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[Linux] MozillaBrowser uses deprecated "-remote" flag causing URL to be silently dropped on Firefox 57+

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#4,016 3 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Assessment

Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Newbie friendliness
72/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Quiet
Tech stack
java
Domain
desktop

Research direction

Start by reading the MozillaBrowser code that builds the Firefox command-line parameters, then inspect DefaultWebBrowser.java, which the issue also identifies as using the deprecated flag. Check how the URL parameter is passed in both cases. Done means Firefox 57+ opens the requested URL when selected as the external browser on Linux.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

bug
  • I verified I can reproduce this issue against latest Integration
    Build of Eclipse SDK

Steps to reproduce

  • Install Firefox and Chrome on Linux
  • Set Chrome as system default browser
  • Preferences > General > Web Browser >
    Use external web browser > Select Firefox > Apply and Close
  • Open any URL in Eclipse

I expected: Firefox opens with the URL

But got: Firefox launches but URL is not opened

Image

Root Cause

MozillaBrowser uses deprecated "-remote openURL(...)" flag
which was removed in Firefox 57 (2017), causing URL to be
silently dropped.

Fix suggestion

// Before
parameters + " -remote openURL(" + IBrowserDescriptor.URL_PARAMETER + ")"

// After
parameters + " --new-tab " + IBrowserDescriptor.URL_PARAMETER

Tested under this environment:

  • OS: Linux Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS
  • Eclipse version: Eclipse Platform 4.38 (2025-12) and CDT version 12.3.0.
  • Firefox version: Mozilla Firefox 150.0.3

Note

The same deprecated "-remote" flag is also used in
DefaultWebBrowser.java but has not been verified whether
it is reachable in practice. It may need the same fix.

Community

  • I understand reporting an issue to this OSS project does not
    mandate anyone to fix it. Other contributors may consider the
    issue, or not, at their own convenience. The most efficient way
    to get it fixed is that I fix it myself and contribute it back
    as a good quality patch to the project.
Dominant language
Java
Stars
124
Forks
269
Avg merge
1d 19h
Merged PRs (30d)
60

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First steps

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  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

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