Opening local files/folders fails

[crashmaster]

I'm opening this issue because:

• I'll report a bug
• I'll propose a new feature

Description

Opening local files/folders fails with: Illegal URL ... message.

Failure Information (for bugs)

See description.

Steps to Reproduce

Please provide detailed steps for reproducing the issue.

1. type: :t file:///tmp

System configuration

• Operating system:
  DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
  DISTRIB_RELEASE=16.04
  DISTRIB_CODENAME=xenial
  DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS"
• Firefox version:
  57.0 (64-bit)
• Vim-Vixen version:
  0.7

[robehickman]

This also happens with 'about:config'.

[ueokande]

related to #106?

[Nikoshi]

You can open the file link for C: with C:\ for example.
The same should work with linux like paths

which links to

[haxwithaxe]

For the reference of those who come searching for answers like I did:

Extensions aren't allowed to load file:// URIs.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/tabs/create

[MRAAGH]

I also noticed this issue immediately when I wanted to navigate using Vim Vixen on my local WIP website. For those in the same situation, the solution is to run a local web server to serve your test site, then connect with a localhost URL! 😀

I don't think it's impossible for extensions to open local files, though; because Vimium-FF is also an extension and it handles local links just fine! Make a file a.html with this content:
<a href="b.html">b</a>
Then open it directly in Firefox. Try keyboard-clicking the link with Vim Vixen and it says "illegal URL". But if you try to keyboard-click it with Vimium-FF, it'll work! It'll go to the URL file:///.../b.html and tell you that this file does not exist.

[veotos]

My temporal workaround to stick my fingers to the keyboard is search ( /whatever pressing n as needed) for the link keywords and press enter. It opens filesystem links, which is funny.