For me, this was caused by my custom .desktop file. I downloaded Firefox, unpacked it to my home and created a .desktop file for it in ~/.local/share/applicaitons as so:
#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open [Desktop Entry] Version=1.0 Type=Application Terminal=false Icon[en_US]=firefox Name[en_US]=Firefox latest Exec=/home/local/ANT/naddeo/firefox/firefox Comment[en_US]=Firefox directly from tgz Name=Firefox latest Comment=Firefox directly from tgz Icon=firefox The issue was caused by my Exec line. I had to update it to this: Exec=/home/local/ANT/naddeo/firefox/firefox %u Then external link clicks starting working again. I found that out by looking at the .desktop file that the Firefox in the ubuntu repos uses at /usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop and copying that. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to libgnome in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1035221 Title: xdg-open/gnome-open opens blank firefox Status in libgnome package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Status in xdg-utils package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Bug description: Both xdg-open http://google.com and gnome-open http://google.com result in a new Firefox window, with a single "empty" tab. This is not the expected result - I expect the page to open in a new tab/window. Running firefox http://google.com gives the expected result. Whilst I am seeing the bug under quantal (regression from precise) the packages xdg-utils and libgnome2-0 are the same version in both cases. "/desktop/gnome/url-handlers/http/command" is set in both cases to "firefox %s" --- ApportVersion: 2.4-0ubuntu6 Architecture: amd64 Dependencies: DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10 InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Alpha amd64 (20100217) NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia Package: xdg-utils 1.1.0~rc1-2ubuntu6 PackageArchitecture: all ProcEnviron: TERM=xterm PATH=(custom, no user) LANG=en_GB.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/bash ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-9.9-generic 3.5.0 Tags: quantal running-unity Uname: Linux 3.5.0-9-generic x86_64 UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to quantal on 2012-04-14 (117 days ago) UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libgnome/+bug/1035221/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp