This tutorial shows you how to make secondlife: links (SLURLs) opened in the Brave browser launch your user-installed Firestorm Viewer on Linux Mint. All steps are done in your home directory, no root access is required.

Before you start, you should have:

Linux Mint with a graphical desktop

Brave browser installed

Firestorm Viewer installed in your home directory (user-local, not system-wide)

Basic ability to use a terminal

If you do not know where Firestorm is installed, you can find it later in this tutorial.

If you already know the exact path to your Firestorm executable (for example /home/USERNAME/Firestorm/firestorm), you can skip to Step 2.

Otherwise, search for it in your home directory:

find ~ -maxdepth 4 -type f -name firestorm 2>/dev/null

Look for a path that ends with firestorm, for example:

/home/USERNAME/Firestorm/firestorm

Note this path, you will need it in the next step.

In this step, you create a small script that receives a SLURL and passes it to Firestorm.

Open a terminal and run:

mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
nano ~/.local/bin/firestorm-slurl

Insert the following content (adjust the path in the FIRESTORM line):

#!/bin/bash
 
Path to your Firestorm executable (adjust if needed)
FIRESTORM="$HOME/Firestorm/firestorm"
 
Pass the SLURL (first argument) to Firestorm
"$FIRESTORM" --slurl "$1"

If your Firestorm is in a different location, change the line:

FIRESTORM="$HOME/Firestorm/firestorm"

for example to:

FIRESTORM="$HOME/Programs/Firestorm/firestorm"

Save the file and exit the editor, then make the script executable:

chmod +x ~/.local/bin/firestorm-slurl

Quick test: You can test the script directly:

~/.local/bin/firestorm-slurl "secondlife://Ahern/128/128/30"

If Firestorm starts or opens the location, the script works.

Now you tell the desktop environment that there is an application that can handle the secondlife: protocol.

Create the desktop entry:

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/applications
nano ~/.local/share/applications/firestorm-slurl.desktop

Insert the following content (replace USERNAME with your actual username):

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Firestorm SLURL Handler
Exec=/home/USERNAME/.local/bin/firestorm-slurl %u
Type=Application
Terminal=false
MimeType=x-scheme-handler/secondlife;

Example:

Exec=/home/miko/.local/bin/firestorm-slurl %u

Save the file and update the desktop database:

update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications/

Now you connect the secondlife: protocol with your new desktop entry using xdg-mime:

xdg-mime default firestorm-slurl.desktop  x-scheme-handler/secondlife

This tells the system: “Whenever a secondlife: link is opened, use firestorm-slurl.desktop.”

Optional check:

xdg-mime query default x-scheme-handler/secondlife

The output should be:

firestorm-slurl.desktop

Now you configure Brave so it is allowed to hand off secondlife: links to the system handler.

Open Brave and in the address bar enter:

brave://settings/handlers

Make sure:

Allow sites to ask to become default handlers for protocols is enabled.

If you see secondlife listed under “Blocked” or similar, remove it from the blocked list.

The next time you click a secondlife: link in Brave, it should ask whether Brave may open such links with an external application. Choose Allow.

You can test the integration in two ways.

Run:

xdg-open "secondlife://Ahern/128/128/30"

Expected result:

Firestorm starts (or uses the running instance)

The SLURL opens inside Firestorm

If this works, your system-level handler is correctly configured.

Create or open a page with a link like:

secondlife://Ahern/128/128/30

Click the link in Brave.

Expected behavior:

Brave may ask for permission to open this type of link → choose Allow

Firestorm opens and goes to the specified location

If you see an error like:

File or directory not found

then the path in your script is wrong.

Re-run the search:

find ~ -maxdepth 4 -type f -name firestorm 2>/dev/null

Update the line in ~/.local/bin/firestorm-slurl:

FIRESTORM="FULL/PATH/TO/firestorm"

Test again:

~/.local/bin/firestorm-slurl "secondlife://Ahern/128/128/30"

If Brave opens a new browser window or tab instead of Firestorm, check:

The desktop entry is correct and contains your real username.

The handler is registered:

xdg-mime query default x-scheme-handler/secondlife

It should output:

firestorm-slurl.desktop

Brave is allowed to use protocol handlers:

Open brave:settings/handlers Ensure protocol handlers are allowed Remove any blocked secondlife'' entries After adjusting, restart Brave and test again.