[BUG] Org-protocol bookmarklets in Firefox behaving badly after recent upgrade [9.6.15 (release_9.6.15 @ /usr/share/emacs/29.4/lisp/org/)]

[BUG] Org-protocol bookmarklets in Firefox behaving badly after recent upgrade [9.6.15 (release_9.6.15 @ /usr/share/emacs/29.4/lisp/org/)]

[Rehan Deen]

Hello all,

After upgrading Firefox to version 133.0-1 on Manjaro Linux, I find that
that my Org-protocol bookmarklets in Firefox are not working properly.

Namely, after I click on them to capture a link or some text, the
information is copied appropriately but the browser switches from
displaying the webpage to displaying an almost blank page with just the
text of an Org-protocol link.

E.g. when using the following bookmarklet

    javascript:location.href='org-protocol://store-link?'+new
    URLSearchParams({url:location.href, title:document.title});

on the webpage https://orgmode.org/, Emacs is able to capture the link
and title ("Org mode for GNU Emacs") as desired, but the browser
displays a blank page with the following text:

    org-protocol://store-link?url=https%3A%2F%2Forgmode.org%2F&title=Org+mode+for+GNU+Emacs

I have to hit refresh to redisplay the original webpage.

The same occurs for more complicated bookmarklets involving Org capture
templates, as well as Org-roam-protocol bookmarklets, but I think the
basic issue arises from Org alone.

I have continued to use the same `org-protocol.desktop` file to handle
these links:

    [Desktop Entry]
    Name=org-protocol
    Exec=emacsclient -n %u
    Type=Application
    Terminal=false
    Categories=System;
    MimeType=x-scheme-handler/org-protocol;

I know that Emacs 29.2 introduced a new `emacsclient.desktop` file that
handles Org-protocol links, but copying it from
`/usr/share/applications` to `~/.local/share/applications/`,
renaming/removing the old `emacsclient.desktop` and
`org-protocol.desktop` files, and running

    update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications/

does not resolve the problem.

Interestingly, the `org-capture` extension for Firefox from
https://github.com/sprig/org-capture-extension continues to work without
producing this issue (i.e. the link is captured and the webpage
continues to be displayed properly).

------------------------------------------------------------------------



Emacs  : GNU Emacs 29.4 (build 2, x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.24.43, cairo version 1.18.2)
 of 2024-12-06
Package: Org mode version 9.6.15 (release_9.6.15 @ /usr/share/emacs/29.4/lisp/org/)

 

Re: [BUG] Org-protocol bookmarklets in Firefox behaving badly after recent upgrade [9.6.15 (release_9.6.15 @ /usr/share/emacs/29.4/lisp/org/)]

[Max Nikulin]

On 12/12/2024 15:12, Rehan Deen wrote:
>      javascript:location.href='org-protocol://store-link?'+new
>      URLSearchParams({url:location.href, title:document.title});

Try to add "(void)"
javascript:(void)location.href='org-protocol:...

However bookmarklets are unsafe, you have to allow *web page* to launch 
a handler. In the case of an extension this permission may be given to 
the extension (but sprig/org-capture-extension still use the unsafe way).

> but copying it from
> `/usr/share/applications` to `~/.local/share/applications/`,

It should not be necessary. It should be enough to remove your own 
association. In some cases the -display="$DISPLAY" trick is important.

> Interestingly, the `org-capture` extension for Firefox from
> https://github.com/sprig/org-capture-extension continues to work without
> producing this issue

It executes its code in another context.