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I have a problem with Firefox failing to load hyperlinks from emails in Thunderbird.

With the default browser set to Firefox, clicking hyperlinks in emails launches the browser but no page is loaded (the address bar remains empty).

I believe this is a Firefox problem because when I change the default browser to Chromium, clicking hyperlinks in emails correctly launches the browser at the right page.

I have checked the firefox.desktop file on my system (/usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop) and it contains the correct exec string (firefox %u, as suggested in this very old question: Link clicked not passed to firefox). I have also disabled all Firefox Addons.

In Thunderbird, I can copy the link to the clipboard but nothing happens when I then paste it into the Firefox address bar. Similarly, the Paste and Go option does nothing. However, if I close then reopen a fresh instance of Firefox (i.e. not the one that was launched from Thunderbird) the pasted URL will load correctly. I think somehow Firefox doesn't like the way it's launched from Thunderbird.

In order to diagnose the problem, I have replaced /usr/bin/firefox (which was a link to /usr/lib/firefox/firefox.sh) with a small script to log the time of launch and the URL parameter passed to Firefox (taking inspiration from https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=284906, however I believe the problem discussed in that thread is quite different and the fix proposed there did not help me).

The script logs show me that Thunderbird is trying to launch Firefox with the correct address but for some reason Firefox is not opening it. If I launch Firefox from the command line with the same address specified it works fine. Similarly, running xgd-open with the specified address (which I believe simply calls the default browser, Firefox in this case) also works fine.

The script also dumps the current environment variables using printenv. I can see some differences between the environment when Firefox is launched by Thunderbird and the environment when it's launched from the command line, but I'm not sure if any are particularly relevant.

When I look in the system log I do see a number of apparmor="DENIED" messages relating to Firefox appearing at exactly the time I click the link in Thunderbird. However I see similar messages appearing when I launch Firefox from the command line so again this may not be relevant.

My current workaround is to remember to launch Firefox manually before attempting to click links in Thunderbird. Firefox then seems to correctly open the links in a new tab. I supposed I could replace /usr/bin/thunderbird with a script that first launches Firefox before launching Thunderbird, but this sort of thing shouldn't be necessary.

I am testing using a fresh install of Ubuntu 22.04 and the following up-to-date software versions:

Firefox version 114.0 (64-bit) Mozilla Firefox for Ubuntu canonical - 1.0
114.0+build3-0ubuntu0.22.04.1~mt1
https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu/

Thunderbird version 102.11.2 (64-bit)
1:102.11.2+build1-0ubuntu0.22.04.1~mt1
https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu/


Chromium Version 113.0.5672.126 (Official Build) built on Debian bookworm/sid, running on Debian bookworm/sid (64-bit)
113.0.5672.126-1~xtradeb1
https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/xtradeb/apps/ubuntu/

Any ideas?

Nicholas
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  • Check whether switching to the APT verison of Firefox works https://askubuntu.com/q/1399383/124466 This might be a snap bug (beware that if you switch to the APT version, you will lose your bookmarks unless you have firefox sync enabled) – Archisman Panigrahi Jun 07 '23 at 00:17
  • @ArchismanPanigrahi I am using the APT version. – Nicholas Jul 28 '23 at 15:26

1 Answers1

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I have exactly the same strange problem and have started to follow this question. It is specific to one PC. Perhaps this may be relevant. The same software installed in two other devices of similar specification works without this problem.

I'm using xubuntu 22.04 with Firefox 116 and Thunderbird 102.13.1 (both from apt upgrade).

The upgrades have not fixed the problem so I am now considering testing a new OS installation.

EDIT... Having made a new installation using the same software (and hardware) in a new partition I am convinced that the issue lies somewhere in original Ubuntu installation. I have copied over my complete home directory (installing other extra apps as I find that I need them when their links fail). This has fixed the problem for me.

John Everingham
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