Firefox Quantum portable with apulse All-in

[Terry H]

I updated a portable 32 bit firefox 64 install today to firefox 66.0.1, as my main issue with browsers is the automatic playing of videos. I checked news websites and unfortunately videos are still playing automatically.

The setting which is supposed to stop all media from playing is "Stop websites from automatically playing sound" which is checked by default. Unchecking and re-checking seems to have no effect. I don't have any websites set as exceptions.

Are others using firefox 66 having the same results?

[Semme]

Terry, supposing you have an add-on or two, is the behavior the same in safe mode?

[Mike Walsh]

@ Terry H:-

Can't speak from personal experience with this specific extension:-

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... -autoplay/

.....but I use a similar extension in Chrome/Iron, which literally stops all auto-playing vids dead in their tracks. Worth investigating, perhaps? (Just a thought, like...)

There's only 3 sites I visit at all regularly that are 'blessed' with these things, but one is the type where the damn video 'follows' you around the website; prominently at the top when you first land, then as soon as you scroll past it, a small version 'jumps' to the side of the page, and keeps pace with you (so as to stay within your eye-line at all times...)

Those, I really hate. Grrr!


Mike.

[Terry H]

Terry, supposing you have an add-on or two, is the behavior the same in safe mode?

Thanks semme, not sure what safe mode is, but videos still play when using private browsing, if that is what you are referring to.

@ Terry H:-

Can't speak from personal experience with this specific extension:-

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... -autoplay/

.....but I use a similar extension in Chrome/Iron, which literally stops all auto-playing vids dead in their tracks. Worth investigating, perhaps? (Just a thought, like...)


Mike. Wink

Thanks Mike. My issue is that this was seemingly the advertised big ticket update item in v66 and it has no effect here, it's just really annoying.

[Semme]

Nevermind..

[8Geee]

I have a question about the 'ff' script, and making a new profile.
Can I link the about:config in the default profile to the new #2 profile?

When I open the new profile, the settings in about:config are back to a default setting, instead of the modified srtttings in the default profile. I'd hate to edit 430 lines of config a 2nd time.

Regards
8Geee

[fredx181]

Hi 8Geee,

I think it's best to copy all the contents from your ~/.mozilla/firefox/xxxxxxxx.default folder to the profile folder (better empty profile folder first), similar as I described here (for thunderbird):
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 07#1019107

Only thing I'm not sure of is compatibility with older FF version (i.e. if the default folder is from very old FF, it may not work)

Fred

[8Geee]

Thanx Fred, I am intending to swap 65.0.2 default across to a 'ff' defined 2nd profile. I'll have a read,

regards
8Geee

[fredx181]

Hi All,

EDIT 2019-08-02: important: After removing the, fake .gz extension and making executable, run the attached script from terminal, e.g.:

Code: Select all

./ffportable-inst

Do NOT just click it. After succesful run: click on the "ff" file inside new created directory (e.g. "firefox_68.0.1_64") to run Firefox portable.
See also here: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 55#1033555
==============================================================
Updated 2019-05-31, changed the contents of the 'extralibs' folder containing the pulse libs, now should work on older systems also, e.g. PrecisePup, attached script and download links replaced (32bit-additions and 64bit-additions)
==============================================================

Instead of updating FF-portable once in a while, I've now made a simple script that will download, extract latest Firefox and add some files to the portable folder (e.g. ff script, apulse etc...) so that the result wil be a folder named: firefox_<version>_<arch>, e.g. firefox_66.0.3_32 (version 66.0.3 is latest now) (32 bit) or firefox_66.0.3_64, (64bit) (according to running the script from 64bit OS or from 32bit OS) , rename as you wish.
Run the script from terminal standing in the directory where you want the portable folder to be created.Updated 2019-05-31

One of the advantages is that the language can be set by making a simple edit on top of the script, default it is en-US, change it to e.g. French:

Code: Select all

FFLANG=fr

Or e.g. German:

Code: Select all

FFLANG=de

Complete list of available languages, see here:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/rel ... README.txt

Attached ffportable-inst.gz, remove fake .gz extension and make executable.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
EDIT: Another way is to download newest firefox from Here or Here in your language
Unpack it, firefox directory will appear, then download: 32bit-additions or 64bit-additions and extract in the new firefox folder (contains "ff" script and "extralibs" folder)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Fred

[Mike Walsh]

@ Fred/8Geee:-

I have a question about the 'ff' script, and making a new profile.
Can I link the about:config in the default profile to the new #2 profile?

When I open the new profile, the settings in about:config are back to a default setting, instead of the modified srtttings in the default profile. I'd hate to edit 430 lines of config a 2nd time.

<----snip---->

...Thanx Fred, I am intending to swap 65.0.2 default across to a 'ff' defined 2nd profile. I'll have a read.

8Geee:-

Perhaps this might give you some ideas....


Mike.

[8Geee]

Terry H:

unfortunatly these "rouge video-clips" can only be stopped with an ad-blocker. You will have to go to each site and block the container they are in. But you will find a common pattern that will universally stop them all on one site. A few years ago, I did this for yahoo websites. I need 17 rules to stop the pictures and the videos, but it works there. I would say its not easy. For yahoo these rules below can be copy then paste in to user rules, or my rules, etc. Remember to close the app, then browser. Waite a minute and reopen the browser. If you get a warning that the browser is still running, then Shutdown --> Restart graphical server will fix. Then open browser again.

*.yahoo.com/video/*
||yep.video.yahoo.com/*
https://*.yahoo.com/m/*
https://s.yimg.com/uu/*
||v4s.yimg.com/rx/builds/*/assets/*
||*.http.atlas.cdn.yimg.com^
https://*.yahoo.com/video/*
/http://d.yimg.com/hd/cnbc*/*
/https://d.yimg.com/hd/cnbc*/*
||https://www.yahoo.com/sy/uu/
|http://l.yimg.com/*/player.swf
||s1.yimg.com^
||https://*rack*.*.yimg.com/
||https://*.yimg.com/uu/api/*
||https://*.yimg.com/os/mit/media/*
||edgecast-vod.yahoo.net^
||s.yimg.com/uc/fin/img/*

Its a start
8Geee

[Mike Walsh]

Re: Portable 'installer'

Fred:-

Very neat idea, man. Nice one.

You really do care about making Puppy as easy & accessible to everyone as you can, don't you? You're an inspiration to this forum nowadays!

Excellent work. Keep 'em coming.....

Just one question, if I may? Having run it through once to see how it works, I take it you simply run it from the location where you want the portable to be, yes? (Edit:- Sorry, missed that bit in the post..! )

Any problem with my sharing this info with the Puppy users over at BleepingComputer & TechSupportGuy?




Mike.

[fredx181]

Thanks Mike !

Any problem with my sharing this info with the Puppy users over at BleepingComputer & TechSupportGuy?

No problem.

Fred

[rufwoof]

@ Fred/8Geee:-

I have a question about the 'ff' script, and making a new profile.
Can I link the about:config in the default profile to the new #2 profile?

When I open the new profile, the settings in about:config are back to a default setting, instead of the modified srtttings in the default profile. I'd hate to edit 430 lines of config a 2nd time.

<----snip---->

...Thanx Fred, I am intending to swap 65.0.2 default across to a 'ff' defined 2nd profile. I'll have a read.

8Geee:-
Perhaps this might give you some ideas....
Mike.

Very useful thanks Mike

set-up a second profile within my install of Fred's portable-Quantum

I run Fred's FF Quantum portable inside a EasyOS container like environment (Xephyr separate X session, unshare/chroot/capsh), where firefox runs as spot (I've set spots default shell in /etc/passwd to be bespoke shell (script) with very limited commands available).

I now have one profile where a socks proxy is automatically engaged, so all https traffic routes via a ssh tunnel (as does dns, so http server doesn't see my IP and my ISP doesn't see the http connections) to one of the public ssh servers I use, and another that's conventional (local ISP's dns/routing).

The two profiles saves on having to 'preferences, network, socks proxy active/not' - just have two desktop icons ff-spot-socks and ff-spot-nosocks ... according to whether spot is wearings socks or not

[s243a]

Hi All,

Instead of updating FF-portable once in a while, I've now made a simple script that will download, extract latest Firefox and add some files to the portable folder (e.g. ff script, apulse etc...) so that the result wil be a folder named: firefox_<version>_<arch>, e.g. firefox_66.0.3_32 (version 66.0.3 is latest now) (32 bit) or firefox_66.0.3_64, (64bit) (according to running the script from 64bit OS or from 32bit OS) , rename as you wish.
Run the script from terminal standing in the directory where you want the portable folder to be created.

One of the advantages is that the language can be set by making a simple edit on top of the script, default it is en-US, change it to e.g. French:

Code: Select all

FFLANG=fr

Or e.g. German:

Code: Select all

FFLANG=de

Complete list of available languages, see here:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/rel ... README.txt

Attached ffportable-inst.gz, remove fake .gz extension and make executable.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
EDIT: Another way is to download newest firefox from Here or Here in your language
Unpack it, firefox directory will appear, then download: 32bit-additions or 64bit-additions and extract in the new firefox folder (contains "ff" script and "extralibs" folder)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Fred

Apologies if these questions are already answered but:
1. What is the purpose of libatomic and will any version do or is there something special about this version in the way that it is compiled? (also is this specific to Firefox or do we probably want to add libatomic for any portable browser?)
2. I'm not clear about the syntax where you assign variables before executing the command. Is this a bash short hand for the export statement? Do you have a link to documentation about this?
3. I also see that you are prepending the extra-lib path to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH. It seems clear on what this does but at the same time I wouldn't mind some documentation about this in case I want to explain it to other people.

[fredx181]

1. What is the purpose of libatomic and will any version do or is there something special about this version in the way that it is compiled? (also is this specific to Firefox or do we probably want to add libatomic for any portable browser?)

From v64.0 on, libatomic1 a dependency for Firefox, AFAIK there's nothing special about the version, tested on old and new puppies and works fine

2. I'm not clear about the syntax where you assign variables before executing the command. Is this a bash short hand for the export statement? Do you have a link to documentation about this?

Don't know about documentation, it's often done that way, e.g. LANG=C <command> ...

3. I also see that you are prepending the extra-lib path to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH. It seems clear on what this does but at the same time I wouldn't mind some documentation about this in case I want to explain it to other people.

It's a variation of OscarTalks's apulse where it points LD_LIBRARY_PATH to the libs in /usr/lib/apulse
apulse script:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh

APULSEPATH="/usr/lib/apulse"

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$APULSEPATH${LD_LIBRARY_PATH:+:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH} exec "$@"

For exact details about how this can work, better ask OscarTalks

Fred

[6502coder]

2. I'm not clear about the syntax where you assign variables before executing the command. Is this a bash short hand for the export statement? Do you have a link to documentation about this?
3. I also see that you are prepending the extra-lib path to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH. It seems clear on what this does but at the same time I wouldn't mind some documentation about this in case I want to explain it to other people.

2. The variable assignment (or assignments; you can have more than one) only affect the enviroment of the command that follows. This is the standard way of changing an environment variable only for a particular instance. It is documented in any of the standard BASH manuals.

https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manua ... nvironment

3. uses 2 to change the LD_LIBRARY_PATH but only for that instance of the command that follows. It is the standard way to let an app get access to versions of libraries that are different from the versions already in the system, without running the risk of breaking things by just installing the alternative libraries and thus forcing everybody to use them.

[s243a]

2. I'm not clear about the syntax where you assign variables before executing the command. Is this a bash short hand for the export statement? Do you have a link to documentation about this?
3. I also see that you are prepending the extra-lib path to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH. It seems clear on what this does but at the same time I wouldn't mind some documentation about this in case I want to explain it to other people.

2. The variable assignment (or assignments; you can have more than one) only affect the enviroment of the command that follows. This is the standard way of changing an environment variable only for a particular instance. It is documented in any of the standard BASH manuals.

https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manua ... nvironment

Thankyou

3. uses 2 to change the LD_LIBRARY_PATH but only for that instance of the command that follows. It is the standard way to let an app get access to versions of libraries that are different from the versions already in the system, without running the risk of breaking things by just installing the alternative libraries and thus forcing everybody to use them.

It was actually the concatenation systax I was wondering about with the :+: in the middle.

Code: Select all

${LD_LIBRARY_PATH:+:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH}

I haven't scene this syntax before. Anyway, google seems to work better these days at finding obsure coding syntax. I searched ":+:" and stackoverflow led me to the answer:

Code: Select all

${parameter:+word}

    If parameter is null or unset, nothing is substituted, otherwise the expansion of word is substituted.

https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manua ... -Expansion

[6502coder]

(Crossed messages with you!)
Ah, I overlooked that. That's not so much a concatenation as a conditional expansion; it's explained in section 3.5.3 of the same online manual I referenced before. (I wasn't familiar with it either.)

${parameter:+word}

If parameter is null or unset, nothing is substituted, otherwise the expansion of word is substituted.

[fredx181]

Hi All, mostly for fun and because of my interest in portable appimages, I tried to find easiest way to make a portable AppImage from this Firefox-portable folder.
One disadvantage can be that Firefox cannot update itself when running as appimage (mounted read-only in /tmp) but maybe for some it's an advantage, also start time is a little bit longer.
Anyway, here's how:
- download attached cr-appimage32.tar.gz or cr-appimage64.tar.gz and extract in the portable firefox directory (contains 2 files: cr-appimage and runtime32 (or runtime64 for 64-bit)
- Run in terminal from portable firefox directory:

Code: Select all

./cr-appimage

And the portable appimage will be created in the parent folder
On top of the script cr-appimage, the name of the appimage or name of profile folder can be set, e.g:

Code: Select all

# set appimage name
NAME="Firefox-Portable32"
# set profile name (will be in same dir as appimage)
PROFILE=profile

When running the appimage, the profile folder will be in same dir as the appimage itself. (see pic)

EDIT: I'm not sure if this can be useful for someone, probably it can be improved with e.g. more choices etc...
EDIT2: or possibly containing what s243a is working on:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 92#1025692

Fred