[tbb-bugs] #12763 [Tor Browser]: -no-remote prevents using Tor Browser as default browser

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#12763: -no-remote prevents using Tor Browser as default browser
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 Reporter:  micahlee                             |          Owner:  tbb-
     Type:  defect                               |  team
 Priority:  normal                               |         Status:  new
Component:  Tor Browser                          |      Milestone:
 Keywords:  torbrowser-launcher, tbb, default    |        Version:
  browser                                        |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:                                       |         Points:
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 I'm the author of Tor Browser Launcher. I'd like to make it possible for
 Linux users to easily set Tor Browser as their default browser. The start-
 tor-browser script now passes extra arguments into firefox when you run
 it, so you can run:

 `./start-tor-browser https://www.torproject.org/`

 Tor Browser will open to https://www.torproject.org/. But if you already
 have a Tor Browser window open and you run:

 `./start-tor-browser https://tails.boum.org/`

 It throws the error:

    Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To open a new
 window, you must first close the existing Firefox process, or restart your
 system.

 This is because the line that runs firefox is `./Browser/firefox -no-
 remote --class "Tor Browser" -profile Data/Browser/profile.default
 "${@}"`, and -no-remote prevents any remote commands such as opening new
 tabs: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=650078

 How come firefox is run with -no-remote? I assume there's a reason behind
 it. Is it useful for privacy/anonymity/data minimization? Would it be bad
 to patch start-tor-browser to remove -no-remote?

 As long as -no-remote is there, I don't think it's possible to set Tor
 Browser as your default browser.

 Here's my upstream bug about this: https://github.com/micahflee
 /torbrowser-launcher/issues/103

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/12763>
Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki <https://trac.torproject.org/>
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