* people want a browser that does everything
* people who want a browser with things like a built-in bookmark manager, address bar, forward/back buttons, ...
* people who expect something that works by default. You'll need to read configs and write/edit scripts
-
+* people who like nothing from this list: mpd, moc, wmii, dwm, awesome, mutt, pine, vim, dmenu, screen, irssi, weechat, bitlbee
### TO NEW PEOPLE:
* please read the documentation in /usr/share/uzbl/docs
* invoke uzbl --help
-* to get you started: uzbl --uri 'http://www.archlinux.org' --config /usr/share/uzbl/examples/configs/sampleconfig
-* study the sample config, have a look at all the bindings, and note how you can call the scripts to load new url from history and the bookmarks file
-* note that there is no url bar. all url editing is supposed to happen _outside_ of uzbl.
- For now, you can use the `load_from_*` dmenu based scripts to pick a url or type a new one or write commands into the fifo (see /usr/share/uzbl/docs/CHECKLIST)
+* to get you started: `XDG_DATA_HOME=/usr/share/uzbl/examples/data XDG_CONFIG_HOME=/usr/share/uzbl/examples/config uzbl --uri www.archlinux.org`
+* try and study the sample config, read the readme to find out how it works.
+* You can change the url with commands (if you have setup the appropriate keybinds) but to be most effective it's better to do url editing/changing _outside_ of uzbl.
+ Eg, you can use the `load_from_*` dmenu based scripts to pick/edit a url or type a new one.
* If you have questions, you are likely to find answers in the FAQ or in the other documentation.
### INTRODUCTION
- In my opinion, any program can only be really useful if it complies to the unix philosophy.
+ Any program can only be really useful if it complies to the unix philosophy.
Web browsers are frequent violators of this principle:
-* They build in way too much things into the browser, dramatically decreasing the options to do things the way you want.
+* They build in way too much things into the browser, dramatically decreasing the options to do things the way you want.
* They store things in way too fancy formats (xml, rdf, sqlite, ... ) which are hard to store under version control, reuse in other scripts, ...
Time to change that!
- Here are the general ideas:
+ Here are the general ideas (not all of these are implemented perfectly yet):
* each instance of uzbl renders 1 page (eg it's a small wrapper around webkit), no tabbing, tab previews, or speed dial things.
- For "multiple instances management" use your window managers, or scripts.
- This way you can get something much more useful than tabbing (see rationale in docs)
+ For "multiple instances management" use your window managers, scripts or wrappers.
* very simple, plaintext , changeable at runtime configuration
* various interfaces for (programmatic) interaction with uzbl (see below)
* customizable keyboard shortcuts in vim or emacs style (whatever user wants)
The general idea is that uzbl by default is very bare bones. you can send it commands to update settings and perform actions, through various interfaces.
There is a limited default configuration. Please see config.h to see what it contains.
By default, there are *no* keybinds defined at all. (Default keybinds would work counterproductive when you try to customize)
-For examples of the possibilities what you can do, please see the sample config(s).
+For examples of the possibilities what you can do, please see the sample config(s), and uzbl wiki page.
There are several interfaces to interact with uzbl:
* uzbl --config <filename>: <filename> will be read line by line, and the commands in it will be executed. useful to configure uzbl at startup.
If you have a file in `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/uzbl/config` (this expands to ~/.config/uzbl/config on most systems) it will be automatically recognized
-* stdin: you can also write commands into stdin
+* stdin: to write commands into stdin, use `--config -` (or `-c -`)
* interactive: you can enter commands (and bind them to shortcuts, even at runtime)
By default, the behaviour is modal (vi style):
command mode: every keystroke is interpreted to run commands
insert mode: keystrokes are not interpreted so you can enter text into html forms
- Press ESC/i to toggle command/insert mode
But if you don't like modal interfaces, you can set `always_insert_mode` and configure a modkey to execute the commands. (emacs style).
There is also support for "chained" commands (multiple characters long) (with backspace/esc shortcuts), and keyworded commands.
Also you can have incremental matching on commands or match after pressing return. (see sampleconfig for more info)
- used for changing variables on the fly
- the changes are effective immediately; for example, setting the variable `uri` will make uzbl start loading, and changing `status_format` will make the status bar react immediately
- if you want to unset a string, use `set` with one space after the equals sign
-* `get <key>`
- - use this to print the value of a variable. (and TODO, get the value through the socket)
+* `print @<key>`
+ - use this to print the value of a variable.
* `bind <string> = <command>`
- sets the character sequence `<string>` to invoke `<command>` when typed interactively in uzbl
- there are a few tricks you can do:
* `sync_sh <command>`
- these are synchronous variants of `spawn` and `sh`, which means uzbl will wait for them to return
- you should only need to use these manually if you want to use a chain command in a handler that wants output from the command it runs
+* `talk_to_socket <socketfile> <tokens/command>`
+ - lets uzbl talk to a socketfile
* `exit`
* `search <string>`
* `search_reverse <string>`
- remember to quote the commands; one command must come as one parameter
- if you use `chain` with a handler script which must return some output (such as a cookie handler -- uzbl will wait for and use its output), use sync_spawn or sync_sh instead of spawn or sh in the command that should give the output
+### VARIABLES AND CONSTANTS
+Uzbl has a lot of internal variables and constants. You can get the values (using the `print` command, see above), and for variables you can also change the value at
+runtime. Some of the values can be passed at start up through commandline arguments, others need to be set by using commands (eg in config file).
+Some of them have default values (see config.h)
+Some variables have callback functions which will get called after setting the variable to perform some additional logic (see below)
+
+* Variables:
+ - uri (callback: load the uri)
+ - verbose: affects output on stdout
+ - mode:insert or command mode
+ - inject_html
+ - base_url: used when passing html through stdin
+ - html_endmarker: delimiter when passing html through stdin
+ - html_mode_timeout: consider end of html input after x seconds when no endmarker found
+ - keycmd: holds the input buffer (callback: update input buffer)
+ - status_message (callback: update title)
+ - show_status: show statusbar or not
+ - status_top: statusbar on top?
+ - status_format: marked up, to be expanded string for statusbar (callback: update statusbar)
+ - status_pbar_done: character to denote done % of pageload
+ - status_pbar_pending: character to denote pending % of pageload
+ - status_pbar_width: width of progressbar
+ - status_background: color which can be used to override Gtk theme.
+ - insert_indicator: string to denote insert mode
+ - command_indicator: string to denote command mode
+ - title_format_long: titlebar string when no statusbar shown (will be expanded
+ - title_format_short: titlebar string when statusbar shown (will be expanded)
+ - icon: path to icon for Gtk
+ - insert_mode: whether insert mode is active
+ - always_insert_mode: set this to true if you don't like modal (vim-like) interfaces
+ - reset_command_mode: automatically revert to command mode on pageload (unless always_insert_mode is set)
+ - modkey: modkey which can be pressed to activate keybind from inside insert mode
+ - load_finish_handler
+ - load_start_handler
+ - load_commit_handler
+ - history_handler
+ - download_handler
+ - cookie_handler
+ - new_window: handler to execute to invoke new uzbl window (TODO better name)
+ - fifo_dir: location to store fifo's
+ - socket_dir: location to store sockets
+ - http_debug: http debug mode (value 0-3)
+ - shell_cmd: alias which will be expanded to use shell commands (eg sh -c)
+ - proxy_url: http traffic socks proxy (eg: http://<host>:<port>)
+ - max_conns
+ - max_conns_host
+ - useragent: to be expanded strin
+ - zoom_level
+ - font_size
+ - monospace_size
+ - minimum_font_size
+ - disable_plugins (TODO rename to enable)
+ - disable_scripts (TODO rename to enable)
+ - autoload_images
+ - autoshrink_images: shrink images to window size (default 0)
+ - enable_spellcheck
+ - enable_private
+ - print_backgrounds: print background images? (default 0)
+ - stylesheet_uri: use this to override the pagelayout with a custom stylesheet
+ - resizable_text_areas
+ - default_encoding: iso-8859-1 by default
+ - enforce_96_dpi: 1 by default
+ - caret_browsing
+ - default_font_family = sans-serif
+ - monospace_font_family = monospace (example "Aerial Mono" )
+ - cursive_font_family = sans
+ - fantasy_font_family = "Pterra"
+ - serif_font_family = serif (example "DejaVu Serif")
+ - sans_serif_font_family = sans (example "DejaVu Sans")
+
+
+* Constants (not dumpable or writeable):
+ - WEBKIT_MAJOR: set at compile time
+ - WEBKIT_MINOR: set at compile time
+ - WEBKIT_MICRO: set at compile time
+ - ARCH_UZBL: set at compile time
+ - COMMIT: set at compile time
+ - LOAD_PROGRESS
+ - LOAD_PROGRESSBAR
+ - TITLE
+ - SELECTED_URI
+ - MODE
+ - NAME: name of the uzbl instance (Xorg window id, unless set by cmdline arg) (TODO: can't we make this a variable?)
+
+
+### VARIABLE EXPANSION AND COMMAND/JAVA SCRIPT SUBSTITUTION
+
+Variable expansion works pretty much as known from shell interpreters (sh, bash, etc.). This means you can
+construct strings with uzbl variables in them and have uzbl replace the variable name with its contents.
+
+In order to let uzbl know what to expand you'll need to prepend @ to the variable name:
+
+ print The variable \@show_status contains @show_status
+
+The above example demonstrates two things:
+
+ * '\' is treated as escape character and will use the character immediatelly following it literallily
+ this means '\@show_status' will not expand to the variable content but be rather printed as
+ '@show_status'
+
+ * prepending the variable with '@' will expand to its contents
+
+ * like in the shell you can use @{uzbl_var} to denote the beginning/end of the variable name in
+ cases where it is not obvious what belongs to the name and what not.
+ E.g.: print @{show_status}foobar
+
+
+Command substitution will launch any commands and substitute the call with the return value of the command.
+
+Uzbl will substitute any commands enclosed within @( )@:
+
+ print Command substitution: @(uname -a)@
+
+You can access any uzbl variable from within a command substitution:
+
+ print @(echo -n 'Accessing the show_status var from an external script, value: @show_status')@
+
+
+Java script substitution works in the exact same way as command substitution but you will need to enclose
+the java script in @< >@.
+
+ print The currently viewed document contains @<document.links.length>@ links
+
+Variable expansion also works within a java script substitution.
+
+
+When a piece of text needs to be XML escaped after it is expanded (for example,
+in the status bar format), you can use @[ ]@ substitution:
+
+ print This text is XML escaped: @[<&>]@
+
+ # prints: This text is XML escaped: <&>
+
+
+NOTE: If you need to use literal @ or \ characters you will need to escape them:
+
+ print At sign: \@ and backslash: \\
+
+
+### TITLE AND STATUS BAR EVALUATION
+
+The contents of the status bar can be customized by setting the status_format
+variable. The contents of the window title can be customized by setting the
+title_format_short variable (which is used when the status bar is displayed) and
+the title_format_long variable (which is used when the status bar is not
+displayed). Their values can be set using the expansion and substitution
+techniques described above.
+
+These variables are expanded in multiple stages; once when the variable is set,
+and again every time that the status bar or window title are updated. Expansions
+that should be evaluated on every update need to be escaped:
-### VARIABLE REPLACEMENT
-Some of the variables are interpreted:
+ set title_format_short = @(date)@
+ # this expansion will be evaluated when the variable is set.
+ # the title will stay constant with the date that the variable was set.
-* title bar: variable replacement (long and short version, depending if statusbar is visible or not)
-* user agent: variable replacement
-* statusbar: variable replacement + pango markup
+ set title_format_short = \@(date)\@
+ # this expansion will be evaluated when the window title is updated.
+ # the date in the title will change when you change pages, for example.
-This means you can customize how these things appear, what's shown in them and for the statusbar you can even play with the layout.
-For examples, see the example config.
-For a list of possible variables, see uzbl.h
-For more info about the markup format see http://library.gnome.org/devel/pango/stable/PangoMarkupFormat.html
+ set title_format_short = \\\@(date)\\\@
+ # the title will stay constant as a literal "@(date)@"
+
+The status_format variable can contain Pango markup (see
+<http://library.gnome.org/devel/pango/stable/PangoMarkupFormat.html>). In the
+status_format, variables that might contain characters like '<', '&' and '>',
+should be wrapped in a @[]@ substitution so that they don't interfere with the
+status bar's markup; see the example config for examples.
### EXTERNAL SCRIPTS
You can use external scripts with uzbl the following ways:
-* let uzbl call them. these scripts are called handlers in the uzbl config. used for handling logging history, handling a new download,..
+* let uzbl call them. these scripts are called handlers in the uzbl config. used for handling logging history, handling a new download,..
* call them yourself from inside uzbl. you can bind keys for this. examples: add new bookmark, load new url,..
* You could also use xbindkeys or your WM config to trigger scripts if uzbl does not have focus
* cookie handler
$8 GET/PUT
- $9 request address host (if current page url is www.foo.com/somepage, this could be something else then foo, eg advertising from another host)
- $10 request address path
- $11 cookie (only with PUT requests)
+ $9 request address scheme (e.g. http or https)
+ $10 request address host (if current page url is www.foo.com/somepage, this could be something else than foo, eg advertising from another host)
+ $11 request address path
+ $12 cookie (only with PUT requests)
Custom, userdefined scripts (`spawn foo bar`) get first the arguments as specified in the config and then the above 7 are added at the end.
-### COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS
+### JAVASCRIPT HELPER OBJECT
+
+Javascript code run from uzbl is given a special object in the global namespace which gives special privileges to these scripts. This object is called `Uzbl`, and it is added and removed before and after the script execution so that it is hidden to web javascripts (There is no race condition, since all the javascript code runs in a single thread)
+
+Currently, the `Uzbl` object provides only one function:
+
+* `Uzbl.run( <command> )`
+ - command is any uzbl command as defined above
+ - return value: a string, either empty or containing the output of the command. Very few commands return their output currently, including js, script, and print.
+ - Examples:
+ * `Uzbl.run("spawn insert_bookmark.sh")`
+ * `uri = Uzbl.run("print @uri")` (see variable expansion below)
+
+### JAVASCRIPT SECURITY
+
+Since defined variables and functions are set in the global namespace (`window` object) as default, it is recommended to wrap your scripts like this:
+
+ (function(Uzbl) {
+ ...
+ })(Uzbl);
- -u, --uri=URI Uri to load (equivalent to 'set uri = URI')
+This way, everything is kept private. It also turns Uzbl into a local variable, which can be accessed from callback functions defined inside. However for some situations, isolating everything isn't an option, for example, with binds. You can define them directly in the script body, and use `var Uzbl = window.Uzbl;` to make the Uzbl variable local, as in the following example:
+
+ function f() {
+ var Uzbl = window.Uzbl;
+ Uzbl.run(...);
+ setTimeout(function() {
+ Uzbl.run(...);
+ }, 500);
+ }
+
+Copying the Uzbl object and creating public functions should be taken with care to avoid creating security holes. Keep in mind that the "f" function above would be defined in the `window` object, and as such any javascript in the current page can call it.
+
+### COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS
+ uzbl [ uri ]
+ -u, --uri=URI Uri to load at startup (equivalent to 'uzbl <uri>' or 'set uri = URI' after uzbl has launched)
-v, --verbose Whether to print all messages or just errors.
-n, --name=NAME Name of the current instance (defaults to Xorg window id)
- -c, --config=FILE Config file (this is pretty much equivalent to uzbl < FILE )
+ -c, --config=FILE Path to config file or '-' for stdin
+ -s, --socket=SOCKET Socket ID
+ -g, --geometry=GEOMETRY Set window geometry (format: WIDTHxHEIGHT+-X+-Y)
+ -V, --version Print the version and exit
--display=DISPLAY X display to use
--help Help
-### BUGS
-known bugs:
-* Segfaults when using zoom commands (happens when max zoom already reached?).
+### BUGS
Please report new issues @ uzbl.org/bugs
-
-
projects / uzbl-mobile / blobdiff