Failed to open recent files

kenwong · 2012-10-12 16:45:33

When I right click the menu and choose a file from "Recent Files", an information window pops up saying "failed to execute child process "firefox-bin" (No such file or directory)". The file was downloaded from the internet and should have been stored in the downloads folder.

Any help would be much appreciated.

xaos52 · 2012-10-12 16:52:47

Perhaps you removed firefox?
Post output of $HOME/.recently-used.xbel please.

kenwong · 2012-10-12 17:09:47

^ Having been using iceweasel since the Waldorf installation with subsequent updates. No firefox has been installed.
Can't find the file.

xaos52 · 2012-10-12 17:29:17

How about $HOME/local/share/recently-used.xbel ?

What probably happened is that you opened the file in question when firefox was still installed. Since it is no longer installed, you can not use that entry in recent-files anymore.

VastOne · 2012-10-12 17:30:40

I am curious if this is a symlink issue... For as long as I have used #! (and Debian installs), Iceweasel always reported firefox-bin as what was open as Iceweasel when doing Alt Tab ... This has recently (in the last week) changed to always showing Iceweasel now.

Made some scripts I run with xdotool and wmctrl actually work

kenwong · 2012-10-13 15:34:10

xaos52 wrote:

How about $HOME/local/share/recently-used.xbel ?

There are two entries of the file with one located at ///temp/ and another one in the downloads folder.

xaos52 · 2012-10-13 15:41:11

Mind posting the content of the file?

In your place, I would clear the recently-used entries via the menu, and thus start from a new base.
Open some files and check that recentfiles is working now.

kenwong · 2012-10-13 16:27:09

Just posted on Pastebin (http://crunchbanglinux.org/pastebin/1891).

Flushed the recent files history and started from scratch. The file downloaded from internet doesn't work, again. Others on the machine are fine.

Last edited by kenwong (2012-10-13 16:34:32)

xaos52 · 2012-10-13 16:40:24

Please post the new file. It will be easier to debug with only a couple of files, in stead of a whole bunch.

What application did you use to download the file from the internet?

kenwong · 2012-10-13 16:45:01

xaos, here is the new file (http://crunchbanglinux.org/pastebin/1892).

I used iceweasel to download the file.

xaos52 · 2012-10-13 16:52:11

['file:///home/kenneth/downloads/money_v302y(1).xls', 'file:///home/kenneth/downloads/pre1.pdf', 'file:///home/kenneth/documents/Files_600E/Order_form.xls']

There are 3 files in there.
Which one(s) are giving you trouble?

VastOne · 2012-10-13 16:54:03

Things to try also ...

From Help Restart with Add-Ons Disabled.

Run iceweasel -P from terminal. This starts Profile Manager and lets you use a different profile to see if that profile has the same issues.

kenwong · 2012-10-13 16:55:24

The file with "money" in its name.

xaos52 · 2012-10-13 16:59:48

OK.
I will have a closer look at that one.

Typically that it is the money related item that gives problems big_smile
I will get back to you.

xaos52 · 2012-10-13 17:19:16

Here is the output it produces:

<openbox_pipe_menu>
    <item label="Order__form.xls">
    <action name="Execute"><command>soffice '/home/kenneth/documents/Files_600E/Order_form.xls'</command></action>
    </item>
    <item label="pre1.pdf">
    <action name="Execute"><command>evince '/home/kenneth/downloads/pre1.pdf'</command></action>
    </item>
    <item label="money__v302y(1).xls">
    <action name="Execute"><command>firefox-bin '/home/kenneth/downloads/money_v302y(1).xls'</command></action>
    </item>
<separator />
    <item label="Clear Recent Files">
        <action name="Execute">
            <command>
            &apos;./cb-recent-files-pipemenu&apos; --clear
            </command>
        </action>
    </item>
</openbox_pipe_menu>

The application recorded for the download is firefox-bin.
Which probably does not exist on your system.

You could try VastOne's suggestion. But if that works, it would trigger the command

iceweasel file:///home/kenneth/downloads//money_v302y(1).xls

Trying to open the .xls file with iceweasel ...
I dont know what that would give? Can you try it.

The recently-used script fails here.
Perhaps it should be changed in such a way that when the application is a file browser, it should be changed into an editor/spreadsheet program/...

To be discussed with corenominal and john? VastOne?

VastOne · 2012-10-13 17:26:24

I realize this is in Testing/Unstable kenwong, are you running Waldorf? If so I want to place it in the Waldorf Forum and run it up the flagpole to Corenominal.

kenwong · 2012-10-14 04:11:18

Tried VastOne's suggestion. Disabled add-ons, executed iceweasel -P, created a profile, opened a new iceweasel instance. Got the same error.

Yes, i'm running Waldorf (20120927).

johnraff · 2012-10-15 17:32:50

xaos52 wrote:

The application recorded for the download is firefox-bin.
Which probably does not exist on your system.

...or anyway is not in the user's PATH.

You could try VastOne's suggestion. But if that works, it would trigger the command
iceweasel file:///home/kenneth/downloads//money_v302y(1).xls
Trying to open the .xls file with iceweasel ...
I dont know what that would give? Can you try it.
The recently-used script fails here.
Perhaps it should be changed in such a way that when the application is a file browser, it should be changed into an editor/spreadsheet program/...
To be discussed with corenominal and john? VastOne?

It seems to me the problem is in the way recently-used.xbel is being generated. It is supposed to hold the uri of the file and the command to execute the app which opened it (and some other stuff). The Openbox menu uses that data to open the file again. If the xls file is recorded as having been opened by firefox-bin that's surely an error?
Should it be the job of the recent files menu to make decisions about the best application to open a certain file, instead of what's in recently-used.xbel?

xaos52 · 2012-10-15 18:24:03

I suspect the 'firefox-bin' entry in recently-used.xbel was created when the xls file was downloaded from the web. Firefox (or Iceweasel) records the destination location of the downloaded file. Perhaps it would be more evident to record the source location of the file, so that it can be downloaded again if the user so chooses.

As it is now the recently-used pipemenu does not handle this case gracefully. It tries to open the local file with the browser application.

corenominal · 2012-10-15 19:06:14

johnraff wrote:

Should it be the job of the recent files menu to make decisions about the best application to open a certain file, instead of what's in recently-used.xbel?

It is an interesting question. Try this scenario:

Hit PrtSc key to take a screenshot with xfce4-screenshooter
Save the screenshot as "test.png"
Open "test.png" from the pipemenu

I would expect the image to open within my image viewer (viewnior), but instead, I am presented with xfce4-screenshooter again. In this scenario, it would obviously be better not to rely on recently-used.xbel to select the correct application, but an external tool such as exo-open.

Just thinking aloud. smile

pvsage · 2012-10-15 20:04:08

I just noticed that this thread is specifically about a problem within (EDIT:)Waldorf, i.e. the code used for the openbox pipe menu. Moving to the Waldorf development area...

Last edited by pvsage (2012-10-16 13:16:04)

johnraff · 2012-10-16 12:02:38

OK more thinking aloud...

I'm puzzled as to how that xls file downloaded by firefox got into recently-used.xbel in the first place.

xaos52 wrote:

Firefox (or Iceweasel) records the destination location of the downloaded file.

That doesn't happen on Statler, and when I just tried downloading a tar.gz with Iceweasel on Waldorf that didn't appear in the xbel file either. Anyway, downloaded files shouldn't be recorded there...? Or should they...?

Yes, on Waldorf PrtSc (not Alt-PrtSc - that does scrot>viewnior) brings up xfce4-screenshooter which writes the filename in recently-used.xbel, with less than useful results. Again - should this be happening?

I ask these questions because if this behaviour is due to bugs in the gtk libraries, for example, it might be better to wait a bit to see if they get fixed before hacking a workaround at this end. Reading the spec I couldn't really tell if the exec attribute of the applications element is supposed to be able to successfully open the file or not. It's what common-sense would suggest though.

OTOH we have to live in the real world, and it wouldn't be hard to use exo-open to choose the app instead of **xbel.

But most of the time I think the app written in**xbel would be the one users wanted their file opened with, ie the same one they were using before.

One possible route: take the 'exec= ' entry in recently-used.xbel as default, and substitute with exo-open for apps on a "blacklist"? xfce4-screenshooter could go there, but... firefox would be a legit app for html or xml files, for example, but not for xls...

edit Trying to find possibly related gtk bugs (hard) I ran into some people who don't like recent files:
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=658280
and some others who think Firefox should add downloads to the recent files list. Maybe they got their way? roll
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=670275

Last edited by johnraff (2012-10-16 12:49:22)

xaos52 · 2012-10-16 13:16:10

Hi John,

I am using the beta firefox, version 17 - using the beta update channel - , and it does record files I download from e.g. the #! forum pastebin.
Here is the entry in ~/.local/share/recently-used.xbel

   <bookmark href="file:///home/xaos52/downloads/1894.txt" added="2012-10-16T13:10:18Z" modified="2012-10-16T13:10:18Z" visited="2012-10-16T13:10:18.578005Z">
    <info>
      <metadata owner="http://freedesktop.org">
        <mime:mime-type type="text/plain"/>
        <bookmark:applications>
          <bookmark:application name="Firefox" exec="&apos;firefox %u&apos;" modified="2012-10-16T13:10:18Z" count="1"/>
        </bookmark:applications>
      </metadata>
    </info>
  </bookmark>

xaos52

BTW: this is a Debian unstable system, with some #! customizations.

Last edited by xaos52 (2012-10-16 13:17:38)

johnraff · 2012-10-16 16:51:14

Hi xaos,

so they did it!

If other apps start adding files in the same way it will mean a change in the use of recently-used.xbel I guess. Up till now all entries have been put in by apps which had opened the file before, not downloaded it, or created it (like xfce4-screenshooter). I'm baffled by the exec= section:

exec="&apos;firefox %u&apos;"

%u stands for the URI of the file, meaning that firefox is expected to open 1894.txt, right? In this case it's possible (though unusual) but xfce4-screenshooter writes the same kind of entry, but would be unable to open the image file it had made.

corenominal · 2012-10-16 20:26:10

johnraff wrote:

One possible route: take the 'exec= ' entry in recently-used.xbel as default, and substitute with exo-open for apps on a "blacklist"? xfce4-screenshooter could go there, but... firefox would be a legit app for html or xml files, for example, but not for xls...

Sounds logical to me, although I might be concerned with the amount of effort involved in maintaining a blacklist. hmm

CrunchBang Linux

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#1 2012-10-12 16:45:33

Failed to open recent files

#2 2012-10-12 16:52:47

Re: Failed to open recent files

#3 2012-10-12 17:09:47

Re: Failed to open recent files

#4 2012-10-12 17:29:17

Re: Failed to open recent files

#5 2012-10-12 17:30:40

Re: Failed to open recent files

#6 2012-10-13 15:34:10

Re: Failed to open recent files

#7 2012-10-13 15:41:11

Re: Failed to open recent files

#8 2012-10-13 16:27:09

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#9 2012-10-13 16:40:24

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#10 2012-10-13 16:45:01

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#12 2012-10-13 16:54:03

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#13 2012-10-13 16:55:24

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#14 2012-10-13 16:59:48

Re: Failed to open recent files

#15 2012-10-13 17:19:16

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#16 2012-10-13 17:26:24

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#17 2012-10-14 04:11:18

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#18 2012-10-15 17:32:50

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#22 2012-10-16 12:02:38

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#23 2012-10-16 13:16:10

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#24 2012-10-16 16:51:14

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#25 2012-10-16 20:26:10

Re: Failed to open recent files

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