Question: How to set default homepage for all firefox users?
Posted by dmonty on Tue 3 Oct 2006 at 09:06
We are distributing Debian and Mozill Firefox on all the machines in our school, but are having problems setting up the browser homepage automatically.
Without changing the .desktop file launch script, how do I change the default homepage for all users in the school? (If we just change the launch script then the "Home" button would still be broken.)
On a fresh user install the browser starts up with a blank white page.
about:config shows: browser.startup.homepage resource:/browserconfig.properties
If I type in this url resource:/browserconfig.properties I get a "File Not Found" error.
Some schools may want their browsers setup so that the students are not able to change their default start page, whilst others might want to allow that.
So I have two questions:
- How do I globally change the default homepage for all users?
- How can I lock the homepage setting so that it can not be changed?
A possible answer to the first question is to create the file /usr/lib/firefox/browserconfig.properties with the following contents:
browser.startup.homepage=http://mysite.com/ browser.startup.homepage_reset=http://mysite.com/
But that still allows the users to change their homepage.
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http://blogs.sun.com/davetong/entry/day_0_the_calm_before
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I've reached it in three steps:
- edit /etc/mozilla-firefox/pref/firefox.js file
- modify browser startup register:
pref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://myfavoritepage.org"); - if you have users who has executed firefox, you must delete pref's file:
find /home/ -name prefs.js -exec rm -f {} \;
cheers!
n1mh
--
n1mh dot org slash weblog
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Scott
www.angrykeyboarder.com
© 2006 angrykeyboarder™ & Elmer Fudd. All Wights Wesewved
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It may well be /etc/iceweasel in Etch when it is released but that is another battle entirely.
I would have expected new desktop deployments to be working with testing, but at this point there is probably no "immediate win" situation. Sarge is rather dated as a desktop (although use of backports might help).
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/usr/lib/firefox/firefox.cfg
to set user's homepage to something reasonable add this line:
defaultPref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://www.debian-administration.org/";);
Or, to lock them out of changing their homepage, add this line:
lockPref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://www.debian-administration.org/";);
I'm sure IceWeasel will have similar.
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the /usr/lib/firefox/* files may be overwritten on a package upgrade.
Or at least that's what /etc/firefox/pref/firefox.js says in the comment block.
But when I edited /etc/firefox/pref/firefox.js, none of the changes took effect.
Maybe I had syntax wrong or need to log out/in.
Anyway, to protect your changes perhaps best to use a symlink for /usr/lib/firefox/firefox.cfg (i.e. put the real file in /etc/firefox)
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http://togami.com/~warren/guides/mozlockdown/
http://www.mozilla.org/catalog/end-user/customizing/briefprefs.ht ml
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http://www.mozilla.org/catalog/end-user/customizing/briefprefs.ht ml
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locate defaults/pref
Any files that I think may be overwritten by an upgrade, I just create a cron job to ensure my changes stick.
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http://www.alandmoore.com/geekpage/index.php?content=38
Might give you some ideas, anyway.
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if not check this link out, it might be of some help
http://togami.com/~warren/guides/mozlockdown/
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