When Netscape Navigator is invoked with the -remote argument, it does not open a window, but instead connects to and controls an already-existing process. The argument to the -remote switch is an Xt action to invoke, with optional arguments.
Remote control is implemented using X properties, so the two processes need not be running on the same machine, and need not share a file system.
We have started support for the old 4.x remote commands in mozilla. Look at nsGtkMozRemoteHelper.cpp,
mozilla-xremote-client.cpp,
and XRemoteService.cpp
for most-current status. Example usage:
mozilla -remote "openurl(http://www.mozilla.org)"
Syntax of mozilla-xremote-client:
Command syntax is case-insensitive, but will be listed here as they were in 4.x.
Commands should not have spaces in them.
List of commands that seem to work:
mozilla-xremote-client
[-a firefox|thunderbird|mozilla|any]
[-u