suddenly, http:// links from other applications cause Zotero to open

I think the title mostly describes it. I'm using Firefox 18.0 and Zotero 3.0.11 under Linux Mint 14.1.

All of a sudden, I notice that clicking a web link in any application other that Firefox (which is my default browser) -- for instance, from my email client -- causes Zotero for Firefox to open a fullscreen window, rather than opening it in Firefox itself, as it use to. So, for instance, when I click a link in Thunderbird, I would normally expire Firefox to open the link, but instead, what opens is a new Firefox window, which then opens the fullscreen Zotero window (as if I'd opened a new Firefox window and then typed "zotero://fullscreen" into the title bar). The Zotero fullscreen window doesn't seem to handle the link in any way; it simply appears.

What I really want to happen, of course, is that Firefox simply opens the link in a new tab.

I've tried looking at Firefox's "Applications" tab in the Firefox preferences dialog shows that the handler application shows that the handler for "http" and "https" is "Use Zotero in Firefox (default)." I've tried changing it to "Always ask" and to the location of the Firefox executable (/usr/bin/firefox on my system, according to "which firefox" in a terminal), but neither of these makes a difference. Notable, "always ask" doesn't result in me being asked. I'd simply delete the http and https entries from the helper applications list if I could and see whether that helped, but there's no "delete entry" option on the applications list.

Yes, I could simply right-click on a link in Thunderbird, copy the link location, alt-tab to Firefox, hit ctrl+T to open a new tab, click in the address bar, then hit ctrl+V and Enter ... but this is a REAL hassle if I have a lot of links to open (as I often do, since my department constantly bombards me with email).

I recently checked "always check to see if Firefox is the default browser" in the Firefox preferences, but there was a lag between when I did this and when I noticed that links were opening with Zotero. Unchecking it doesn't help, either.

Here's a video illustrating the problem: http://telly.com/0J8120. You'll notice that a debug output is created during the video; the debug ID created during the video is D1754573690.
  • No idea, but you can try trashing mimetypes.rdf in the Firefox profile directory and restarting Firefox.
  • That didn't do it, but I found a solution. Apparently, Zotero has created a mimetypes.rdf file in its own installation directory (on my system, this is at /home/patrick/.zotero/zotero/3o6p6zne.default/mimeTypes.rdf). Here are the contents of the file:

    <?xml version="1.0"?>
    <RDF:RDF xmlns:NC="http://home.netscape.com/NC-rdf#"
    xmlns:RDF="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">
    <RDF:Description RDF:about="urn:scheme:http"
    NC:value="http">
    <NC:handlerProp RDF:resource="urn:scheme:handler:http"/>
    </RDF:Description>
    <RDF:Description RDF:about="urn:scheme:handler:https"
    NC:useSystemDefault="true"
    NC:alwaysAsk="false" />
    <RDF:Seq RDF:about="urn:schemes:root">
    <RDF:li RDF:resource="urn:scheme:http"/>
    <RDF:li RDF:resource="urn:scheme:https"/>
    </RDF:Seq>
    <RDF:Description RDF:about="urn:scheme:handler:http"
    NC:useSystemDefault="true"
    NC:alwaysAsk="false" />
    <RDF:Description RDF:about="urn:schemes">
    <NC:Protocol-Schemes RDF:resource="urn:schemes:root"/>
    </RDF:Description>
    <RDF:Description RDF:about="urn:scheme:https"
    NC:value="https">
    <NC:handlerProp RDF:resource="urn:scheme:handler:https"/>
    </RDF:Description>
    <RDF:Description RDF:about="urn:root"
    NC:en-US_defaultHandlersVersion="-1" />
    </RDF:RDF>

    Moving this file outside of the /home/patrick/.zotero/zotero/3o6p6zne.default/ directory solved the problem.

    It looks to me (though I admit I'm no expert here) like Zotero seems to have installed itself as a handler for http: and https: schemes. Should I ... um, report this as a bug somehow?
  • Wait, was Zotero for Firefox opening, or was Zotero Standalone opening?
  • OK, just watched the video—Zotero for Firefox. I'm not sure how that'd be related to the Zotero Standalone mimetypes.rdf file, though. Are you sure you fully restarted Firefox after deleting the Firefox one?
  • I'm going to say that deleting the Firefox mimetypes.rdf was almost certainly what fixed this. This shouldn't have anything to do with Zotero Standalone, since it was Firefox that was opening, and I think what you show above is just the default contents of the Zotero Standalone mimetypes.rdf. (In fact, if you start Zotero Standalone it'll probably just be recreated.)

    I don't know how you ended up with http and https handlers in Firefox, though—those obviously shouldn't be there at all (and deleting the Firefox mimetypes.rdf would've removed them). Let us know if this happens again.
  • Zotero Firefox was opening.
  • Whoops, I hadn't seen your later comments before replying. I did in fact delete the Firefox mimetypes.rdf and then fully shut down Firefox (in fact, I rebooted my system), but the problem was still occurring until I removed the mimetypes.rdf file from the Zotero directory.

    Anyway, I'm glad it's fixed now, and will definitely let you know if it happens again. Thanks for the help! -- you pointed me down the right track, and I appreciate it. (=
  • Ah -- in case it's relevant, I do use Zotero standalone occasionally, but definitely haven't done so since I reinstalled my operating system about a week ago.
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