Default Browser for Thunderbird.

[rcrook]

Hi Folks,

Got a problem running thunderbird on my Kubuntu install.

For some reason I cannot get thunderbird to use anything but Konqueror for the browser. I have set firefox as the default browser in both the KDE and Gnome "prefered applications" setting. I have even trolled through the thunderbird gnome and kde config file trying to find where its picking this up. It seems all the other application handle firefox properly but thunderbird is very insistant in using konqueror.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance

Randall.

[rcrook]

Re: Default Browser for Thunderbird.

Never mind,

I found it. Obviously gnome based apps like to use /etc/alternatives/x-www-browser.

And of course it was a link to konqueror.

SO I changed the link and it now uses the browser I want it to.

Be Well

Randall.

[askrieger]

Re: Default Browser for Thunderbird.

It's been quite a while since I reviewed my /etc/alternatives/ directory; not since I switched from Debian Sid to Kubuntu Breezy as my primary operating system. I was appalled at what I found there after reading your message. Thanks for calling it to our attention.

The "official" way to change /etc/alternatives/ entries is to use the konsole command "update-alternatives" (check out the man page). The reason is that generic alternatives like x-www-browser (and sub-alternatives, like its manpage) are changed in post-inst scripts by the package installer. If you change symlinks for individual entries by hand, you're likely to leave the alternative system vulnerable to major breakage when you install upgrades. That said, it's certainly easier to change the links by hand, just be alert.

[rcrook]

Re: Default Browser for Thunderbird.

Thanks for the heads up.

I will retrace my steps and make the change the proper way.

Thoogh i am a tad confused as to why the "Default Applications" Options under both Gnome and KDE do not update the alternatives in /etc/. It is something that I feel needs to be looked into perhaps.

It was rather frustrating to see that no matter what I did within the easily accessible preferences selections, my preferred browser still would not come up. And thats from a fresh install of Kubuntu straight of the install/live CD.

Anyway, thanks so much for the info. one to lock back in the memory banks.

Randall.

[nym.null]

Re: Default Browser for Thunderbird.

Thank you both for this thread and information.

I could not understand why Thunderbird would always launch links into Konqueror. I had changed the 'Default Application" in the KDE 'Control Center' to Firefox and then changed all the appropriate file associations to prioritize Firefox ahead of Konqy.

Yet it comes down to CLI and:

sudo update-alternatives --set x-www-browser /usr/bin/firefox

[exploder]

Re: Default Browser for Thunderbird.

Thanks! I have wanted to fix that for some time now.

[sdlnxgk]

Re: Default Browser for Thunderbird.

Thank you both for this thread and information.

I could not understand why Thunderbird would always launch links into Konqueror. I had changed the 'Default Application" in the KDE 'Control Center' to Firefox and then changed all the appropriate file associations to prioritize Firefox ahead of Konqy.

Yet it comes down to CLI and:

sudo update-alternatives --set x-www-browser /usr/bin/firefox

Thanks guys wanted to fix that for so long !!!

[nixgeek]

Re: Default Browser for Thunderbird.

This does not work if one has the 32bit work-around for firefox... i.e using firefox32 shell script, which points to script in /usr/local/bin/firefox32

I am using this because I wanted flash in web pages to work. There is no 64bit that I am aware of.... So I found a way to install Firefox 32bit. as well as add-ons.

Any ideas?

[penguin.ch]

Re: Default Browser for Thunderbird.

This does not work if one has the 32bit work-around for firefox...

How about changing Thunderbird's "internal settings" as described in this text ...?