Fixing Apturl For Firefox 3.5 And Later (Or Swiftfox) [Ubuntu]

Firefox is able to handle one click installs in Ubuntu using a protocol called "apt: url" (Example: Playdeb.net website). On computers where apturl is enabled, clicking on a special type of link on a web page starts the installation of one or several packages available in the package repositories of this computer.

For example, from a web page, when a Ubuntu user clicks on the link apt:packageexample , the apturl protocol will launch the package manager to propose the installation of the package called "packageexample" from the repositories available on the computer.

For me, apturl wasn't enabled by default in Firefox 3.5, 3.6 or Swiftfox. But I was easily able to fix it, so I will now share with you how to do this.

Apturl should be installed by default, but in case it isn't, run this in a terminal:

sudo apt-get install apturl 

Then, in Firefox 3.5, 3.6 or whatever version you may have installed, type about:config in the url bar and create the following parameters (Caracter chain: New > String; Bolean: New > Bolean) with the values mentioned below:

network.protocol-handler.app.apt in character chain with /usr/bin/apturl as value,
network.protocol-handler.app.apt+http in character chain with /usr/bin/apturl as value,
network.protocol-handler.warn-external.apt in boolean value and put false as value,
network.protocol-handler.warn-external.apt+http in boolean value and put false as value. 

Then restart Firefox / Swiftfox (yes, it also works for Swiftfox).

Then try clicking on a apturl, such as the following: apt:packageexample. If it still doesn't work, go to Edit > Preferences, on the Applications tab, and on action, enter the path to apturl:

/usr/bin/apturl

Now it will definitely work!