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When I click a link e.g. in my mail client, it opens the default browser. On my computer (macOS 10.13, High Sierra) I have Firefox (standard) as default browser.

However, I also have Firefox nightly installed. When only Nightly is currently running, all the links get opened by Nightly instead of the default browser, which should start Firefox (standard).

Any ways to fix this? Both Firefox versions are current.

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  • This behavior is baked into Firefox. There’s a command line switch (-no-remote) to disable it, but I don’t know how to make this change permanent.
    – Daniel B
    Commented Jun 2, 2021 at 14:32
  • It boils down to two versions of the same thing.
    – StainlessSteelRat
    Commented Jun 3, 2021 at 3:45

2 Answers 2

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They both report to the system as the same application, just two versions of the 'same thing', therefore the system will always choose the newest version in any split-decision.
You can only change that before compile, i.e. at source.

You could try reporting it as a bug, get them to change the name the nightly reports to the system as - though don't hold your breath, this has always been the case for many apps with public betas.

From my own comments…
The issue is how the app iteself registers to the OS. If you check the data as to which app can open which file or resource, you find that though the OS will record all instances of all apps capable, it only has room for one default. After that it becomes a bit of an awkward dichotomy if you have 2 versions of the same app. It really wants to always open the newest version, but setting the pref to the release will hold it back to some extent.

Unfortunately, the versioning recognition doesn't work if one of the versions is already open - in that case it will always win the fight. This is simply not fixable at consumer-level, only before compile. The app must have a different signature to be recognised in that instance.

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When you are installing multiple versions of Firefox, you need to be aware that the last installed version of Firefox Nightly will become the "default" in the Windows Registry (or its macOS equivalent). If you use Firefox as your default browser, that can cause problems for you.

Because of that, you are better off using the Zip-archive build of the Nightly versions. The Zip-build doesn't install the version as the default browser.

The Firefox page of Download and test future releases of Firefox for desktop, Android and iOS does not contain any more the Zip version, only the installations. So you need to download it from the site at Index of /pub/firefox/nightly/latest-mozilla-central-l10n/.

Make sure to use a separate profile exclusively for each Firefox version.

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  • macOS doesn't have a registry ;))
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Jun 2, 2021 at 15:03
  • @Tetsujin: macOS users are lucky! Noted.
    – harrymc
    Commented Jun 2, 2021 at 15:07
  • :)) The issue is how the app iteself registers to the OS. If you check the data as to which app can open which file or resource, you find that though the OS will record all instances of all apps capable, it only has room for one default. After that it becomes a bit of an awkward dichotomy if you have 2 versions of the same app. It really wants to always open the newest version, but setting the pref to the release will hold it back to some extent. [contd…]
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Jun 2, 2021 at 15:23
  • […contd] Unfortunately, the versioning recognition doesn't work if one of the versions is already open - in that case it will always win the fight. This is simply not fixable at consumer-level, only before compile. The app must have a different signature to be recognised in that instance.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Jun 2, 2021 at 15:24

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