XPost: alt.comp.software.firefox, alt.os.linux   
   From: mariasophia@comprehension.com   
      
   Maria Sophia wrote:   
   > Everything is working except the final step, which should work in Linux,   
   > but which isn't working (yet) in Windows. Yesterday I switched from gVim to   
   > Notepad++, and today I switched to Notepad.exe on the temporary file.   
      
   The original dream of writing an extension allowing right-clicking in   
   Firefox to open page source in an editor should work on Linux exactly as we   
   imagined it. But not on Windows.   
      
   As far as I've been able to ascertain by testing, no GUI program will ever   
   appear on a Windows desktop when launched from a Firefox native host on   
   Windows, but, it should still work on Linux.   
      
   There's just no magic escape hatch on Windows because even if we call a   
   batch file, on Windows it inherits the exact same session, the exact same   
   desktop, the exact same window station and the exact same restrictions as   
   the Python process that launched it because Windows forbids GUI windows in   
   that session.   
      
   Linux desktop sessions are not isolated the way Windows sessions are.   
   When Firefox launches a native host:   
    a. it inherits our $DISPLAY   
    b. it inherits our $XAUTHORITY   
    c. it inherits our Wayland session   
    d. it inherits our environment variables   
    e. it inherits our user permissions   
   So the host process is literally running inside our desktop session.   
      
   Windows, by contrast, launches the native host in a background, invisible,   
   non-interactive session with:   
    a. no desktop   
    b. no window station   
    c. no GUI access   
    d. no ability to display windows   
      
   This is why Notepad, Notepad++, and gVim all fail on Windows, yet the   
   $EDITOR should work on Linux using almost the same code provided.   
      
   Sigh.   
   Lesson learned... The hard way.   
      
   As Lawrence intoned, there's a reason hackers aren't on Windows...   
   That's fer' sure.   
      
   But it's no over until the fat lady sings... as no app on any operating   
   system is more powerful than we are in wresting control over it.   
   --   
   Every Usenet post should strive to add palpable additional value   
   so that we can all delight in dissemination of useful knowledge.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)