Does the -app command line option work properly in Firefox 4?

I have written some software that makes use of the -app command line option in Firefox to launch XUL applications in Firefox's embedded copy of XULRunner. This all worked fine in Firefox 3.x, however when I try with Firefox 4, Firefox either crashes or does nothing (depending on if it is on Mac or Windows).

I have tried a number of other command line options and many of them seem to be variously broken. (such as -v to print the version information, which crashes on OSX)

Does anyone know if there are already registered bugs about this? Was the removal of -app intentional开发者_开发知识库 or was it an oversight? Is there any way to work around this problem?

The -app is maintained in firefox 4 and should work.
I do not know if there is a bug for windows and mac os, but I'm using it on linux for several apps, and it works well (my firefox version is Mozilla Firefox 4.0.1)

Just wanted to bump this - as on Firefox 7, -app does not seem to be there:

$ uname -s -r
Linux 2.6.38-11-generic
$ firefox --version
Mozilla Firefox 7.0.1
$ firefox --help
Usage: firefox [ options ... ] [URL]
       where options include:

X11 options
  --display=DISPLAY  X display to use
  --sync             Make X calls synchronous
  --g-fatal-warnings Make all warnings fatal

Firefox options
  -h or -help        Print this message.
  -v or -version     Print Firefox version.
  -P <profile>       Start with <profile>.
  -migration         Start with migration wizard.
  -ProfileManager    Start with ProfileManager.
  -no-remote         Open new instance, not a new window in running instance.
  -UILocale <locale> Start with <locale> resources as UI Locale.
  -safe-mode         Disables extensions and themes for this session.
  -jsconsole         Open the Error console.
  -browser           Open a browser window.
  -new-window  <url> Open <url> in a new window.
  -new-tab     <url> Open <url> in a new tab.
  -preferences       Open Preferences dialog.
  -search     <term> Search <term> with your default search engine.
  -private           Enable private browsing mode.
  -private-toggle    Toggle private browsing mode.
  -setDefaultBrowser Set this app as the default browser.

      -g or --debug          Start within debugger
      -d or --debugger       Specify debugger to start with (eg, gdb or valgrind)
      -a or --debugger-args  Specify arguments for debugger

I too would love to know when and why it was removed, but I simply cannot find any info online (see also Single-file app with xulrunner - possible?) ...

PS: Just filed a bug here: Bug #880596 in firefox (Ubuntu): “Option '-app' missing from Firefox above version 3” - I thought it would be automatically copied to mozilla's bugzilla (seeing bugs like Bug #207454), but unfortunately, it wasn't so... - bugzilla bug needs to be copied and added manually, it's there now...

I also experienced problems using the -app switch. I'm using Firefox 10, but I have an idea this problem goes right back to FF 4.

The firefox binary, when run with the -help option, does not show list the -app option, which caused me much confusion, but I believe its still there.

The problem for me, instead, was to do with this change in Firefox 4, requiring a chrome manifest file in the application root. Since FF 4, only a single (root) chrome manifest is read, so you must create one with the following line, (or lines, if you want to have multiple manifests).

manifest chrome/chrome.manifest

Then launch the application the usual way

firefox -app path/to/application.ini -jsconsole

(For debugging use the -jsconsole option).

Another note, (you didn't mention having tried this, but I did and it was wrong) -- don't use the -no-remote option. I tried this with the intent of starting a new process for my XUL application separate from already running firefox instances. However, the -app option will create a new process for your application even if firefox instances are already running, so there is no need.

See also this question for more info about the chrome manifest issue.