Compatibilizer Update

My Compatibilizer extension, in dire need of an update, has gotten it! My bad bash skills when I made the first script are now better, so it works a lot better.

The big change is that now it accepts a filename as a parameter. Multiple .xpi files will not affect it at all.

Also I made the temp directory have a random name so as not to interfere with any existing ‘temp’ directories.

Usage:

compatibilizer2 extension-name0.02.xpi

That’s all. The script now even installs the extension for you! Note that this requires root priveleges, it runs gksudo to get them. Then it will open up a fresh firefox (technically it belongs to root) and install the extension. The extension is global, so it will be visible in your profile.

Download it here.

Source code (GPL):

#!/bin/bash
#Daniel's Firefox extension compatibilizer!
#Version 2 adds features!
#Warning! This script is untested on anything but my computer.

filename=$1
tempdir=compat_temp$RANDOM
echo 'Starting extension compatibilizer.'
echo 'Unzipping to temporary directory.'
mkdir $tempdir
unzip -q $filename -d $tempdir/
rm $filename
cd $tempdir/
cp install.rdf install.rdf.backup
echo 'Replacing max version number...'
sed 's|.*|5.0|' install.rdf.step
sed 's|em:maxVersion=".*"|em:maxVersion="5.0"|' install.rdf
echo 'Done replacing max version number'
zip -q -r temp.xpi *
echo 'Remade extension.'
echo 'Moving extension.'
mv temp.xpi ../[compatibilized]$filename
echo 'Extension moved. Deleting temp dirs.'
cd ../
rm -r $tempdir
gksudo firefox-3.0 -install-global-extension $filename
echo 'Done! Installed globally in Firefox.'

Thanks for getting me to do this, Tyler!

Tips for downloading Hardy

Here are a few tips for those of you about to download Hardy and do a new install:

1. Use a Mirror! Find one near you so as not to stress the Ubuntu servers too much. If you are at school (like me), try mirror.anl.gov, the mirror of Argonne National Laboratory. Much faster connections on school networks.
2. Use a download manager. I use DownThemAll, which is a Firefox addon (available for FF3). This speeds up download and has other nice features (keep reading!).
3. Check the MD5 sum to make sure you have a good download. See instructions below.

To check the MD5sum:

Get the MD5sums where you get your isos! i. e. If you use Argonne, use http://mirror.anl.gov/ubuntu-iso/CDs-Ubuntu/8.04/MD5SUMS. Note that they should be the same everywhere.

With DownThemAll:

When you start the download, there is a sum field. Put in the matching MD5sum and DownThemAll will automatically calculate it when it finishes downloading.

If you alread started the download, right-click on the download and click properties. There will be a field for the MD5sum.

Already downloaded:

1. Open up a terminal.
2. cd to the directory it is in.
3. Run ‘md5sum ubuntu-8.04-alternate-i386.iso’ (for instance).

Done!

On Windows, try WinMD5sum or Hashtab (look them up).

Hardy is OUT!

Well, Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron is officially out! I have all 3 i386 releases downloaded from my nearest mirror already. And a few minutes ago I saw this:

w00t!

Ultimate Claws Mail 0.5

Due to the recent release of Claws Mail 3.4.0, my Ultimate Claws Mail theme looks good now! It is PNG, a native export of SVG, so expect great things.

The size of the theme is increasing steadily. It has it’s own Google Code page (which is very nice, btw.)

That page is here. Excerpt below:

—
The Ultimate Claws Mail theme is a theme for Claws Mail with icons from the Ultimate Gnome theme for Gnome.

Screenshot

Issues

<liIncomplete Set – not all icons are present. Most common ones are, however. The theme is in development.
• PNG support – This theme is PNG, which requires Claws Mail >= 3.4.0
• Duplicates – I only have the icons from the set, so there are some duplicates where I used the closest available icon.

—

So get over there and download it! Here is a screenshot:

And here is version 0.3 for comparison:

Enjoy!

Claws Mail Update!

I’ve noticed that lately the Claws-MailGutsy repository I had set up wasn’t responding to apt-get. Then today I saw that there is a new version out. After a bit I found the proper repositories.

Here they are:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/claws-mail/ubuntu gutsy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/claws-mail/ubuntu gutsy main

Those work fine, and after an update the new version should install fine.

This version brings tons of new features. Here is the list from gnomefiles.org (and most likely from the changelog):

# Added support for /dev/mem_notify. This Linux kernel feature will allow applications to be notified that memory has to be freed before getting OOM-killed.

# Enabled moving/copying folders to root folders when using the folder selection dialogue.

# Global and per-folder templates can now override the From name.

# Added a tooltip with extended folder stats. (Hover the cursor over the short stats on the right, below the message list.)

# Implemented 2-line items in the message list when in three column mode.

# Added support for png themes.

# Added an icon for attached patches (text/x-patch and text/x-diff).

# When viewing a message that has a large amount of text, show a maximum of 1MB of text and add a noticeview to show optionally show the whole message.

# Added a button to the templates preferences to restore defaults for current language.

# Added search in filtering rules list.

# Bogofilter Plugin:
Added a “learn from whitelist” preference.

# MAEMO:
Added information when fetching large messages.

# tools/csv2addressbook.pl
Added support for Kmail/Kaddressbook.

# Updated translations: Brazilian Portuguese, Finnish, French, German, and Italian.

# Bug fixes:
o bug 1494, ‘Trayicon plugin breaks UI…’ (MAEMO)
o bug 1515, ‘large messages crash claws when syncing for offline mode’
o bug 1532, ‘”login refused” message insufficiently detailed’
o bug 1533, ‘Claws is unable to mark messages as “read” in IMAP shared folders’
o bug 1534, ‘Segmentation fault when doing some draft saving and then throwing away’
o bug 1539, ‘Program crashes’: Setup Gcrypt’s thread functions when built with GnuTLS
o bug 1541, ‘Deleting message from within read window displays next message then closes.’ (MAEMO)
o bug 1553, ‘File lock not respected’
o bug 1555, ‘Bug with the feature “save a copy of outgoing messages in this folder”‘
o bug 1559, ‘Claws Mail crashed deleting all common contacts’
o bug 1561, ‘Crashes leaving unsubscribed folder after ticking “Show only subscribed”‘
o bug 1562, ‘Claws-Mail does not completely respect settings in GTK2_RC_FILES environment’
o Fix blinking of the taskbar entry.
o Fix folder view’s scrollbar at startup if starting hidden.
o If no MH mailbox and no account exists, when creating a POP/Local account, just create it and use the default one instead of bailing with a “Mailbox doesn’t exist” error.
o Clean up session disconnection. Possibly fix Ubuntu bug #204290
o Fix RedHat bug 431735, ‘segfault if /home is full’
o Fix compose template formats (in global preferences) getting translated under specific conditions.
o Fix updating of tags menu.
o Fix log size getting out of control (claws-mail getting SIGXFSZ): rotate if every 10MB.
o Fix debian bug 474712, ‘claws seg faults when IMAP connection breaks after an IMAP protocol error (BAD UID SEARCH Invalid parameter: $Forwarded)]’

Note the support for PNG themes! Now my Ultimate Claws Mail theme will be a *lot* easier to make…

Enjoy!

Haha

Just received the following email:

email= **************@aim.com
Good day.
I am presenting a very good opportunity for you to represent our

company as a liaison and payment receiving agent in your region.
I am Mr. James Harold Haworth, Executive director, Chief Executive

Officer and president of a newly incorporated International and

Multinational Private company; Chia Tai Enterprises International
Limited Hong Kong, Incorporated in the Cayman  Islands. We require

reliable individuals to act as representatives to help us establish a
medium of getting to our customers in these countries as well as making

payments through you to us (as our payment agent).This is a Part-time

position that could become permanent based on your effort and

participation which includes diligence and transparent honesty.
I shall provide you with more explanation on our duties/intentions
upon receipt of your positive response.
IMPORTANT NOTE= DO SEND YOUR RESPONSE TO MY SECURED EMAIL WHICH IS=

**************@aim.com =  considering the sensitivity of our intending
partnership.
Respectfully Yours,

Mr. James H. Haworth.

Way to check out your applicants, Mr. Haworth! Not like they might be completely unsuited for the job

Note that this is a real company, and that is actually the name of the CEO. If it weren’t for his ‘SECURED EMAIL’ being from AOL, this could be real. If it is, I apologize. I took away the email address because it looks so real.

Installing your own extensions in Firefox 3 beta 5

I’m sure that many of you noticed that in the new Firefox beta 5, there is no ‘Install’ button in the addons dialog. Although presumably for security reasons, it is really useful to have if you, say, manually change extensions to make them compatible…

Here is how to re-enable that button:

1. Open ‘about:config’
2. Find the key named extensions.hideInstallButton
3. Double click to change it to false

The install button will now show up in the ‘addons’ box.

WordPress admin interface restyle

As any of you with a WordPress blog knows, they redid the entire admin interface a few weeks ago. I can’t stand most of it, so I restyled it using the Stylish firefox extension (which I am hooked on…).

The restyle is posted on userstyles.org. Here is the summary:

This is a style I wrote to restyle the WordPress Admin interface after they redid it recently. I’m not a huge fan of the new style, and it had many problems that I disliked. This style both makes the new style more manageable, and slims it down a lot. I incorporated a few things I’ve seen around, such as removing the page title (pretty obvious what it is if you are the owner…), and making it what *I* wanted. I will be updating it as I take the time to make it better and change more things.

Note that some of the things it does rely on properties of more advanced browsers. I use Firefox 3 beta 5, so I know it works there. I doubt it should have too much trouble anywhere else, and should degrade gracefully.

The CSS is commented to show what each change does, so you can change it as you see fit.

Here are the changes I made:

-Remove Page title
-Remove ‘Support’ tab
-Remove the ‘You are using a theme’ text
-Change the top title to matching colors instead of orange
-Get rid of the footer.
-Get rid of favicons in the ‘Hot Links’. They look terrible.
-Get rid of the ‘Paid Upgrades’ link
-Remove ‘New page link. Still accessible from posting page.
-Remove the (again) Repeated current page title.
-Bold the title of the current page.
-Get rid of the background color on the summary, disinguish with text weight.
-Remove the Recent comment blockquote
-Try to style the recent comment meta as normal item
-Style the ‘Write post’ button to fit in
-Remove the little smiley face stats tracker
-Some possible future changes (still commented out at the moment. Not working at all.)

You can find the style at userstyles.org here. Enjoy it. I will be improving it as I go. Note especially that the code is well commented; if you know CSS you can change it as you see fit.

Accident or easter egg?

After seeing the tip on Lifehacker about a FF3b5 easter egg (type about:robots), I was bored. So I typed ‘about:’, and came to this.

First of all, it’s formatted really weirdly. Most likely meant to be seen in the ‘About’ box? But the really interesting part is the picture. Look at the text…

For some reason, it says 1.9 beta 5 instead of 3.0 beta 5. My guess is that this is due to the fact that xulrunner, the rendering backend of firefox, is at version 1.9b5. But the picture is definitely for Firefox. Odd anyway. And the picture in the Help > About box is correct, with FF3b5.

Well, interesting anyways.

Fixing the dropdown bug in FF3b5

In my last post I noted that there is a bug in firefox 3 beta 5 (not really, the bug is unintentional, as a result of a code cleanup) that causes the dropdown menus, including the url bar, to hav really bad animations.

To fix this until the patch comes out:

• Open up the Advanced Compiz Settings. If you don’t have this (System > Preferences > Advanced Desktop Effects Settings) do a ‘sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager’.
• Go to ‘Animations’
• In the ‘Close Animation’ tab, remove ‘Utility’ (and it’s pipe |) from ‘Glide 2’.
• In the ‘Open Animation’ tab, remove ‘Utility (and it’s pipe |) from ‘Glide 1’.
• That’s all. Now the dropdowns will look a lot better.