Problem

When using Thunderbird 3.1.7 i can click on a Link which opens in GNOME Webbrowser. How can i make sure the Link opens into Firefox instead?

Solution

Regardless of the Desktop you use (KDE, GNOME, etc.) you need to change some Settings in the GConf repository with the GNOME configuration tool gconftool-2. The reason is that Mozilla uses GTK+ which in turn is linked to GNOME.

• Open a Shell as a User.

• Check the http, https Settings in the GConf Repository. They should either contain the gnome-www-browser (as showed below) or maybe a specific Path to an other Webbrowser (sometimes also a link to some specific firefox version).

gconftool-2 -g /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/http/command
gnome-www-browser "%s"

gconftool-2 -g /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/https/command
gnome-www-browser "%s"

gconftool-2 -g /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/http/enabled
true

gconftool-2 -g /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/https/enabled
true

• Make sure to replace these settings (even if one contains a specific firefox version) to use the SEPP firefox wrapper.

gconftool-2 -s /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/http/command '/usr/sepp/bin/firefox "%s"' --type string
gconftool-2 -s /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/https/command '/usr/sepp/bin/firefox "%s"' --type string
gconftool-2 -s /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/http/enabled 'true' --type bool
gconftool-2 -s /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/https/enabled 'true' --type bool

• Recheck the Settings to make sure they have been set to the SEPP firefox wrapper and that these Settings are used.

gconftool-2 -g /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/http/command
/usr/sepp/bin/firefox "%s"

gconftool-2 -g /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/https/command
/usr/sepp/bin/firefox "%s"

gconftool-2 -g /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/http/enabled
true

gconftool-2 -g /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/https/enabled
true

• Even if the settings should be immediately available it is advised to close thunderbird and firefox and then reopen them again.