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 Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is subscribed to libgnome in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1035221 Title: xdg-open/gnome-open opens blank firefox To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libgnome/+bug/1035221/+subscriptions -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs