[Bug 184744] Re: URL "smb://..." works in location bar & tool bar, not as link

[RFW]

It seems to me that this isn't so much a "bug in Firefox" as it is a problem with 
the security model. Whether it's the security model for Linux in general, the one 
for Ubuntu Linux in particular, or the one for Firefox, I can't say.     

The key element in this bug report is the inconsistency in behavior: an smb:// url 
works in two situations, but not in a third that is not conceptually different. 
Whatever the security model, this is counter-intuitive.  

The security model can't be simply "we don't do cross-site retrievals"; Firefox 
fetches off-site web pages without complaint. Including, I should add, ones with 
ftp: URLs, which themselves work.

One almost wonders if the security model is flawed in that it emphasises *how* data 
is retrieved (i.e. the transport protocol), not where it is retrieved from nor what 
kind of data it is.

A key question to understanding this behavior: why does this happen with an smb: 
URL but not with an ftp: url? Or does it happen with an ftp: url as well? These URL 
types are exactly equivalent, differing only in the transport protocol. They both 
fetch files (potentially of any type) from sites that allow such access. The access 
control mechanisms are different, but that's neither here nor there.  

What does Firefox do with an ftp: URL that references an HTML file?

I'm writing this because the real fix for this bug may lie in sprucing up 
the security model, with coding fixes to Firefox being secondary. Let's 
not let the tail wag the dog!

-- 
Frogbarf

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URL "smb://..." works in location bar & tool bar, not as link
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/184744
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