Startpage redirection weirdness with host_permissions

[jahtnamas]

Describe the bug
Using a bang with Startpage as the browser's default search engine either: doesn't immediately redirect (this is new since I reported it, idk what exactly is up there) or only redirects when another link still on Startpage's domain is interacted with. I'm noticing now that the latter happens with my custom fixed speedrun.com bang specifically.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Bang search in browser's searchbar with Startpage as the default and hit enter.
2. You are now on Startpage's results.

Expected behavior
Yang redirects to the requested search engine.

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• OS: EndeavourOS Linux-zen 6.12.1
• Browser: Firefox
• Version: ESR 128.4

Additional context
I'll be quoting @dmlls' comment from #20

The problem lies in my misinterpretation of the host_permissions in the manifest.json. I always though they would match exactly the specified pattern, but obviously enough, they only match the host. This means that Yang will also be active in https://www.startpage.com/do/settings.

In the settings page, the search query is still included as a query parameter and since Yang is active, the bang is triggered.

anyway i hope i did okay with filing this issue 👍

[dmlls]

Hi @jahtnamas, and thank you for opening a new issue.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to reproduce this issue neither on Firefox ESR, nor on Firefox, Zen Browser, or Firefox Android. Could you try on any other search engine and see if the issue is still there? I'm trying to figure out if this is specific to Startpage.

Also, the fact that it could take a second to redirect is likely caused by the migration to Manifest V3, in which blocking requests are no longer supported, which prevents us from blocking the request to the search engine while we "find" the bang and redirect to it. However, this usually happens so fast that the search engine is not even loaded.

[noodlejetski]

I'm experiencing that issue on the latest build of Zen Browser with Startpage set as the default engine. searching for ![bang] [query] just brings me to Startpage results for ![bang] [query], but when I press Enter on that results page, I'm redirected to search results for [query] on the website the ![bang] is supposed to redirect to in the first place.

the addon works as expected with Startpage on Firefox for Android, though.

[dmlls]

Hi @noodlejetski, hmm that's interesting. Does this happen always or just when starting the browser? I'm also using Zen (1.0.2-b.3) and gave it a quick try and everything worked as expected, so I assume it happens only sometimes?

[noodlejetski]

it happens every time I try performing a search from the URL bar, not just after launching the browser.

[jschenke488]

it happens every time I try performing a search from the URL bar, not just after launching the browser.

Have this same issue on Ablaze Floorp v11.23.1 on macOS

yang.mov

[samyakbardiya]

I tried to reproduce the issue, and was able to identify the issue.

• this issue only happens when you have added Startpage search engine as their extension
• BUT, if you have added it directly from the URL bar, or manually, in that case it simply works fine.

So as a quick fix, I would recommend uninstalling the Startpage extension, and add the search engine from the URL bar.

[noodlejetski]

removing the Startpage addon and adding the search engine back from the URL bar indeed made Yang work as intended, thanks!

[dmlls]

Thank you all for your reports!

@samyakbardiya this indeed seems to be the root cause, I can finally reproduce it! I have already identified the issue and will include a fix in the upcoming release.