Signing in to Linux apps
Why a sign-in page opens in Linux when every other link opens on your Mac.
On this page 4 sections
Links from Linux apps open on your Mac - that is the point of the integration. Sign-in pages are the one exception, and they have to be.
Why the Mac cannot finish a sign-in#
A "sign in with..." flow ends by handing its answer back to the machine that started it, in one of two ways:
| How it comes back | What it means |
|---|---|
To 127.0.0.1 on some port | The Linux app is listening there. Your Mac is not. |
To a private address like discord:// | Only Linux knows which app that belongs to. |
Open that page on your Mac and the answer arrives on your Mac: the browser either shows an error, or silently hands it to a Mac app of the same name. The Linux app never hears anything and waits forever.
So the sign-in page - and only that page - opens in the instance's own browser, where the whole round trip stays on one machine.
What you will see#
- You press "Sign in" in a Linux app.
- A browser window opens inside Linux, not on your Mac.
- You sign in there.
- The app picks up where it left off.
The one cost is that this browser is not your Mac's, so it has none of your saved passwords. It is usually a one-time step per app.
What still opens on your Mac#
Everything else. MSL decides by reading the link, and only diverts one that carries the marks of an authorisation request - a sign-in address to return to, or an app identifier with a response type. An ordinary link, a documentation page, a search result, a link in an email: all still open in your own browser.
If it gets one wrong#
This is new, and it judges by reading the link. If an ordinary page starts opening in the guest's browser, turn off Sign-in pages open in Linux in Experimental Features - every link then goes to your Mac again, and sign-ins go back to not completing.