Do you have an option for the Arc browser ?

[stevesup]

Hi,

Is there an option to make Arc browser the default browser ?

Regards, sw

[jonasbn]

Hi @stevesup

If it registers as a HTTP handler it should work out of the box, do see #25

The tricky part can be the name, which the browser uses to register, it is not necessarily recognizable

[stevesup]

Hi Jonas,

Unfortunately, Arc browser does not register as a HTTP handler ...

Regards, Steve Williams

On 15 Apr 2024 2:14, Jonas Brømsø wrote:

Hi @stevesup https://github.com/stevesup

If it registers as a HTTP handler it should work out of the box, do see #25 https://github.com/kerma/defaultbrowser/issues/25

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[matthewspear]

Seem that Arc is listed as browser if you run the command just defaultbrowser and see available options:

defaultbrowser
  iterm2
  safari
  chrome
  browser
  horse
  firefox

Selecting browser:

But I also see Zen Browser get offered up if I run defaultbrowser browser again, so must be some generic option, but allows me to switch between Arc and something else consistently.

[jonasbn]

Hi @matthewspear

You should get an asterisk indicating your currently chosen default browser. There is a problem in the version currently available in most channels with the Chrome browser, since the name varied in casing, but it has been fixed in the GitHub repository:

• https://github.com/kerma/defaultbrowser/pull/26

So what you observe could be related to that issue.

If you attempt to set the same default as is already set, you get a warning indicating this:

defaultbrowser
  iterm2
  zen
  chrome
* firefoxdeveloperedition
  safari

defaultbrowser firefoxdeveloperedition
firefoxdeveloperedition is already set as the default HTTP handler

[jonasbn]

I just installed both Arc and Zen and did a small code change to my local fork of this repository (do note I am not an Objective-C programmer or in deep in the Apple ecosystem).

But I afterwards could get the following enriched list of HTTP handlers:

./defaultbrowser
  iterm2 (com.googlecode.iterm2)
  browser (company.thebrowser.Browser)
  zen (app.zen-browser.zen)
  chrome (com.google.Chrome)
* firefoxdeveloperedition (org.mozilla.firefoxdeveloperedition)
  safari (com.apple.Safari)

As pointed out by you @matthewspear Arc seem to register it self as:

• browser (company.thebrowser.Browser)

But with the current implementation, there is not much that could help to recognize this as Arc.

I inspected the plist file:

plutil -convert xml1 -o - Preferences/company.thebrowser.Browser.plist

And there was a few mentions of the string arc.

plutil -convert xml1 -o - Preferences/company.thebrowser.Browser.plist|ag arc
	<key>TopBarColorCache</key>
	<key>arcMaxAutoOptInEnabled</key>
	<key>arc_quitAlwaysKeepsWindows</key>
	<key>useArcCoreFreezingImplementation</key>

And skip-jumping from the string: company.thebrowser.Browser to the actual plist file, which in my case is placed in my Library/ - I guess it could be placed elsewhere.

The plist file in /Applications in the Arc browser application folder does hold a bit more:

plutil -convert xml1 -o - Info.plist|ag arc
	<string>Arc</string>
	<string>Arc</string>
			<string>Arc Browser</string>
				<string>arcBrowser</string>
	<string>Access to "Desktop" is required to make files accessible from Arc.</string>
	<string>Access to "Downloads" is required for downloading files from the web and to make files accessible from Arc.</string>
	<string>Arc.BrowserApp</string>
	<string>Arc.sdef</string>
	<string>https://releases.arc.net/updates.xml</string>

But there does not seem to be a connection between the two, at least not one that is clear and one that I am aware of. But I am way in over my head

[jonasbn]

I implemented a hack in my own fork, where I translate browser to arc for human consumption and accept the arc name for indicating the HTTP handler: browser:

./defaultbrowser
  iterm2
  arc
  zen
  chrome
* firefoxdeveloperedition
  safari

Setting arc as default:

./defaultbrowser arc

Listing again:

./defaultbrowser
  iterm2
* arc
  zen
  chrome
  firefoxdeveloperedition
  safari

Attempting to set arc when it is already set.

./defaultbrowser arc
arc is already set as the default HTTP handler

Do see:

• https://github.com/jonasbn/defaultbrowser/tree/arc_hack

I would understand why the author would not want to do this, since it is ugly and you risk ending up maintaining all kinds of variations to browser names.