plugger(7)plugger(7)NAMEplugger - a streaming multimedia plugin for UNIX netscape
pluggerrc - configure file for pluggerDESCRIPTION
Plugger is a Netscape plugin which can show many types of multimedia
inside your Netscape. To accomplish this, Plugger uses external pro‐
grams such as xanim, mtv, timidity and tracker.
For up-to-date information on Plugger, see the plugger home page:
http://fredrik.hubbe.net/plugger.html
CONFIGURE FILE
You can configure plugger by changing the file pluggerrc which can be
located in any of the following directories:
$HOME/.netscape/
$HOME/.opera/
$MOZILLA_HOME/
$OPERA_HOME/
/usr/local/netscape/pluggerrc
/etc/pluggerrc
/usr//etc/pluggerrc
/usr/local/etc/pluggerrc
The format of pluggerrc is very simple. The general layout is to have
one or more lines describing mime-types followed by one or more lines
describing commands used to handle those mime-types. Lines beginning
with # are considered comments and are ignored. Here is a simple exam‐
ple:
video/mpeg; mpeg; Mpeg video
video/quicktime; qt; Mpeg video
: xanim +W$window -Zr +q +Ze +f $file
audio/mpeg2: mp2: MPEG audio
audio/x-mpeg2: mp2: MPEG audio
audio/mpeg3: mp3: MPEG audio
audio/x-mpeg3: mp3: MPEG audio
audio/mpeg: mpa,abs,mpega: MPEG audio
audio/x-mpeg: mpa,abs,mpega: MPEG audio
stream, preload: mpg123 -q -b 128 -
many: splay -t 200 $file
many: amp -b 200 -q $file
Each line describing a mime type has three fields:
mime type ; extensions ; description
mime type
The mime type is the standardized name for the content type you
want Plugger to handle. This must be the same type as the web
server claims the file to be, or Plugger will not be used for
that file, regardless of the extension.
extensions
This is a comma separated list of extensions that should be
associated with this particular mime type. The extensions are
only used when a web server does not report what type of file it
is, or when loading files directly from disk.
description
This is the description that shows up in about:plugins and in
the application preferences section in Netscape.
Lines that describe what command to use for a mime type must
begin with a whitespace and have two fields:
flags : command
flags This is a comma-separated list of flags which tells plugger how
to handle this particular application. See below for further
details.
command
This is a command which is sent to /bin/sh when handling this
mime type.
FINDING THE RIGHT COMMAND
When Plugger is called from netscape, it looks through the configura‐
tion file and tries to find a matching mime type. For an application to
be chosen it has to fulfill certain criteria, it has to exist, and it
must match the flags given to plugger.
When it does, it tries to figure out which command to use. If the input
is streamable, it looks through all the commands for that particular
mime type to see if it can find an application that has the stream
flag. If it cannot find a streaming application it downloads the file
and tries again. Note that Plugger will check the first word of the
command and search your $PATH for that command. If that command is not
found Plugger will go to the next line in your pluggerrc.
FLAGS
repeat This indicates that the command uses the $repeat variable. If
this flag is set, Plugger will only start the application once.
loop This indicates that the application loops forever. If the
<EMBED> tag used to start Plugger indicated that the file should
not loop forever, the command on this line will not be used.
many This indicates that the application can accept several files on
the command line. Using this option can reduce clicks, choppi‐
ness and machine load, but it is never required.
ignore_errors
This options tells Plugger to ignore the exit status of the
application.
exits This option tells Plugger that the application exits, but should
not be restarted. This can be used with applications which auto‐
matically forks into the background.
nokill This will tell plugger not to try to kill the application when
leaving the page. This is normally used for programs which start
in their own window and can play multiple files, such as xmms.
embed This means that this command will only be used if the <EMBED>
tag is beging used.
noembed
This means that this command will only be used when the file is
being displayed in the entire browser window.
nocheck
This means that plugger shouldn't try to find the command in
your $PATH, it should just assume it is there.
swallow ( name )
This is the only option that takes an argument so far. It will
tell plugger that the application will open a window with the
specified name and that this window will then be moved to inside
your browser.
hidden In conjunction with the swallow keyword, this tells plugger to
swallow windows which are not visible yet.
maxaspect
This makes plugger resize a swallowed window to the maximum pos‐
sible size without affecting it's aspect ratio.
fill This makes plugger resize a swallowed window to fit the avail‐
able space.
url This tells plugger that the shell command will use the $url
variable to download the file on it's own, and plugger should
try to stop the browser from doing the download if possible.
controls
This is used for programs which have no gui by themselves. Plug‐
ger will provide a simple play/pause/stop gui for the applica‐
tion.
have ( name )
Only execute this command if "name" exists as a command some‐
where in your $PATH.
VARIABLES
Plugger gives some variables to /bin/sh when starting the application,
these variables are:
$repeat
This variable contains how many times the file should be played.
Applications which use this variable should also set the repeat
flag.
$window
This is the X window Netscape has given the plugin. This can be
used with applications such as xanim to display graphics inside
the netscape window.
$file This is the file to play. This variable is not set if the appli‐
cation uses the stream flag. It may also be more than one file
if you use the many flag.
$mimetype
This variable contains the mime type of $file.
MACRO PROCESSING
When plugger reads the pluggerrc file, it runs it through m4 first,
which allows you do some fairly advanced macro processing if you like.
See the documentation for m4 for further information.
BUGS
You may have to remove ~/.mozilla/pluginreg.dat after changing the con‐
figuration, or nothing will happen.
Netscape 3.x will not play anything for <EMBED> tags for which height
or width are zero. This is a Netscape bug, not a Plugger bug.
AUTHOR
Fredrik H�binette, hubbe@hubbe.net
plugger(7)
