(I first asked this question at http://stackoverflow.com/q/39510377/1175080 and there I was suggested to post this question to this mailing list.)
With GVim on my Windows 7 system, if I press `gx` while the cursor is on an URL, it launches the URL in Firefox (my default browser on Windows). However, when I do the same on my XFCE4 Desktop on Debian 8.3 Linux system, pressing `gx` does nothing at all. I am using GVim (Vim 7.4) on both systems. The `:let g:netrw_browsex_viewer` command returns `E121: Undefined variable: g:netrw_browsex_viewer` on both systems. I tried entering the `:let g:netrw_browsex_viewer= "xdg-open"` command on the Linux system, but it didn't help at all. I have two questions: 1. Why does the `gx` command work for URLs on the Windows system but not on XFCE4 desktop on the Debian Linux system even though `g:netrw_browsex_viewer` is undefined in both? 2. How can I make the `gx` command work for URLs on XFCE4 desktop on the Debian Linux system? Additional details: 1. If I run the `xdg-open http://google.com/` on shell, it launches Google in Firefox. If there is no Firefox running, a new Firefox instance is launched. If Firefox is already running, then a new tab is opened in the existing instance. 2. If I enter `:call system('xdg-open http://google.com/')` from GVim on the XFCE desktop on Debian 8.3 Linux, it launches Firefox (or a Firefox tab) to display the URL. 3. I tried two things. I entered the `:let g:netrw_browsex_viewer="xdg-open"` in command-line mode in Vim itself. The gx command did nothing after that. I also entered `let g:netrw_browsex_viewer="xdg-open"` in ~/.vimrc. The `gx` command still did not work. I have other commands such as `colorscheme darkblue`, etc. in the same file which work fine. Here is the GVim version details on Windows 7 where the `gx` command runs fine without any customization at all. VIM - Vi IMproved 7.4 (2013 Aug 10, compiled Aug 10 2013 14:36:26) MS-Windows 32-bit GUI version Compiled by mool@tororo Big version with GUI. Features included (+) or not (-): +arabic +ex_extra +mouseshape +syntax +autocmd +extra_search +multi_byte +tag_binary +balloon_eval +farsi +multi_lang +tag_old_static +browse +file_in_path -mzscheme -tag_any_white ++builtin_terms +find_in_path +netbeans_intg -tcl +byte_offset +float -ole -tgetent +cindent +folding +path_extra -termresponse +clientserver -footer -perl +textobjects +clipboard +gettext/dyn +persistent_undo +title +cmdline_compl -hangul_input -postscript +toolbar +cmdline_hist +iconv/dyn +printer +user_commands +cmdline_info +insert_expand -profile +vertsplit +comments +jumplist -python +virtualedit +conceal +keymap -python3 +visual +cryptv +langmap +quickfix +visualextra +cscope +libcall +reltime +viminfo +cursorbind +linebreak +rightleft +vreplace +cursorshape +lispindent -ruby +wildignore +dialog_con_gui +listcmds +scrollbind +wildmenu +diff +localmap +signs +windows +digraphs -lua +smartindent +writebackup -dnd +menu -sniff -xfontset -ebcdic +mksession +startuptime -xim +emacs_tags +modify_fname +statusline -xterm_save +eval +mouse -sun_workshop +xpm_w32 system vimrc file: "$VIM\vimrc" user vimrc file: "$HOME\_vimrc" 2nd user vimrc file: "$HOME\vimfiles\vimrc" 3rd user vimrc file: "$VIM\_vimrc" user exrc file: "$HOME\_exrc" 2nd user exrc file: "$VIM\_exrc" system gvimrc file: "$VIM\gvimrc" user gvimrc file: "$HOME\_gvimrc" 2nd user gvimrc file: "$HOME\vimfiles\gvimrc" 3rd user gvimrc file: "$VIM\_gvimrc" system menu file: "$VIMRUNTIME\menu.vim" Compilation: cl -c /W3 /nologo -I. -Iproto -DHAVE_PATHDEF -DWIN32 -DFEAT_CSCOPE -DFEAT_NETBEANS_INTG -DFEAT_XPM_W32 -DWINVER=0x0400 -D_WIN32_WINNT=0x 0400 /Fo.\ObjGi386/ /Ox /GL -DNDEBUG /Zl /MT -DFEAT_GUI_W32 -DDYNAMIC_ICONV -DDYNAMIC_GETTEXT -DFEAT_BIG /Fd.\ObjGi386/ /Zi Linking: link /RELEASE /nologo /subsystem:windows /LTCG:STATUS oldnames.lib kernel32.lib advapi32.lib shell32.lib gdi32.lib comdlg32.lib ole32.lib uuid.lib /machine:i386 Here are the GVim, Debian and XFCE version details. $ vim --version VIM - Vi IMproved 7.4 (2013 Aug 10, compiled Mar 31 2015 23:36:07) Included patches: 1-488, 576 Modified by pkg-vim-maintain...@lists.alioth.debian.org Compiled by james...@debian.org Huge version with GTK2 GUI. Features included (+) or not (-): +acl +farsi +mouse_netterm +syntax +arabic +file_in_path +mouse_sgr +tag_binary +autocmd +find_in_path -mouse_sysmouse +tag_old_static +balloon_eval +float +mouse_urxvt -tag_any_white +browse +folding +mouse_xterm +tcl ++builtin_terms -footer +multi_byte +terminfo +byte_offset +fork() +multi_lang +termresponse +cindent +gettext -mzscheme +textobjects +clientserver -hangul_input +netbeans_intg +title +clipboard +iconv +path_extra +toolbar +cmdline_compl +insert_expand +perl +user_commands +cmdline_hist +jumplist +persistent_undo +vertsplit +cmdline_info +keymap +postscript +virtualedit +comments +langmap +printer +visual +conceal +libcall +profile +visualextra +cryptv +linebreak +python +viminfo +cscope +lispindent -python3 +vreplace +cursorbind +listcmds +quickfix +wildignore +cursorshape +localmap +reltime +wildmenu +dialog_con_gui +lua +rightleft +windows +diff +menu +ruby +writebackup +digraphs +mksession +scrollbind +X11 +dnd +modify_fname +signs -xfontset -ebcdic +mouse +smartindent +xim +emacs_tags +mouseshape -sniff +xsmp_interact +eval +mouse_dec +startuptime +xterm_clipboard +ex_extra +mouse_gpm +statusline -xterm_save +extra_search -mouse_jsbterm -sun_workshop +xpm system vimrc file: "$VIM/vimrc" user vimrc file: "$HOME/.vimrc" 2nd user vimrc file: "~/.vim/vimrc" user exrc file: "$HOME/.exrc" system gvimrc file: "$VIM/gvimrc" user gvimrc file: "$HOME/.gvimrc" 2nd user gvimrc file: "~/.vim/gvimrc" system menu file: "$VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim" fall-back for $VIM: "/usr/share/vim" Compilation: gcc -c -I. -Iproto -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -DFEAT_GUI_GTK -pthread -I/usr/include/gtk-2.0 -I/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gtk-2.0/include -I/usr/include/gio-unix-2.0/ -I/usr/include/cairo -I/usr/include/pango-1.0 -I/usr/include/atk-1.0 -I/usr/include/cairo -I/usr/include/pixman-1 -I/usr/include/libpng12 -I/usr/include/gdk-pixbuf-2.0 -I/usr/include/libpng12 -I/usr/include/pango-1.0 -I/usr/include/harfbuzz -I/usr/include/pango-1.0 -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/glib-2.0/include -I/usr/include/freetype2 -g -O2 -fPIE -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=1 -I/usr/include/tcl8.6 -D_REENTRANT=1 -D_THREAD_SAFE=1 -D_LARGEFILE64_SOURCE=1 Linking: gcc -L. -Wl,-z,relro -L/build/ruby2.1-64qTCU/ruby2.1-2.1.5/debian/lib -fstack-protector -rdynamic -Wl,-export-dynamic -Wl,-E -fPIE -pie -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -Wl,--as-needed -o vim -lgtk-x11-2.0 -lgdk-x11-2.0 -lpangocairo-1.0 -latk-1.0 -lcairo -lgdk_pixbuf-2.0 -lgio-2.0 -lpangoft2-1.0 -lpango-1.0 -lgobject-2.0 -lglib-2.0 -lfontconfig -lfreetype -lSM -lICE -lXpm -lXt -lX11 -lXdmcp -lSM -lICE -lm -ltinfo -lnsl -lselinux -lacl -lattr -lgpm -ldl -L/usr/lib -llua5.2 -Wl,-E -fstack-protector -L/usr/local/lib -L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/perl/5.20/CORE -lperl -ldl -lm -lpthread -lcrypt -L/usr/lib/python2.7/config-x86_64-linux-gnu -lpython2.7 -lpthread -ldl -lutil -lm -Xlinker -export-dynamic -Wl,-O1 -Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu -ltcl8.6 -ldl -lz -lpthread -lieee -lm -lruby-2.1 -lpthread -lgmp -ldl -lcrypt -lm $ dpkg -l *vim* | grep ^i ii vim-common 2:7.4.488-7 amd64 Vi IMproved - Common files ii vim-gtk 2:7.4.488-7 amd64 Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor - with GTK2 GUI ii vim-gui-common 2:7.4.488-7 all Vi IMproved - Common GUI files ii vim-runtime 2:7.4.488-7 all Vi IMproved - Runtime files ii vim-tiny 2:7.4.488-7 amd64 Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor - compact version $ cat /etc/debian_version 8.3 $ xfce4-about --version xfce4-about 4.10.0 (Xfce 4.10) Copyright (c) 2008-2011 The Xfce development team. All rights reserved. Please report bugs to <http://bugzilla.xfce.org/>. Translators list from 2012-04-22 00:21:09. Can you help me to get the `gx` command working on the XFCE + Debian 8.3 Linux system? -- -- You received this message from the "vim_dev" maillist. Do not top-post! Type your reply below the text you are replying to. For more information, visit http://www.vim.org/maillist.php --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "vim_dev" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to vim_dev+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.