2.0b7.6 - Zotero interfering with Firefox application settings

boycer · November 30, 2009

Zotero 2.0b7.6 appears to interfere with fire the application settings of my Firefox (aka Iceweasel) browser on Debian Lenny (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.0.15) Gecko/2009102815 Firefox/3.0.6 (Debian-3.0.6-3)). Here is a description of the problem:

Scenario 1) I am running Zotero and browsing an e-journal (I have tested with two different journals) through my university's (U of Pittsburgh) library VPN (Juniper connect). I select to view a PDF version of one of the articles and Firefox hangs indefinitely with no error messages.

Scenario 2) I start up Firefox with Zotero enabled, I go to Edit-->Preferences and click on the Applications tab. Firefox hangs indefinitely with no error messages.

Scenario 3) I start up Firefox but disable Zotero. I go to Edit-->Preferences and click on the Applications tab. Firefox shows the list of MIME / application settings

Scenario 4) I start up Firefox but disable Zotero. I browse an e-journal. I select to view a PDF version of one of the articles and Firefox works as expected.

Please let me know if I can provide any further assistance.

-Rich

dstillman · November 30, 2009

Zotero doesn't really have anything to do with the Applications prefpane, so I'm not sure why you'd only be getting that with Zotero enabled, but you might try (backing up for potential later debugging and) deleting mimeTypes.rdf.

boycer · November 30, 2009

Thanks for the suggestion. I deleted the mimeTypes.rdf file from the user profile that my Firefox uses, re-enabled Zotero, and restarted Firefox. A new mimeTypes.rdf file was generated. Firefox did not hang indefinitely when I went to Edit-->Preferences and click on the Applications tab. However, the browser did hang indefinitely when Zotero is enabled and I try to open a PDF file through the VPN as mentioned in Scenario 1 above. I could open a local PDF file. I disabled Zotero, This issue goes away when I disable Zotero and restart Firefox but *only if* I delete the mimeTypes.rdf again. Perhaps the VPN has something to do with the problem. Has anyone else had similar issues that you know of?

dstillman · November 30, 2009

So you're saying that after disabling Zotero and restarting, you still have the PDF problem if you don't delete mimeTypes.rdf? Are you sure?

boycer · December 4, 2009

Yes, I had to delete the mimeTypes.rdf again *after* disabling Zotero but see below...

*I don't think that my PDF issues were related to Zotero now* because I have other problems downloading PDFs when logged into the VPN since the other day. Zotero appear to have been an innocent bystander to whatever issue the VPN and browser are having. I will report when I finally determine the problem and its solution. My apologies for any confusion.