Update for people like me who like to understand what the #$& is actually going on:
Sometime in the last two years this problem went away for me. Then just the other day it mysteriously came back. After lots of reading I finally got it how I like it again, and learned that there have been multiple levels of bugs and settings making this extra confusing: 1. A <a href="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=721498";>FireFox bug</a> causing inconsistent behavior with links passed from external apps. This is what caused my original problem: if FF was not open yet, external links would focus it, but if FF was already open, external links would not focus it. As noted in that bug report, that doesn't make sense whatever your general focus preference is, and this was fixed in early 2012 so that FF DOES take focus in either case. Which made people like me happy, who prefer to always open external links in the foreground, but annoyed the people who prefer to always open external links in the background. 2. The <a href="http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/how-stop- firefox-stealing-window-focus.htm">Focus Prevention Level</a> compiz setting. People who were upset by the FF fix can use this setting to override what they (erroneously IMO) call FF's "focus stealing". Set it to at least "low" and it should block FF from taking focus, instead bouncing the icon in the launcher or flashing in the taskbar or whatever. Or, if you WANT FF to take focus when you click links from external apps, set this to "off". Back when I posted to this case in 2010 this fix did not help me, but now that the FF bug is fixed, it does. 3. The FF config setting browser.tabs.loadDivertedInBackground -- This gets brought up a lot but it is NOT RELEVANT to this issue. This setting (and the similar LoadInBackground) controls how tabs focus in relation to other tabs, not how FF focuses in relation to other apps. Everyone that's been talking about these settings has just been obscuring the actual problem and complicating the discussion. There, hope this helps at least one person, and I will now shut up about it forever :) ** Bug watch added: Mozilla Bugzilla #721498 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=721498 -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to firefox in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/546969 Title: focus does not switch to firefox when a hyperlink is clicked in another application Status in “firefox” package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Bug description: Binary package hint: firefox In Lucid Beta 1, Firefox 3.6+nobinonly-0ubuntu6: When I click a hyperlink in Evolution or Ctrl+click a hyperlink in an Open Office document, I expect Firefox to open the link in a new tab and switch the focus to Firefox. This is what happens if Firefox is not already running; however, if Firefox is already running, the link is opened in a new tab but focus is not switched to Firefox. Firefox is selected as the web browser in Preferred Applications where "Open link with web browser default" is selected. In Firefox -> Edit -> Preferences, "When I open a link in a new tab, switch to it immediately" is selected. I'm not sure if this is a bug, or simply new default behavior. Judging by bug #481541, it may be the behavior preferred by some users. Perhaps the best solution would be to offer a configuration option so end users could select the default behavior? ProblemType: Bug Architecture: amd64 Date: Thu Mar 25 09:50:54 2010 DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04 EcryptfsInUse: Yes FirefoxPackages: firefox 3.6+nobinonly-0ubuntu6 firefox-gnome-support 3.6+nobinonly-0ubuntu6 firefox-branding 3.6+nobinonly-0ubuntu6 abroswer N/A abrowser-branding N/A InstallationMedia: Error: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/var/log/installer/media-info' NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia Package: firefox 3.6+nobinonly-0ubuntu6 ProcEnviron: LANG=en_US.utf8 SHELL=/bin/bash ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-16.25-generic SourcePackage: firefox Uname: Linux 2.6.32-16-generic x86_64 To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox/+bug/546969/+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
