BROWSER SWITCHBOARD
+version 3.2
Browser Switchboard is a program which allows you to choose which
browser to use as the default browser. It supports MicroB, Tear,
Quick Start:
1. Download the binary package: browser-switchboard_X.Y-Z_all.deb
(where X.Y-Z is the version number, of course).
-2. Install the package using the Application Manager (open the
+2. If you're using a Maemo 5 device, make sure all your MicroB browser
+windows are closed.
+3. Install the package using the Application Manager (open the
Application Manager, then select Application->Install from file in the
menu).
-If Tear (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=28539) is installed,
-it should now be the default browser, meaning that links in most
-applications, locally-saved web pages opened in the file manager, and
-entries in the Web sidebar panel should now open in Tear. If Tear isn't
-installed, MicroB will be used as the default browser; keep reading to
-see how to change the default browser to something else.
-
-MicroB can always be opened via the Web menu entry in the applications
-panel (located in the Internet menu by default), or by running "browser"
+You can now select the default browser by using the Browser Switchboard
+applet in the Control Panel. Links in most applications, locally-saved
+web pages opened from the file manager, and (for Maemo 4.x) entries in
+the Web sidebar panel will open in the browser that you select as the
+default. Opening the "Web" menu entry and running "browser" from the
+shell will also cause your chosen default browser to open. If you don't
+configure a default browser, MicroB will continue to be used as the
+default browser.
+
+No matter which browser you select as the default, MicroB can always be
+opened via the MicroB menu entry in the applications menu (for Maemo
+4.x, installed in the Extras menu by default), or by running "microb"
from the shell. While MicroB is open, it will receive all links from
other applications; closing MicroB will restore your chosen default
browser.
-Some users have reported that a restart may be necessary to ensure that
-Browser Switchboard is functioning. If you experience trouble after
-installing the package, try rebooting your device first.
+If you experience trouble after installing the package, try rebooting
+your device. If that fixes things, please report this as a bug.
-Changing the Default Browser:
+Configuring the Default Browser by Hand:
-By default, Tear is used as the default browser if installed (otherwise
-MicroB is the default browser). To change this behavior, you need to
-create a configuration file (from the shell for now -- a configuration
-UI is in the works). From a shell on your device (xterm, SSH, or
-similar), run the following (where $ is your prompt, not something you
-type):
+If for some reason, you don't want to use the Control Panel applet to
+configure Browser Switchboard, you can create the configuration file by
+hand from a shell. Run the following (where $ is your prompt, not
+something you type):
$ cat > $HOME/.config/browser-switchboard <<EOF
default_browser = "your_browser"
# other_browser_cmd: If default browser is "other", what program
# to run (%s will be replaced by URI)
#other_browser_cmd = "some_browser %s"
+# logging: Where log output should go: "stdout", "syslog", "none"
+#logging = "stdout"
# END SAMPLE CONFIG FILE
Lines beginning with # characters are comments and are ignored by the
-script.
+script. [Most options correspond directly to an option or option group
+in the configuration UI.]
In continuous mode, Browser Switchboard keeps running in the background
-instead of closing after handling each request. This saves roughly two
-seconds of startup time for each link (on my N800 running Diablo), but
-costs you about 2 MB extra memory. Continuous mode is disabled by
-default; set continuous_mode to 1 to enable.
+instead of closing after handling each request. This saves a bit of
+startup time for each link (on my N800 running Diablo), but costs you
+about 100 KB extra memory. Continuous mode is disabled by default; set
+continuous_mode to 1 to enable. [This option corresponds to the
+"Optimize Browser Switchboard for" option group in the UI; "Lower memory
+usage" corresponds to continuous_mode off, while "Faster browser startup
+time" corresponds to continuous_mode on.]
The "tear", "microb", "fennec", and "midori" options for default_browser
-should be self-explanatory.
+should be self-explanatory. [These correspond to the options in the
+"Default browser" combo box in the UI.]
If the default browser is "other", Browser Switchboard will run the
program specified in other_browser_cmd as the default browser, with a
$ some_browser 'http://www.google.com/'
-at a shell.
+at a shell. [In the UI, setting "Default brower" to "Other" activates
+the "Command (%s for URI)" setting, which corresponds to the value of
+other_browser_cmd.]
+
+The logging option controls where Browser Switchboard sends its debug
+logging output to. You should not need to change this unless you're
+debugging Browser Switchboard, and there is no UI for this option. The
+default option is "stdout", which means you won't see output unless you
+run Browser Switchboard from the shell. "syslog" will send the output
+to the system log (assuming you have a syslogd set up on your device),
+and "none" disables debug logging entirely.
Browser Switchboard and MicroB's browserd:
Uninstalling Browser Switchboard:
Remove the Browser Switchboard package using the Application Manager,
-and everything should be back to normal. A reboot may be necessary for
-changes to take effect -- if you experience problems, try restarting
-your device first.
+and everything should be back to normal. If you experience problems
+after uninstalling, try restarting your device first; if that fixes
+things, please report this as a bug.
-Manual Installation:
+Compiling Browser Switchboard:
-If for some reason you don't want to use the binary package to install
-Browser Switchboard, you can install it by hand:
-1. Make sure you have the necessary dependencies installed: packages
-python2.5, python2.5-dbus, and python-2.5-gobject.
+If for some reason you don't want to use the prebuilt binary package to
+install Browser Switchboard, you can compile and install by hand:
+1. You will need a copy of the SDK for your device. Make sure the
+following packages are installed: libdbus-glib-1-dev for
+browser-switchboard; libdbus-1-dev, libgtk2.0-dev, libhildon1-dev,
+hildon-control-panel-dev for the config UI.
2. Download the source tarball: browser-switchboard_X.Y.orig.tar.gz
-3. Unpack the source tarball on your device:
+3. Unpack the source tarball in your SDK install:
+
+SDK$ tar -xvzf browser-switchboard_X.Y.orig.tar.gz
+SDK$ cd browser-switchboard-X.Y
+
+4. Compile:
+
+SDK$ make diablo
+SDK$ make -C config-ui diablo-plugin
+
+(Replace "diablo" with "fremantle" and "diablo-plugin" with
+"fremantle-plugin" if compiling for Fremantle.
+
+If you want the standalone config application instead of the Control
+Panel plugin, do
+SDK$ make -C config-ui diablo-hildon-app
+instead.
-$ tar -xvzf browser-switchboard_X.Y.orig.tar.gz
-$ cd browser-switchboard-X.Y
+If you're using the Scratchbox2-based SDK+, you want
+SDK+$ sb2 make
+etc. as usual.)
-4. As root on your device, copy the browser-switchboard script to
-/usr/bin:
+5. Install to a temporary directory, and tar up the result:
-# cp browser-switchboard /usr/bin
+SDK$ make DESTDIR=temp install
+SDK$ make -C config-ui install
+SDK$ cd temp
+SDK$ tar cf stuff.tar .
-(where # represents a root shell prompt).
-5. As root on your device, copy com.nokia.osso_browser.service to
-/usr/share/dbus-1/services, moving the existing file out of the way
-first:
+6. As root on your device, move files that will be replaced in the
+install process out of the way:
-# mv /usr/share/dbus-1/services/com.nokia.osso_browser.service
+DEVICE# mv /usr/share/dbus-1/services/com.nokia.osso_browser.service
/usr/share/dbus-1/services/com.nokia.osso_browser.bak
-# cp com.nokia.osso_browser.service /usr/share/dbus-1/services
+DEVICE# mv /usr/bin/browser /usr/bin/browser.bak
-6. (optional) If you want running "browser" from the command line to
-work as intended, copy browser to /usr/bin, moving the original symlink
-out of the way first:
+7. Copy the tar file from step 5 to your device, and as root, unpack it
+in the root directory of your device:
-# mv /usr/bin/browser /usr/bin/browser.bak
-# cp browser /usr/bin
+DEVICE# cd /
+DEVICE# tar xf /path/to/stuff.tar
To uninstall, remove the files you installed, restore the backup copies,
and reboot your device.
git.maemo.org. You can get a copy of the current development version by
cloning the repository:
-$ git clone https://git.maemo.org/projects/browser-switch
+$ git clone http://git.maemo.org/projects/browser-switch
or you can browse the source using gitweb
-(https://git.maemo.org/projects/browser-switch/?p=browser-switch;a=summary).
+(http://git.maemo.org/projects/browser-switch/?p=browser-switch;a=summary).
Maintainer:
projects / browser-switch / blobdiff