07/xdf-open-vs-exo-open
https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=28103
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=149847 - with a link to another thread at the bottom
https://bugs.launchpad.net/linuxmint/+bug/1063801

Some of the comments in the above may be more useful than the main text, lol.

That's all I have to offer, little enough as it is. :regrets:

Regards,
MDM

mccfrank · 2015-07-08 16:42:55

"Okay, I'm in way over my head, here (reading some of the links I've found). But it looks like there is some good information in them. Some is about Chromium, but as the two applications are remarkably similar it may be applicable, IDK. I hate to just post a list of links, but you - and, of course, ToZ - will be better able to make sense of them and may know at a glance whether or not they'll be of help."

I went through all the links and bottom line, it appears he problem at least in Chromium was fixed sometime ago. I assume that it was
also fixed in Google-Chrome.

I don't know what to do next - in the meantime, I have booted back into Debian Sid...and discovered mailto: in xfce works fine. Now what the difference is I don't know.

But I will investigate.

Thanks for your input.

Xfce Forum

Sub domains

#1 2015-07-06 21:35:02

mailto links in chrome under Fedora 21

#2 2015-07-07 06:58:55

Re: mailto links in chrome under Fedora 21

#3 2015-07-07 07:31:53

Re: mailto links in chrome under Fedora 21

#4 2015-07-07 15:29:30

Re: mailto links in chrome under Fedora 21

#5 2015-07-07 15:57:16

Re: mailto links in chrome under Fedora 21

#6 2015-07-07 20:25:48

Re: mailto links in chrome under Fedora 21

#7 2015-07-07 20:28:14

Re: mailto links in chrome under Fedora 21

#8 2015-07-07 20:46:46

Re: mailto links in chrome under Fedora 21

#9 2015-07-07 21:46:04

Re: mailto links in chrome under Fedora 21

#10 2015-07-07 23:13:01

Re: mailto links in chrome under Fedora 21

#11 2015-07-08 00:58:48

Re: mailto links in chrome under Fedora 21

#12 2015-07-08 00:58:52

Re: mailto links in chrome under Fedora 21

#13 2015-07-08 01:14:48

Re: mailto links in chrome under Fedora 21

#14 2015-07-08 03:01:10

Re: mailto links in chrome under Fedora 21

#15 2015-07-08 14:32:02

Re: mailto links in chrome under Fedora 21

#16 2015-07-08 14:41:38

Re: mailto links in chrome under Fedora 21

#17 2015-07-08 16:42:55

Re: mailto links in chrome under Fedora 21

Board footer