Default gnome browser opens start page

Question

Irritatingly, when I click a link in an application (I use Quassel), firefox opens the default start page.

I have a somewhat non-standard configuration setup. I am using a nightly build of firefox, where the binary is located at /opt/nightly/firefox. I have a symbolic link from /usr/bin/firefox -> /opt/nightly/firefox. I have Ubuntu 11.04, using Gnome with Docky. My docky panel has a firefox icon on the panel that correctly uses the firefox that I want, but when I click on a link in an application such as Quassel, it only opens with the default start page, rather than the link I want to navigate to. Also, it opens in a new window, rather than creating a new tab in my existing session.

I've tried playing with the gconf-editor, and the gconftool-2 -R /desktop/gnome/url-handlers command gives me:

 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/unknown:
  command = firefox "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/net:
  command = totem "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/msnim:
  command = purple-url-handler "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/chrome:
  command = firefox "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/rtsp:
  command = totem "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/cdda:
  command = sound-juicer %s
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/ftp:
  command = firefox "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/ut:
  command = /usr/share/ubuntu-tweak/uturl "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/uvox:
  command = totem "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/h323:
  command = ekiga -c %s
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/about:
  command = firefox "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/mailto:
  command = thunderbird %s
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/sip:
  command = purple-url-handler "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/xmpp:
  command = purple-url-handler "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/vnc:
  command = vinagre %s
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/http:
  command = firefox "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/mmsh:
  command = totem "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/rtp:
  command = totem "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/mms:
  command = totem "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/irc:
  command = purple-url-handler "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/pnm:
  command = totem "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/callto:
  command = gnomemeeting -c %s
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/https:
  command = firefox "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/gg:
  command = purple-url-handler "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/trash:
  command = nautilus "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/ghelp:
  command = gnome-help "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/icq:
  command = purple-url-handler "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/ymsgr:
  command = purple-url-handler "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/icy:
  command = totem "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/magnet:
  command = transmission '%s'
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/note:
  command = tomboy --open-note '%s'
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/info:
  command = gnome-help "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/apt:
  command = apturl "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/man:
  command = gnome-help "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/icyx:
  command = totem "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/webcal:
  command = /usr/lib/evolution-webcal/evolution-webcal %s
  need-terminal = false
  enabled = true
 /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/aim:
  command = purple-url-handler "%s"
  needs_terminal = false
  enabled = true

Answer 1

I had the exact same problem, here is how you can fix it:

1. Open with your editor the file ~/.local/share/applications/firefox.desktop
2. Locate the line with Exec: firefox (line 149, in my case)
3. Append %u to it, so the url will be passed along: Exec: firefox %u
4. Test it with xdg-open http://askubuntu.com

And that's it, it should work like expected now.