File download issue exclusive to the Linux version

[Mark-PM]

Hello (back) to the forum!
And many thanks @Basislisk-Dev for providing and maintaining this browser and your valuable cooperation with Roytam!

Here i have a problem downloading files from github in the linux version, e.g. from https://github.com/nicolaasjan/yt-dlp/releases

Either opening a file in a new tab or right-click on the link and "save link as" - both do not initiate the the save-file-dialog.
Palemoon (linux) works as expected on the github-urls.
I'm utilizing the latest GTK2 version on a Debian based distro with TDE - can someone confirm the issue?

Thanks in advance for your efforts!

[Basilisk-Dev]

I'm not able to replicate this at all on any Linux builds. I tried directly clicking the links for the files, I tried right click -> Save Link As, I tried right click -> Open Link In New Tab, and I tried middle clicking the link to open a new tab.

Can you verify that you are using a clean profile?

And many thanks @Basislisk-Dev for providing and maintaining this browser and your valuable cooperation with Roytam!

While I don't have any personal issue with Roytam, he and I don't directly keep in touch with each other or anything like that. I do monitor his MSFN thread in case a bug affecting his browser also affects Basilisk, and will post there occasionally if something is relevant to me or to Basilisk upstream. I'd say coexistence is a better term than cooperation.

[Mark-PM]

Many thanks Basilisk-Dev,
utilizing a pristine profile Basilisk works properly. So in my current profile i
- deactivated every extension -> the malfunction remains
- removed every extension -> the malfunction remains
- resetted nearly everything in about:config -> the malfunction remains
That leaves me very clueless...
Is it possible do ,debug' anything in this regard, by controlling log files?

[Basilisk-Dev]

Can you provide a list of extensions that were in your profile when you had the issue? A list of the settings that were changed in about:config would be helpful too

[Mark-PM]

Thanks again @Basilisk-Dev,
i will provide it tomorrow. We have to keep in mind, that (so far) only "save-as" on github is affected - Firefox downloads (https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/) or Basilisk download (https://basilisk-browser.org/download.shtml) eg. work well!

[Mark-PM]

Hello again,

since my configuration showed still the same misbehavior even withe a pristine prefs.js
i decided to build up a new profile for Basilisk on Linux from the scratch.
Everything works nicely now, with one exception: it's not possible to install the extension
Classic Theme Restorer (1.7.8).

Now that's unfortunate for two reasons:

1) we cannot prove whether CTR was responsible for the misbehavior!

Is there any possibility or trick to install the CTR extension anyway?

2) i dont like the australis changes:

Are there other config tricks and tweaks to:
- reverse the tab-strip and navigation bar (tabs not on top)
- leave the tabs squared
- highlighte the active tab (in a darker color)
[ have the back and forward buttons allways present] -> "Classic Toolbar Button" Add-on!
- the reload and stop button right aside

Many thanks for any suggestion in advance!

[Mark-PM]

Wow, this is weird!
Back with my old profile i opened the ,problematic' github site https://github.com/nicolaasjan/yt-dlp/releases, right-click and selected "View page source". Then searched for the first file-link "SHA2-256SUMS" and here:
right-click on the link in "<a href="/nicolaasjan/yt-dlp/releases/download/2024.05.14.042235/SHA2-256SUMS" and...
now the Save-dialog-window appears!
The significant difference with this link obviously is: it's relative - without the leading "https://github.com"!

But anyway, the pristine profile doesn' have a problem with it...

[gabrgv]

it's not possible to install the extension
Classic Theme Restorer (1.7.8).

I just created a new profile and had no problem installing the Classic Theme Restorer from this link.

Is there any possibility or trick to install the CTR extension anyway?

I guess you can apply the CTR tweaks without even installing it, through the userChrome.css, but it would take some time.

Wow, this is weird!

I think it’s normal to be relative. If you hover the link with the cursor, the complete url will appear in the status bar.

[Mark-PM]

it's not possible to install the extension
Classic Theme Restorer (1.7.8).

I just created a new profile and had no problem installing the Classic Theme Restorer from this link.

Many thanks @gabrgv,
i don't know what went wrong here, did the same procedure once again and now everything is fine, on linux too, and with github-links.

[Mark-PM]

I presume that the cause for the forbidden import of CTR in my first attempt with e ,pristine' profile was, that is has been a pristine palemoon profile. (I tried a lot profile-attempts and usually i rename the profile-folder temporarily and since i'm not very secure with the linux file-explorers i think i made a mistake right at the beginning). Thanks again for the support!

Just another small question: Usually i set the config pref "dom.storage.enabled" to False for security reasons.
But there is one (trustworthy) site that relies to this technique: is there any possibility known to set that pref to false and grant (whitelist) exceptions for specific sites?

[Moonchild]

Just another small question: Usually i set the config pref "dom.storage.enabled" to False for security reasons.

This does absolutely nothing for your security. At least it will break sites, at most it may provide a marginal privacy benefit at the expense of functionality.
Many sites rely on this well-established web spec. I strongly recommend you leave it enabled.

[Mark-PM]

Hello @Moonchild,
and many thanks for your explanation!

Well, on german tech-sites i found several statements stressing the relation between "dom.storage.enabled" and supercookies (which permit to store up to 5MB cookies in the background). The idea of this concept made me feel rather uncomfortable.
But maybe we Germans (and particularly me) are really a bit more paranoid than the average - as far as i'm informed, nowhere else on the planet the market share of Firefox (based) browsers is as high as here.

Btw.: "Linux makes everything difficult." - Haha, rather true, as i'm experiencing this exactly these weeks and months!
But the defection has to be done... Let's say: at least until the end of the decade

Have a nice day, and kindest regards!

[Moonchild]

Off-topic:

on german tech-sites i found several statements stressing the relation between "dom.storage.enabled" and supercookies

Like I said:

at most it may provide a marginal privacy benefit at the expense of functionality

There's been a lot of fluff about "supercookies" and it really isn't much of an issue. Once again, it has nothing to do with security (may want to check how often those German tech-sites get that bit wrong... and draw your own conclusions about how accurate the rest of their article is then ). Allowing a website to store more (and more arbitrary) data than limited text-based cookies is generally beneficial. Just because it's a different mechanism doesn't suddenly mean it's "unsafe" or what not.

[Basilisk-Dev]

Are you still running into this?

[Mark-PM]

Many thanks @Basilisk-Dev for your inquiry,
everything runs flawlessly now after i built up a complete new Basilisk profile from the scratch - nice exercise!
(Later, i even managed to bring "Open With" -> mpv player to work on linux...)

Hardly to recognize, i wrote it in message #9:

Many thanks @gabrgv,
i don't know what went wrong here, did the same procedure once again and now everything is fine, on linux too, and with github-links.

Kind regards!