OSX with "cmdline" options works different as on other platforms

[gNeandr]

See also [Bug 528683] New: OSX with "cmdline" options works different as
on other platforms

Using a special command line option [1] to pass extension specific
parameters to a mozilla application works well with WINxp and Linux/Ubunto.

On MAC/OSX it's only possible to start an instance of the mozilla
application (Thunderbird or Postbox for example), but any call to a
running instance of that application it only will show a user dialog

A copy of %S is already open. Only one copy
of %S can be open at a time.

For consistent use of extensions on all platforms it's required to have
one implementation. Alternatively this special MAC/OSX behavior has to
be documented, an alternative approach should be recommanded for that
specific platform.

Any suggestion?

[1] https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Chrome/Command_Line

[Benjamin Smedberg]

On 11/15/09 7:57 AM, gNeandr wrote:

> For consistent use of extensions on all platforms it's required to have
> one implementation. Alternatively this special MAC/OSX behavior has to
> be documented, an alternative approach should be recommanded for that
> specific platform.

The fact that second calls remote to the first instance is an implementation
detail on Windows/Linux because the operating system shell doesn't provide
remoting services automatically. On MacOS the shell (Finder) automatically
turns document and URL loads into Apple Events for the existing instance,
and there is no need to use command lines.

This is an inconsistency between platforms but is not a bug. If you need to
send something to the existing instance on Mac you will need to use Apple
Events directly, or use them indirectly by using the `open` command, e.g.

`open -a /Applications/MyApp.app Some.file`

--BDS