Web help does not open browser installed via snap

[adam-wolfe]

Describe the bug

Chrome and Firefox are provided via snap by default in recent Ubuntu releases. Since the webhelp, by default, exists in a hidden folder (~/.zowe), users running Ubuntu or Ubuntu derivatives will not be able to open web help without reconfiguring their environment to use a non-snap-installed browser.

If I run a command and include the --help-web flag, the web help html files are generated, but a browser is not opened.

Expected and actual results

1. Run zowe --hw
2. Observe that the web help files are generated and "Launching web help in browser..." is printed to the terminal.
3. A web browser is not opened.
4. The command exits.

Describe your environment

• Zowe CLI version installed (run command zowe --version): 8.23.1
• Node.js and NPM versions installed (run node --version, npm --version): node 20.18.3
• Operating system and version: Ubuntu 22.04
• Shell/terminal (bash, cmd, powershell, etc...): bash
• Daemon mode enabled or disabled: disabled

Additional context

I also tried Zowe CLI 8.3.0 and 7.29.14, which also failed to open a web browser.

[github-actions[bot]]

Thank you for creating a bug report. We will investigate the bug and evaluate its impact on the product. If you haven't already, please ensure you have provided steps to reproduce the bug and as much context as possible.

[adam-wolfe]

This is caused by Firefox installed via snap (which is the default on Ubuntu 22.04). With this configuration, Firefox is unable to access html files in hidden directories.

It is a known bug captured here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/snapd/+bug/1972762

[adam-wolfe]

The resolution in this case is to install a web browser without using the snap package manager.

[adam-wolfe]

Reopened to consider options to work around snap limitations.