[oddevan]

> Browsers should be allowed to know if they are the current default browser.

No. No no no no no.

Once my default is set, it is SET. I don't want Safari or Chrome or Firefox or $UNKNOWN_FOURTH_OPTION to prompt me every single time to make it my default browser. I just want the browser to know that it is running. Period.

Is there any good reason for the browser to know whether it's the default? Serious question. Because the only reason I can think of is whining about not being the default.

[reyqn]

The only reason I would see is when your default browser was changed without your consent by your OS (Windows). Then when you launch your browser it can remind you it's not the default anymore. But that's a reason that solves a problem which shouldn't exist.

[darklion]

> Because the only reason I can think of is whining about not being the default.

That is exactly the reason.

The charitable reason is so that the browser, upon launch, can ask the user if they want to make it the default.

The problem is that the only incentive browser vendors have to not ask repeatedly is the frequency threshold past which the user will not use the browser.

[kees99]

Strong agree. This whining behavior is out of control.

E.g., I don't have xdg on one of my systems, so "default browser" is not a meaningful concept there. Still, the only browser I have, keeps showing me the sad-face "Firefox is not your default" prompt.