--- scripts/xdg-open.orig        2009-08-15 13:22:26.000000000 -0400
+++ scripts/xdg-open        2009-08-15 13:26:02.000000000 -0400
@@ -364,7 +364,9 @@ open_generic()
     for browser in $BROWSER; do
         if [ x"$browser" != x"" ]; then
 
-            browser_with_arg=`echo "$browser" | sed s#%s#"$1"#`
+            browser_with_arg=`printf "$browser" "$1" 2>/dev/null`
+            if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then browser_with_arg=$browser;
+            fi
 
             if [ x"$browser_with_arg" = x"$browser" ]; then "$browser" "$1";
             else $browser_with_arg;