General Information

This guide will help you install Firefox and Thunderbird.  This guide will also explain how to configure Thunderbird to open http, https, and ftp links in Firefox and how to configure Firefox to open mailto links in Thunderbird.

Requirements

1. Working X Desktop
   
2. Possible root access

Installation

Firefox Installation

Installation is straight forward.

# #	cd /usr/ports/www/firefox make install clean

Thunderbird Installation

Installation is straight forward.

# #	cd /usr/ports/mail/thunderbird make install clean

Configuration for all users.

How to set up Thunderbird to open Firefox when you click on an http, https, or ftp link

Make sure any instances of Thunderbird are closed and then change to the global preferences directory as root.  Then add the preference lines to the all-thunderbird.js file.

# # # #

cd /usr/local/lib/thunderbird/lib/thunderbird/defaults/pref echo 'pref("network.protocol-handler.app.http", "/usr/local/bin/firefox");' >> all-thunderbird.js echo 'pref("network.protocol-handler.app.https", "/usr/local/bin/firefox");' >> all-thunderbird.js echo 'pref("network.protocol-handler.app.ftp", "/usr/local/bin/firefox");' >> all-thunderbird.js

Thunderbird is now configured to open Firefox when you click on an http or https link.

How to set up Firefox to open thunderbird when you click on a mailto link

Make sure any instances of Firefox are closed and then change to the global preferences directory as root.  Then Add the preference line to the firefox.js file.

# #	cd /usr/local/lib/firefox/defaults/pref/ echo 'pref("network.protocol-handler.app.mailto", "/usr/local/bin/thunderbird");' >> firefox.js

Firefox is now configured to open Thunderbird when you click on a mailto link.

Configuration for only the logged in user.

How to set up Thunderbird to open Firefox when you click on an http, https, or ftp link

Make sure any instances of Thunderbird are closed and change to the user preferences directory.

$ cd ~/.thunderbird

List the files in the directory.  There should be a directory created of random characters ending in .default.

$ ls -lF total 6 -rw-r--r--  1 jared  jared  335 Feb 17 12:20 appreg drwx------  6 jared  jared  512 Feb 20 22:57 h5gprd9d.default/ -rw-r--r--  1 jared  jared  104 Feb 20 22:56 profiles.ini

Change to the <randomcharacters>.default directory and add the preference lines to the prefs.js file.

$ cd *.default $ echo 'user_pref("network.protocol-handler.app.http", "/usr/local/bin/firefox");' >> prefs.js $ echo 'user_pref("network.protocol-handler.app.https", "/usr/local/bin/firefox");' >> prefs.js $ echo 'user_pref("network.protocol-handler.app.ftp", "/usr/local/bin/firefox");' >> prefs.js

Thunderbird is now configured to open Firefox when you click on an http or https link.

How to set up Firefox to open thunderbird when you click on a mailto link

Make sure any instances of Firefox are closed and then change to the user preferences directory.

$ cd ~/.mozilla/firefox

List the files in the directory.  There should be a directory created of random characters ending in .default.

$ ls -lF total 6 drwx------  5 jared  jared  1024 Feb 20 22:57 l4x9yzxw.default/ -rw-------  1 jared  jared   313 Feb 16 12:51 pluginreg.dat -rw-r--r--  1 jared  jared    94 Feb 16 12:51 profiles.ini

Change to the <randomcharacters>.default directory and add the preference lines to the prefs.js file.

$ cd *.default $ echo 'user_pref("network.protocol-handler.app.mailto", "/usr/local/bin/thunderbird");' >> prefs.js

Firefox is now configured to open Thunderbird when you click on a http or https link.

Author: Jared Barneck
jared at bsdcertification dot com