From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

I have just installed Linux mint (22.2) on a partition trying to make
things work as they do under Windows.

I have a working Firefox
I have a working Betterbird (it's just like Thunderbird )

I am trying to launch Firefox - by clicking on a link in a message in Betterbird. The way to do this is to is to set Firefox app as the
'action' against the Content types 'http://' (and https://). (Found
under 'settings' -> 'general' -> 'file & attachments'.)

Where is the firefox program stored in Linux? (I have no idea where to
find the 'executable'.)

Thanks for any pointers
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

occam wrote:

I have just installed Linux mint (22.2) on a partition trying to make
things work as they do under Windows.

I have a working Firefox
I have a working Betterbird (it's just like Thunderbird )

I am trying to launch Firefox - by clicking on a link in a message in Betterbird. The way to do this is to is to set Firefox app as the
'action' against the Content types 'http://' (and https://). (Found
under 'settings' -> 'general' -> 'file & attachments'.)

Where is the firefox program stored in Linux? (I have no idea where to
find the 'executable'.)

Thanks for any pointers

do you have FF set as default app in System Settings>Preferences?
--
Linux Mint 22.2

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On 1/3/26 1:53 PM, Axel wrote:

occam wrote:

I have just installed Linux mint (22.2) on a partition trying to make
things work as they do under Windows.

I have a working Firefox
I have a working Betterbird (it's just like Thunderbird )

I am trying to launch Firefox - by clicking on a link in a message in
Betterbird. The way to do this is to is to set Firefox app as the
'action' against the Content types 'http://' (and https://). (Found
under 'settings' ->-a 'general' -> 'file & attachments'.)

Where is the firefox-a program stored in Linux? (I have no idea where to
find the 'executable'.)

Thanks for any pointers

do you have FF set as default app in System Settings>Preferences?

Yes. Also Betterbird is the default 'Mail' program.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

occam wrote:

On 1/3/26 1:53 PM, Axel wrote:

occam wrote:

I have just installed Linux mint (22.2) on a partition trying to make
things work as they do under Windows.

I have a working Firefox
I have a working Betterbird (it's just like Thunderbird )

I am trying to launch Firefox - by clicking on a link in a message in
Betterbird. The way to do this is to is to set Firefox app as the
'action' against the Content types 'http://' (and https://). (Found
under 'settings' ->-a 'general' -> 'file & attachments'.)

Where is the firefox-a program stored in Linux? (I have no idea where to >>> find the 'executable'.)

Thanks for any pointers

do you have FF set as default app in System Settings>Preferences?

Yes. Also Betterbird is the default 'Mail' program.

what happens if you right clik the link? does it give the option "open
with"?
--
Linux Mint 22.2

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

Axel wrote:

occam wrote:

On 1/3/26 1:53 PM, Axel wrote:

occam wrote:

I have just installed Linux mint (22.2) on a partition trying to make
things work as they do under Windows.

I have a working Firefox
I have a working Betterbird (it's just like Thunderbird )

I am trying to launch Firefox - by clicking on a link in a message in
Betterbird. The way to do this is to is to set Firefox app as the
'action' against the Content types 'http://' (and https://). (Found
under 'settings' ->-a 'general' -> 'file & attachments'.)

Where is the firefox-a program stored in Linux? (I have no idea
where to
find the 'executable'.)

Thanks for any pointers

do you have FF set as default app in System Settings>Preferences?

Yes.-a Also Betterbird is the default 'Mail' program.

what happens if you right clik the link? does it give the option "open with"?

also.. why aren't you using Thunderbird? you shouldn't have this problem
with TB
--
Linux Mint 22.2

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On 1/3/26 3:01 PM, occam wrote:

On 1/3/26 1:53 PM, Axel wrote:

occam wrote:

I have just installed Linux mint (22.2) on a partition trying to make
things work as they do under Windows.

I have a working Firefox
I have a working Betterbird (it's just like Thunderbird )

I am trying to launch Firefox - by clicking on a link in a message in
Betterbird. The way to do this is to is to set Firefox app as the
'action' against the Content types 'http://' (and https://). (Found
under 'settings' ->-a 'general' -> 'file & attachments'.)

Where is the firefox-a program stored in Linux? (I have no idea where to >>> find the 'executable'.)

Thanks for any pointers

do you have FF set as default app in System Settings>Preferences?

Yes. Also Betterbird is the default 'Mail' program.

Hmm... For reasons I do not understand, the problem has resolved itself.
I can now launch Firefox from Betterbird, and more generally from any
link with http:// (and https://) prefixes.

Having set the 'Action' back to 'Use System Handler (default)', Firefox
now pops up when I click on a link.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On 1/3/26 3:10 PM, Axel wrote:

Axel wrote:

occam wrote:

On 1/3/26 1:53 PM, Axel wrote:

occam wrote:

I have just installed Linux mint (22.2) on a partition trying to make >>>>> things work as they do under Windows.

I have a working Firefox
I have a working Betterbird (it's just like Thunderbird )

I am trying to launch Firefox - by clicking on a link in a message in >>>>> Betterbird. The way to do this is to is to set Firefox app as the
'action' against the Content types 'http://' (and https://). (Found
under 'settings' ->-a 'general' -> 'file & attachments'.)

Where is the firefox-a program stored in Linux? (I have no idea
where to
find the 'executable'.)

Thanks for any pointers

do you have FF set as default app in System Settings>Preferences?

Yes.-a Also Betterbird is the default 'Mail' program.

what happens if you right clik the link? does it give the option "open
with"?

also.. why aren't you using Thunderbird? you shouldn't have this problem
with TB

There is no difference between TB and Betterbird. The code is the same. Betterbird is just better debugged. Two tribes working on the same code.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On 1/3/26 9:19 AM, occam wrote:

On 1/3/26 3:01 PM, occam wrote:

On 1/3/26 1:53 PM, Axel wrote:

occam wrote:

I have just installed Linux mint (22.2) on a partition trying to make
things work as they do under Windows.

I have a working Firefox
I have a working Betterbird (it's just like Thunderbird )

I am trying to launch Firefox - by clicking on a link in a message in
Betterbird. The way to do this is to is to set Firefox app as the
'action' against the Content types 'http://' (and https://). (Found
under 'settings' ->-a 'general' -> 'file & attachments'.)

Where is the firefox-a program stored in Linux? (I have no idea where to >>>> find the 'executable'.)

Thanks for any pointers

do you have FF set as default app in System Settings>Preferences?

Yes. Also Betterbird is the default 'Mail' program.

Hmm... For reasons I do not understand, the problem has resolved itself.
I can now launch Firefox from Betterbird, and more generally from any
link with http:// (and https://) prefixes.

Having set the 'Action' back to 'Use System Handler (default)', Firefox
now pops up when I click on a link.

If you open the command prompt and tyep:
whereis firefox
it will tell you where it is. That will be the executable.
--
Linux Mint 22.2, Mozilla Thunderbird 140.6.0esr, Mozilla Firefox 146.0.1
Alan K.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On Sat, 1/3/2026 9:19 AM, occam wrote:

On 1/3/26 3:01 PM, occam wrote:

On 1/3/26 1:53 PM, Axel wrote:

occam wrote:

I have just installed Linux mint (22.2) on a partition trying to make
things work as they do under Windows.

I have a working Firefox
I have a working Betterbird (it's just like Thunderbird )

I am trying to launch Firefox - by clicking on a link in a message in
Betterbird. The way to do this is to is to set Firefox app as the
'action' against the Content types 'http://' (and https://). (Found
under 'settings' ->-a 'general' -> 'file & attachments'.)

Where is the firefox-a program stored in Linux? (I have no idea where to >>>> find the 'executable'.)

Thanks for any pointers

do you have FF set as default app in System Settings>Preferences?

Yes. Also Betterbird is the default 'Mail' program.

Hmm... For reasons I do not understand, the problem has resolved itself.
I can now launch Firefox from Betterbird, and more generally from any
link with http:// (and https://) prefixes.

Having set the 'Action' back to 'Use System Handler (default)', Firefox
now pops up when I click on a link.

Note that, on Ubuntu, a lot of executables are packaged in SNAP packages, making it a lot harder to edit a .desktop file and define a menu entry properly.
For the end user, a SNAP is extra work.

snap run firefox # Just a guess, Goog is unsure.

In LinuxMint or in the LMDE7 variant, the Synaptic package manager
can make sense of the collection of installed .deb files. First,
try to get synaptic to run in a Terminal

which synaptic
whereis synaptic
synaptic # System responds with most likely require invocation

sudo apt install synaptic
sudo synaptic # Run package management, elevated. Click reload.

If you "search" for Firefox, find the entry, do Properties or use
a tab labeled for such purpose, it shows a file list.

$ ls -al /usr/bin/firefox*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 25 Mar 5 2025 /usr/bin/firefox -> ../lib/firefox/firefox.sh

$ ls -al /usr/lib/firefox
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 682152 Mar 5 2025 firefox
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2667 Mar 5 2025 firefox.sh <=== examine wrapper with xed text editor

# xed /usr/lib/firefox/firefox.sh

The execution of the wrapper, helps pre-define some environment variables
for when the real "firefox" executes.

Sometimes, you will see this sort of thing

blah # This one is the wrapper (defines environment variables).
blah-bin # This is what it calls for actual launch. ELF executable.

I will switch installs, for a look for that bit.

You can also locate the .desktop files (there is a folder for system ones
and a folder for "personal" ones). You can open a .desktop with a tool specifically crafted for .desktop, or, you can use a text editor for a look. Or, even cat a file.

whereis locate # Do I have a soft-linked locate tied to a flavor of "locate" command ?

sudo apt install mlocate # This one will do. These have a config file, defining scope.
sudo updatedb
mlocate firefox # Give it a go, see what the plumbing finds.

/usr/lib/firefox/firefox # This is the wrapper that adds environment variables before launch
/usr/lib/firefox/firefox-bin # This is the raw executable (likely as fetched from the Mozilla site).
# A huge "xul.so" may provide the real meaty ELF bits as a shared lib.

/usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop # system .desktop storage, permissions set for root to edit
~/.local/share/applications/ # Where personal .desktop files would go.

apropos desktop # Consult some help for "where is my personal storage area".
man desktop-file-edit # The help seems mostly generic here.
man update-desktop-database # Something to do with MIMETYPE to launched application map. "mimeinfo.cache"

So at least the MIME summary, is in the same folder as the system .desktop files.

/usr/share/applications/mimeinfo.cache

Sleuthing the "empty" personal directory, was hard work.

The mimeinfo.cache, once rebuilt, helps tie in helper apps to
use to get things done. Maybe the system checks every once in a
while to see if an update is needed.

Paul



--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On 03/01/2026 12:43, occam wrote:

I have just installed Linux mint (22.2) on a partition trying to make
things work as they do under Windows.

I have a working Firefox
I have a working Betterbird (it's just like Thunderbird )

I am trying to launch Firefox - by clicking on a link in a message in Betterbird. The way to do this is to is to set Firefox app as the
'action' against the Content types 'http://' (and https://). (Found
under 'settings' -> 'general' -> 'file & attachments'.)

Where is the firefox program stored in Linux? (I have no idea where to
find the 'executable'.)

Thanks for any pointers

Easiest way is within Firefox itself:
Help | More Troubleshooting Information

The ninth entry under the heading at the top "Application basics" is: Application Binary: /usr/lib/firefox/firefox-bin
--
Jeff
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On Sat, 3 Jan 2026 13:43:28 +0100, occam wrote:

Where is the firefox program stored in Linux?

ldo@theon:~> type -p firefox
/usr/bin/firefox
ldo@theon:~> ls -l /usr/bin/firefox
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 Dec 19 11:22 /usr/bin/firefox -> ../lib/firefox/firefox
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On Sat, 3 Jan 2026 23:09:41 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D-|Oliveiro wrote:

On Sat, 3 Jan 2026 13:43:28 +0100, occam wrote:

Where is the firefox program stored in Linux?

ldo@theon:~> type -p firefox
/usr/bin/firefox
ldo@theon:~> ls -l /usr/bin/firefox
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 Dec 19 11:22 /usr/bin/firefox -> ../lib/firefox/firefox

Your Firefox is apparently _not_ the one from the Mint repo.
(The OP did not say where his Firefox was from.)

-a-a-a me@localhost:~$ type -p firefox
-a-a-a /usr/bin/firefox
-a-a-a me@localhost:~$ ls -l /usr/bin/firefox
-a-a-a -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 168 Dec 10 03:33 /usr/bin/firefox
-a-a-a me@localhost:~$ file /usr/bin/firefox
-a-a-a /usr/bin/firefox: POSIX shell script, ASCII text executable
-a-a-a me@localhost:~$ cat /usr/bin/firefox
-a-a-a #!/bin/sh

-a-a-a # if this isn't in the environment, firefox will forget it's the default browser
-a-a-a export MOZ_APP_LAUNCHER=/usr/bin/firefox
-a-a-a exec /usr/lib/firefox/firefox "$@"
-a-a-a me@localhost:~$
--
Kind regards
Ralph Fox
EfaeN+A

HerCO++t nerCOre have thing good cheap thatrCOs afraid to ask the price.

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On 2026-01-03, occam <occam@nowhere.nix> wrote:

I have just installed Linux mint (22.2) on a partition trying to make
things work as they do under Windows.

I have a working Firefox
I have a working Betterbird (it's just like Thunderbird )

I am trying to launch Firefox - by clicking on a link in a message in Betterbird. The way to do this is to is to set Firefox app as the
'action' against the Content types 'http://' (and https://). (Found
under 'settings' -> 'general' -> 'file & attachments'.)

Where is the firefox program stored in Linux? (I have no idea where to
find the 'executable'.)

Thanks for any pointers

Just type

which firefox (in the terminal)

It will show

/usr/bin/firefox
--
Just because you play "dress up" doesn't
mean I have to play "make believe."
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

Paul wrote:

Note that, on Ubuntu, a lot of executables are packaged in SNAP packages, >making it a lot harder to edit a .desktop file and define a menu entry properly.
For the end user, a SNAP is extra work.

SNAP is like a government inside a government.
If you happen to have set up your system while they had snap already
within, you just need a larger hard disk.
If you are caught with a system while they make the transition to snap
you are fu...d.
Does any of the ubuntu programmers do use their system themselves?
Regards,
H.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On Sun, 1/4/2026 4:30 AM, Heinz Schmitz wrote:

Paul wrote:

Note that, on Ubuntu, a lot of executables are packaged in SNAP packages,
making it a lot harder to edit a .desktop file and define a menu entry properly.
For the end user, a SNAP is extra work.

SNAP is like a government inside a government.
If you happen to have set up your system while they had snap already
within, you just need a larger hard disk.
If you are caught with a system while they make the transition to snap
you are fu...d.

Does any of the ubuntu programmers do use their system themselves?

Regards,
H.

I suppose the staff at Canonical work there... because they are being paid.

That is about the most charitable thing I can say.

Modularity has known benefits. Who battles against modularity and why ???

Paul

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On 2026-01-04, Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:

On Sun, 1/4/2026 4:30 AM, Heinz Schmitz wrote:

Paul wrote:

Note that, on Ubuntu, a lot of executables are packaged in SNAP packages, >>> making it a lot harder to edit a .desktop file and define a menu entry properly.
For the end user, a SNAP is extra work.

SNAP is like a government inside a government.
If you happen to have set up your system while they had snap already
within, you just need a larger hard disk.
If you are caught with a system while they make the transition to snap
you are fu...d.

Does any of the ubuntu programmers do use their system themselves?

Regards,
H.

I suppose the staff at Canonical work there... because they are being paid.

That is about the most charitable thing I can say.

Modularity has known benefits. Who battles against modularity and why ???

Paul

Modularity also has drawbacks, I use Flatpaks and AppImages only when I need the newest version of an application and there is no other choice.

I don't like redundancy and bloat.
--
"Not just stupid... Trump stupid."
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On Sun, 1/4/2026 11:32 PM, RonB wrote:

On 2026-01-04, Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:

On Sun, 1/4/2026 4:30 AM, Heinz Schmitz wrote:

Paul wrote:

Note that, on Ubuntu, a lot of executables are packaged in SNAP packages, >>>> making it a lot harder to edit a .desktop file and define a menu entry properly.
For the end user, a SNAP is extra work.

SNAP is like a government inside a government.
If you happen to have set up your system while they had snap already
within, you just need a larger hard disk.
If you are caught with a system while they make the transition to snap
you are fu...d.

Does any of the ubuntu programmers do use their system themselves?

Regards,
H.

I suppose the staff at Canonical work there... because they are being paid. >>
That is about the most charitable thing I can say.

Modularity has known benefits. Who battles against modularity and why ???

Paul

Modularity also has drawbacks, I use Flatpaks and AppImages only when I need the newest version of an application and there is no other choice.

I don't like redundancy and bloat.

The .deb scheme works fine. It does not need another layer of nonsense
on top of it.

When you wrap something like Gnome up as a SNAP, any program
which needs to refer to one of the GNOME internal debs, has to
download the debs it needs separately. This basically doubles
the downloads for graphical things (you paid for a SNAP but
cannot reuse any of the contents).

+------------------------+ The Gnome SNAP
| Internal dependencies |
| are included inside |
| the SNAP and cannot |
| be accessed |
| externally. |
| 1.deb 2.deb 3.deb | Access to the file system is "controlled"
+------------------------+ for the executable in here.

graphical-program
1.deb (dependency, need to download)
2.deb (dependency, need to download)
3.deb (dependency, need to download)

It's just a make work project.

Debian seems to work fine without that. I download the dependency once.
That's what I mean by modular. Shared libraries .so, we load them once
and everybody can use them. Each of those .deb could have a library .so
we need.

some-gnome-thing
1.deb (dependency, need to download)
2.deb (dependency, need to download)
3.deb (dependency, need to download)

graphical-program (1.deb 2.deb 3.deb already on disk)

Paul
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On 03/01/2026 23:17, Jeff Layman wrote:

On 03/01/2026 12:43, occam wrote:

I have just installed Linux mint (22.2) on a partition trying to make
things work as they do under Windows.

I have a working Firefox
I have a working Betterbird (it's just like Thunderbird )

I am trying to launch Firefox - by clicking on a link in a message in
Betterbird. The way to do this is to is to set Firefox app as the
'action' against the Content types 'http://' (and https://). (Found
under 'settings' ->-a 'general' -> 'file & attachments'.)

Where is the firefox-a program stored in Linux? (I have no idea where to
find the 'executable'.)

Thanks for any pointers

Easiest way is within Firefox itself:
Help | More Troubleshooting Information

The ninth entry under the heading at the top "Application basics" is: Application Binary:-a-a-a-a /usr/lib/firefox/firefox-bin

Thanks. I'll remember that next time. (Ditto for Thunderbird/Betterbird.)
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On Mon, 5 Jan 2026 00:24:27 -0500, Paul wrote:

The .deb scheme works fine. It does not need another layer of
nonsense on top of it.

It does not. Not for open-source software, anyway. App developers
donrCOt have to concern themselves with packaging: they just release the source, along with the relevant build scripts, and leave it up to the
distro maintainers to create the actual packages. This way, a single
app can support a thousand different distros, and a single distro can
support a thousand different apps, and everything scales nicely.

It's just a make work project.

But remember why these whole snapimage/flap/apppak things were
invented: they are oriented towards appeasing developers of
*proprietary* apps. These are the people who donrCOt want to release
their source code. So they moan about having to support a thousand
different distros, as though itrCOs the fault of the Linx ecosystem that
itrCOs so diverse. These monolithic adjuncts to the distro-specific
packaging systems -- a parallel package universe, if you will -- are specifically designed to take control away from the users and the
distro maintainers, and put it in the hands of those proprietary
developers.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On 04/01/2026 02:50, RonB wrote:

On 2026-01-03, occam <occam@nowhere.nix> wrote:

I have just installed Linux mint (22.2) on a partition trying to make
things work as they do under Windows.

I have a working Firefox
I have a working Betterbird (it's just like Thunderbird )

I am trying to launch Firefox - by clicking on a link in a message in
Betterbird. The way to do this is to is to set Firefox app as the
'action' against the Content types 'http://' (and https://). (Found
under 'settings' -> 'general' -> 'file & attachments'.)

Where is the firefox program stored in Linux? (I have no idea where to
find the 'executable'.)

Thanks for any pointers

Just type

which firefox (in the terminal)

It will show

/usr/bin/firefox

<smile> Can you tell I'm a recent convert to Linux? Until recently
'type in the terminal' (a.k.a. Command Prompt) was code for 'go back
into your cave'. I'm adapting.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On Mon, 1/5/2026 2:12 AM, occam wrote:

On 04/01/2026 02:50, RonB wrote:

On 2026-01-03, occam <occam@nowhere.nix> wrote:

I have just installed Linux mint (22.2) on a partition trying to make
things work as they do under Windows.

I have a working Firefox
I have a working Betterbird (it's just like Thunderbird )

I am trying to launch Firefox - by clicking on a link in a message in
Betterbird. The way to do this is to is to set Firefox app as the
'action' against the Content types 'http://' (and https://). (Found
under 'settings' -> 'general' -> 'file & attachments'.)

Where is the firefox program stored in Linux? (I have no idea where to
find the 'executable'.)

Thanks for any pointers

Just type

which firefox (in the terminal)

It will show

/usr/bin/firefox

<smile> Can you tell I'm a recent convert to Linux? Until recently
'type in the terminal' (a.k.a. Command Prompt) was code for 'go back
into your cave'. I'm adapting.

You can use "env" to discover your Linux "path".
"env" has a number of lines, and "path" is one of them.

env

PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games

To print that out, we try

echo $PATH

/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games

The "which" command, walks through that list of directories and checks them.

For general searching, installing mlocate may help.

sudo apt install mlocate
sudo updatedb # create the database needed, takes a tree traversal to build it
locate firefox # should find some matches quickly

*******

In the Windows Command Prompt, you would do "set" to
get the environment variables. Then

echo %path%

C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\WINDOWS\System32\OpenSSH\;

Windows also has some Registry entries with discrete paths for installed executables (that would not otherwise be in %path%). Firefox cannot be found
as Firefox is not in the %path%. I have to pick something I know is in the path, for the command to find it for me. The shells aren't as good about
any new features added to the OS.

C: >where putty # Command Prompt
C:\Program Files\PuTTY\putty.exe

PS> where.exe putty.exe # Powershell
C:\Program Files\PuTTY\putty.exe

A program like Everything.exe can find items like firefox.exe .
But it has to be set up to do it. Everything.exe is from https://www.voidtools.com/downloads/

Paul

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On 05/01/2026 08:32, Paul wrote:

On Mon, 1/5/2026 2:12 AM, occam wrote:

On 04/01/2026 02:50, RonB wrote:

On 2026-01-03, occam <occam@nowhere.nix> wrote:

I have just installed Linux mint (22.2) on a partition trying to make
things work as they do under Windows.

I have a working Firefox
I have a working Betterbird (it's just like Thunderbird )

I am trying to launch Firefox - by clicking on a link in a message in
Betterbird. The way to do this is to is to set Firefox app as the
'action' against the Content types 'http://' (and https://). (Found
under 'settings' -> 'general' -> 'file & attachments'.)

Where is the firefox program stored in Linux? (I have no idea where to >>>> find the 'executable'.)

Thanks for any pointers

Just type

which firefox (in the terminal)

It will show

/usr/bin/firefox

<smile> Can you tell I'm a recent convert to Linux? Until recently
'type in the terminal' (a.k.a. Command Prompt) was code for 'go back
into your cave'. I'm adapting.

You can use "env" to discover your Linux "path".
"env" has a number of lines, and "path" is one of them.

env

PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games

To print that out, we try

echo $PATH

/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games

The "which" command, walks through that list of directories and checks them.

For general searching, installing mlocate may help.

sudo apt install mlocate
sudo updatedb # create the database needed, takes a tree traversal to build it
locate firefox # should find some matches quickly

*******

In the Windows Command Prompt, you would do "set" to
get the environment variables. Then

echo %path%

C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\WINDOWS\System32\OpenSSH\;

Windows also has some Registry entries with discrete paths for installed executables (that would not otherwise be in %path%). Firefox cannot be found as Firefox is not in the %path%. I have to pick something I know is in the path, for the command to find it for me. The shells aren't as good about
any new features added to the OS.

C: >where putty # Command Prompt
C:\Program Files\PuTTY\putty.exe

PS> where.exe putty.exe # Powershell
C:\Program Files\PuTTY\putty.exe

A program like Everything.exe can find items like firefox.exe .
But it has to be set up to do it. Everything.exe is from https://www.voidtools.com/downloads/

When I used Windows, everything.exe was one of the first utilities I
installed as it was so fast.

One thing Windows does (did? I stopped using it 10 years ago) better
than Linux was finding the *.exe file of an app from the start menu. I
think it was available from a right-click on the program name. But the
Linux Mint menu doesn't have that facility (why not?). If you right
click on a menu item you can choose "Properties" and an info box
"Launcher properties" pops up. This has a "Command" line showing the
name of the app and "Browse". I thought this would have linked to the
binary which launched the app, but all it does is open the file manager
at "Choose a command" with home/.bluefish highlighted no matter what app
you originally left-clicked on.

Perhaps the explanation is in the Mint forum somewhere, but...
--
Jeff
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On 05/01/2026 10:08, Jeff Layman wrote:

On 05/01/2026 08:32, Paul wrote:

On Mon, 1/5/2026 2:12 AM, occam wrote:

On 04/01/2026 02:50, RonB wrote:

On 2026-01-03, occam <occam@nowhere.nix> wrote:

I have just installed Linux mint (22.2) on a partition trying to make >>>>> things work as they do under Windows.

I have a working Firefox
I have a working Betterbird (it's just like Thunderbird )

I am trying to launch Firefox - by clicking on a link in a message in >>>>> Betterbird. The way to do this is to is to set Firefox app as the
'action' against the Content types 'http://' (and https://). (Found
under 'settings' ->-a 'general' -> 'file & attachments'.)

Where is the firefox-a program stored in Linux? (I have no idea
where to
find the 'executable'.)

Thanks for any pointers

Just type

which firefox (in the terminal)

It will show

/usr/bin/firefox

<smile> Can you tell I'm a recent convert to Linux?-a Until recently
'type in the terminal' (a.k.a. Command Prompt) was code for 'go back
into your cave'.-a-a I'm adapting.

You can use "env" to discover your Linux "path".
"env" has a number of lines, and "path" is one of them.

-a-a-a env

OK

<snipped a lot of caveman stuff>

A program like Everything.exe can find items like firefox.exe .
But it has to be set up to do it. Everything.exe is from-a-a https://
www.voidtools.com/downloads/

I'll look for it. On Windows it is one of my favourite tools.

When I used Windows, everything.exe was one of the first utilities I installed as it was so fast.

Ditto.

One thing Windows does (did? I stopped using it 10 years ago) better
than Linux was finding the *.exe file of an app from the start menu. I
think it was available from a right-click on the program name. But the
Linux Mint menu doesn't have that facility (why not?). If you right
click on a menu item you can choose "Properties" and an info box
"Launcher properties" pops up. This has a "Command" line showing the
name of the app and "Browse". I thought this would have linked to the
binary which launched the app, but all it does is open the file manager
at "Choose a command" with home/.bluefish highlighted no matter what app
you originally left-clicked on.

Perhaps the explanation is in the Mint forum somewhere, but...

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On 05/01/2026 09:32, Paul wrote:

On Mon, 1/5/2026 2:12 AM, occam wrote:

On 04/01/2026 02:50, RonB wrote:

On 2026-01-03, occam <occam@nowhere.nix> wrote:

I have just installed Linux mint (22.2) on a partition trying to make
things work as they do under Windows.

I have a working Firefox
I have a working Betterbird (it's just like Thunderbird )

I am trying to launch Firefox - by clicking on a link in a message in
Betterbird. The way to do this is to is to set Firefox app as the
'action' against the Content types 'http://' (and https://). (Found
under 'settings' -> 'general' -> 'file & attachments'.)

Where is the firefox program stored in Linux? (I have no idea where to >>>> find the 'executable'.)

Thanks for any pointers

Just type

which firefox (in the terminal)

It will show

/usr/bin/firefox

<smile> Can you tell I'm a recent convert to Linux? Until recently
'type in the terminal' (a.k.a. Command Prompt) was code for 'go back
into your cave'. I'm adapting.

You can use "env" to discover your Linux "path".
"env" has a number of lines, and "path" is one of them.

env

PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games

To print that out, we try

echo $PATH

/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games

The "which" command, walks through that list of directories and checks them.

For general searching, installing mlocate may help.

sudo apt install mlocate
sudo updatedb # create the database needed, takes a tree traversal to build it
locate firefox # should find some matches quickly

*******

In the Windows Command Prompt, you would do "set" to
get the environment variables. Then

echo %path%

C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\WINDOWS\System32\OpenSSH\;

Windows also has some Registry entries with discrete paths for installed executables (that would not otherwise be in %path%). Firefox cannot be found as Firefox is not in the %path%. I have to pick something I know is in the path, for the command to find it for me. The shells aren't as good about
any new features added to the OS.

C: >where putty # Command Prompt
C:\Program Files\PuTTY\putty.exe

PS> where.exe putty.exe # Powershell
C:\Program Files\PuTTY\putty.exe

A program like Everything.exe can find items like firefox.exe .
But it has to be set up to do it. Everything.exe is from https://www.voidtools.com/downloads/

I see that the nearest equivalent in Linux is 'FSearch'.


--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On Mon, 1/5/2026 4:08 AM, Jeff Layman wrote:

When I used Windows, everything.exe was one of the first utilities I installed as it was so fast.

One thing Windows does (did? I stopped using it 10 years ago) better than Linux was finding the *.exe file of an app from the start menu. I think it was available from a right-click on the program name. But the Linux Mint menu doesn't have that facility (why not?). If you right click on a menu item you can choose "Properties" and an info box "Launcher properties" pops up. This has a "Command" line showing the name of the app and "Browse". I thought this would have linked to the binary which launched the app, but all it does is open the file manager at "Choose a command" with home/.bluefish highlighted no matter what app you originally left-clicked on.

Perhaps the explanation is in the Mint forum somewhere, but...

Windows shortcuts (with icon), have a small amount of info
in them with a path and arguments, and that allows launching
something which is not "in the current place".

Paul
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On 05/01/2026 13:54, occam wrote:

A program like Everything.exe can find items like firefox.exe .
But it has to be set up to do it. Everything.exe is from https://www.voidtools.com/downloads/

I see that the nearest equivalent in Linux is 'FSearch'.

Catfish (in the software manager) is worth a look.
--
Jeff
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On 2026-01-05, Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:

On Sun, 1/4/2026 11:32 PM, RonB wrote:

On 2026-01-04, Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:

On Sun, 1/4/2026 4:30 AM, Heinz Schmitz wrote:

Paul wrote:

Note that, on Ubuntu, a lot of executables are packaged in SNAP packages, >>>>> making it a lot harder to edit a .desktop file and define a menu entry properly.
For the end user, a SNAP is extra work.

SNAP is like a government inside a government.
If you happen to have set up your system while they had snap already
within, you just need a larger hard disk.
If you are caught with a system while they make the transition to snap >>>> you are fu...d.

Does any of the ubuntu programmers do use their system themselves?

Regards,
H.

I suppose the staff at Canonical work there... because they are being paid. >>>
That is about the most charitable thing I can say.

Modularity has known benefits. Who battles against modularity and why ??? >>>
Paul

Modularity also has drawbacks, I use Flatpaks and AppImages only when I need
the newest version of an application and there is no other choice.

I don't like redundancy and bloat.

The .deb scheme works fine. It does not need another layer of nonsense
on top of it.

When you wrap something like Gnome up as a SNAP, any program
which needs to refer to one of the GNOME internal debs, has to
download the debs it needs separately. This basically doubles
the downloads for graphical things (you paid for a SNAP but
cannot reuse any of the contents).

+------------------------+ The Gnome SNAP
| Internal dependencies |
| are included inside |
| the SNAP and cannot |
| be accessed |
| externally. |
| 1.deb 2.deb 3.deb | Access to the file system is "controlled"
+------------------------+ for the executable in here.

graphical-program
1.deb (dependency, need to download)
2.deb (dependency, need to download)
3.deb (dependency, need to download)

It's just a make work project.

Debian seems to work fine without that. I download the dependency once. That's what I mean by modular. Shared libraries .so, we load them once
and everybody can use them. Each of those .deb could have a library .so
we need.

some-gnome-thing
1.deb (dependency, need to download)
2.deb (dependency, need to download)
3.deb (dependency, need to download)

graphical-program (1.deb 2.deb 3.deb already on disk)

Paul

I misunderstood. I was thinking of "modularity" as "modules" and applying
that to Snaps, Flatpaks or AppImages.

Sorry for my ignorance on the correct use of terms. I agree with you.
--
"Not just stupid... Trump stupid."
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux.mint

On Mon, 5 Jan 2026 09:08:57 +0000, Jeff Layman wrote:

One thing Windows does (did? I stopped using it 10 years ago) better
than Linux was finding the *.exe file of an app from the start menu.
I think it was available from a right-click on the program name. But
the Linux Mint menu doesn't have that facility (why not?).

Remember that Linux GUIs construct their elements, not out of simple (simplistic?) links directly to executables, but out of .desktop
files, which have an extensible text-based format that can contain a
bunch of info, including not just a command to execute, but also
descriptive names in any human language.

If you right click on a menu item you can choose "Properties" and an
info box "Launcher properties" pops up. This has a "Command" line
showing the name of the app and "Browse". I thought this would have
linked to the binary which launched the app, but all it does is open
the file manager at "Choose a command" with home/.bluefish
highlighted no matter what app you originally left-clicked on.

Presumably, this is a function of your GUI component that actually
provides the application menu.

On KDE Plasma, I have a choice of different widgets for this and other functions. Just to test, I tried right-clicking on the rCLFirefoxrCY item
in the rCLInternetrCY submenu of my app menu, and in the popup menu that
came up was the option rCLEdit Application...rCY.

Selecting that brought up a dialog with, among other things, a
rCLProgram:rCY field that contained the full path of the executable. Sure enough, clicking the icon next to it took me to a file picker
positioned at the directory where that executable was to be found,
with it preselected.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2