Yep, I can confirm it too. I have two phones with sailfishos and both have the same issue since I’ve update to SailfishOS 4.2: open-url.desktop is missing from $HOME/.local/share/applications and for that reason open url with sailfish browser is not possible.
4 Likes
same issue here. edited the cache, but at least without restart its not working
Under 4.1, there was no browser reference in mime-info.cache. I have a file called open-url.desktop in the same folder:
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Browser
NoDisplay=true
X-MeeGo-Logical-Id=sailfish-browser-ap-name
X-MeeGo-Translation-Catalog=sailfish-browser
MimeType=text/html;x-scheme-handler/http;x-scheme-handler/https;
X-Maemo-Service=org.sailfishos.browser.ui
X-Maemo-Object-Path=/ui
X-Maemo-Method=org.sailfishos.browser.ui.openUrl
1 Like
Thanks everybody for your replies! Now it’s Jolla’s turn to find out how to fix this 
I noticed now that also clicking the “Foreca” text (in Events view) to open weather details, the link goes to Fernschreiber…and of course the same thing from the Jolla weather app…“more details” link.
thanks for letting me know, so I guess there’s nothing to do ATM… (other than copying/pasting links manually… specially painful when you get links in sms where you can only copy the whole message)
You can fix it if you copy open-url.desktop to /home/[nemo or defaultuser]/.local/share/applications and run next command from Terminal (you must enable ‘Developer mode’ from Settings->Developer Tools to install Terminal):
update-desktop-database $HOME/.local/share/applications/
You can create open-url.desktop yourself with a text editor:
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Browser
Icon=icon-launcher-browser
NoDisplay=true
X-MeeGo-Logical-Id=sailfish-browser-ap-name
X-MeeGo-Translation-Catalog=sailfish-browser
MimeType=text/html;x-scheme-handler/http;x-scheme-handler/https;
X-Maemo-Service=org.sailfishos.browser.ui
X-Maemo-Object-Path=/ui
X-Maemo-Method=org.sailfishos.browser.ui.openUrl
Anyway I think this is a bug and I hope that Jolla fix it
7 Likes
Now that worked, everything is back to normal, thank you so much!
For the record, my open-url.desktop file had disappeared altogether 
edit - the solution worked only temporarily on my device
AFAIK that was intentional with the latest update (only having .desktop files in /usr/share/applications).
However, some cheeky apps that drop their own http handlers in .local will then bork the system even more than usual.
What is the best way to solve this issue? I can’t open an url since open-url.desktop is missing.
Not sure… I have steered clear of these apps for this very reason.
On closer inspection, it does seem like i did actually have open-url.desktop in the .local (but it was the only file there).
So i tried removing it, and doing
update-desktop-database $HOME/.local/share/applications/
and
devel-su update-desktop-database /usr/share/applications/
Opening http(s) links still works fine for me, even after a reboot.
/usr/share/applications/sailfish-browser.desktop declares that it handles the relevant MimeTypes.
But do take this as what it is, a “works for me”.
3 Likes
I did some testing this week with the same conclusion: if open-url.desktop isn’t in .local, I can’t open url, devel-su update-desktop-database /usr/share/applications/ didn’t work for me.
Others apps have open.desktop files in .local too, like fernschreiber, webcat or microtube, maybe this is the reason why it doesn’t work for me.
.local has priority over the global one, so i’d say yes.
Well, I lack the knolwdge to join the discussion here, I can just report what happens in my phone: after creating my new open-url.desktop and doing
update-desktop-database $HOME/.local/share/applications/
the browser appeared again in the selection menu. Unfortunately it disappeared after a short time -without rebooting- along with the newly created open-url.desktop file…
I performed every step again and this time around also did
devel-su update-desktop-database /usr/share/applications/
So far so good, it also survived a reboot.
So thank you all for the solution.
My ~/.local/share/applications/
also have files from:
harbour-fernschreiber-open-url.desktop
harbour-webpirate-open-url.desktop
microtube-url.desktop
Two of them are popular apps that are veeery hard to stay away from.
Should we poke individual devs?
Or is there a way for sailors to handle these changes smoothly?
1 Like
Noticed just that the Whatsapp opened a link in the Jolla browser. So, it seems to work ok from Android side.
In 4.2.0 apps should be able to be more specific about which web domains they can handle, using the x-url-handler/ mimetype instead of x-scheme-handler/http(s). That would probably help with this problem.
6 Likes
So I have freshly installed SFOS 4.2.0.21 on the XA2 and it also does not show me the browser, for selection to open a link.
is there maybe a patch in the meantime that you can install ?
Can I read / intercept the link that is to be forwarded to an app? i.e. copy it to the clipboard?
I was able to work around this now with a trick. first installed Webcat and Mimer. Then the web browser in Miner changed to Webcat. This then also appears in the selection list. and then changed back to Browser. Now everything is as it should be. How long? remains to be seen.
This should help you.
Hey sailing fishers,
after I resized the /home/ vol incorrectly I flashed the new release yesterday. And from the beginning the Browser is not working correctly resulting in the open-with error described in this thread above.
After reading this thread I kinda already tried the solutions but without success. I can see the default browser in the openwith window but nothing happens if click it after. It seems like the browser is not opening and the desktop file is not working correctly
Anyone has the same?
I added open-url.desktop from
ls -la /usr/share/applications/|grep -E “open-url|h-browser”
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 466 Oct 4 18:07 open-url.desktop
-rw-r–r-- 1 root root 709 Jun 10 02:00 sailfish-browser.desktop
cat open-url.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Browser
Icon=icon-launcher-browser
NoDisplay=true
X-MeeGo-Logical-Id=sailfish-browser-ap-name
X-MeeGo-Translation-Catalog=sailfish-browser
MimeType=text/html;x-scheme-handler/http;x-scheme-handler/https;
X-Maemo-Service=org.sailfishos.browser.ui
X-Maemo-Object-Path=/ui
X-Maemo-Method=org.sailfishos.browser.ui.openUrl
cat sailfish-browser.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Web Browser
X-MeeGo-Logical-Id=sailfish-browser-ap-name
X-MeeGo-Translation-Catalog=sailfish-browser
Icon=icon-launcher-browser
Exec=/usr/bin/sailjail -p sailfish-browser.desktop /usr/bin/sailfish-browser %U
Comment=Sailfish UI application
MimeType=text/html;application/xhtml+xml;application/xml;text/xml;x-scheme-handler/http;x-scheme-handler/https;
X-Maemo-Service=org.sailfishos.browser.ui
X-Maemo-Object-Path=/ui
X-Maemo-Method=org.sailfishos.browser.ui.openUrl
[X-Sailjail]
Permissions=WebView;Audio;Location;Privileged;Internet;Downloads;Documents;Pictures;Videos;Music;Sharing;RemovableMedia;MediaIndexing
OrganizationName=org.sailfishos
ApplicationName=browser
After creating and rebooting I tried
update-desktop-database $HOME/.local/share/applications/
devel-su update-desktop-database /usr/share/applications/
This results in the browser beeing shown as an option but it seems not to open correctly cause nothing happens after clicking.
I do not know how to debug it further cause the desktop file seems to work the browser is opening from the menu. The problem seems to be the open-url file
Diffrent mimer actions with no success either
Please share some wisdom for a new fish
Cheers,
kk
1 Like
the solution suggested by @carmenfdezb and @attah worked only for some time on my device: in less than a day open.desktop.url got deleted by itself. Tried many times, rebooting or not doesn’t affect this.
With my non-existent knowlwdge I feel this is not a problem with individual apps. It is about the browser disappearing from the list, due to some process erasing open.desktop.url from the system.
If Sailfish is left with only one option to open links it will use that one, in the OP case, Fernschreiber. @lumen it yould be interesting to know if you have other files other than
harbour-fernschreiber-open-url.desktop
in
/home/nemo/.local/share/applications
As @thigg says, this shouldn’t be about Fernschreiber…
If confirmed, may the title be tweaked?
I hope Jolla files (and fixes) the bug for what it is and does not overlook it as a Fernschreiber problem.
In the meanwhile, does anyone have an idea to make carmenfdezb 's solution stay? Thanks for any help!