Before posting this question I investigated this and found it already implemented in my 14.04. Also investigated this which references the above linked question. Handlers for both google-chrome.desktop and firefox.desktop are in place in my system.
A description follows below. Can anyone please suggest a way to track down and solve this problem?
The problem statement:
The system is Ubuntu 14.04 64-bit, freshly installed July 10, 2015, including LibreOffice Writer 4.2.8.2. The default document reader is Evince 3.10.3.
A PDF document containing internet hyperlinks is opened in Evince. If the default browser is Firefox, a click on any hyperlink properly opens a page in Firefox. But if the default browser is Chrome a hyperlink click does nothing, even if Chrome is already launched.
Here's a demonstration.
Create a document in LiberOffice Writer that contains internet hyperlinks. While the document is open in Writer, ctrl+click on a link opens the page in the default browser, either Chrome or Firefox.
Now export the document to PDF and close Writer.
Double-click on PDF file name; it opens it in Evince. If Firefox is the default browser a clicked link opens properly. If Chrome is the default browser the cursor changes to a link pointer on hovering over the link, but a click does nothing.
NOTE: A PDF can also be opened for print preview in Gnome Document Viewer. The document presents nicely in this viewer and the cursor changes to a link pointer when hovering over a link, but clicked links do nothing regardless of which browser is default.
Now try to gain some clues.
Close Evince and re-launch it from a terminal. Then File > Open the PDF document. If Firefox is the default browser a clicked link opens properly and the following presents in terminal:
When page load begins: (process:3226): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_slice_set_config: assertion 'sys_page_size == 0' failed
When page load completes: Vector smash protection is enabled.
Close Firefox and change default browser to Chrome. The PDF is still open in Evince. A link click does nothing and nothing presents in terminal.
Change default browsers between Chrome and Firefox a few times leaving PDF open in Evince. In every case with default Firefox a clicked link opens properly with the same reports in terminal, but no action occurs with default Chrome.
