Felitendo
bd84c6645a
Steam writes a desktop entry for every game somebody asks for a shortcut
to, and it starts the same program the client's own entry does:
Exec=steam steam://rungameid/3527290
The scan only ever looked at the first token, found steam there, and filed
the game under the same kind as the client. So PEAK sat in the applications
list reading "on (Steam)", counted towards the applications covered, and
offered a space bar to switch it off again - as though it were something
this program had anything to offer. It is not: a game is whatever engine it
was built with, and none of them reads a Chromium argument.
An entry carrying a steam:// address of its own is not a program, it is one
more way of starting Steam. The client's own entry never has one - it takes
an address from the outside, through %U - and that is what tells the two
apart. Those entries go to the Steam module now instead of into the list.
They keep -noverifyfiles, for the same reason the rest of the Steam handling
has it: starting a game with the client closed is a Steam start like any
other, and without the switch it finds the patched web helper script, puts
its own copy back, and the interface loses autoscroll for the rest of the
session.
166 lines
6.1 KiB
Scdoc
166 lines
6.1 KiB
Scdoc
middleclick-autoscroll(1)
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# NAME
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middleclick-autoscroll - middle-click autoscroll in every application that supports it
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# SYNOPSIS
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*middleclick-autoscroll* [_command_]
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# DESCRIPTION
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Blink, the engine inside Chromium, Electron and CEF, implements Windows-style
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autoscroll: hold the middle mouse button and the page scrolls with the pointer.
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On Linux it is switched off, because middle click is taken by primary-selection
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paste. It can be turned back on with *--enable-blink-features=MiddleClickAutoscroll*
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on the command line.
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*middleclick-autoscroll* finds every Chromium-based application on the system
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and puts that argument somewhere the application will actually read it, then
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keeps doing so for anything installed later.
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Run without a command it shows an interactive menu. Everything it can be told
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is reachable from there; the configuration file behind it does not need to be
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edited by hand.
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Nothing outside the user's home directory is written to, and running it as root
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is refused.
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# COMMANDS
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*enable*
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Turn autoscroll on, apply it to everything installed, and start watching
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for new applications.
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*disable*
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Turn it off and put every file that was changed back the way it was.
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*apply* [*--rebuild*]
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Apply to anything that has appeared since the last run. This is what the
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watcher calls; running it by hand is only needed when the watcher is off.
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Entries left behind by an application that has since been uninstalled are
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removed here too - the entry shadowing it lives in the user's home, where
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the package manager that removed the application cannot see it.
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With *--rebuild* everything is taken back first and written again from
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scratch. That is the repair: it does not care what looks correct already.
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*status*
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How many applications are covered, whether Steam is patched, and when the
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last run was.
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*list*
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Every Chromium-based application that was found, and how each one is
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handled.
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*-h*, *--help*
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Show a summary of the commands.
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*-V*, *--version*
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Show the version.
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# HOW THE ARGUMENT GETS IN
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Two ways, chosen per application.
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*Flag file*
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Arch's Electron and Chromium wrappers read extra arguments from
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_$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/<name>-flags.conf_. This is the preferred route: it is
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the supported way to pass arguments, it survives package upgrades, and it
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applies to a launch from a terminal as much as one from the menu. An
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*--enable-blink-features* line that is already in the file is extended
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rather than duplicated - Chromium keeps only the last occurrence of that
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option, so a second one would switch the first one off.
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*Desktop entry*
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For applications that ship their own binary with no wrapper, and for
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Flatpaks, a copy of the desktop entry with the argument appended is written
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to _~/.local/share/applications_, where it shadows the system one. Entries
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that already live there - AppImages, web app shortcuts - are edited in
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place, with the original kept.
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A generated entry is marked *X-MCA-Generated* and an entry edited in place
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*X-MCA-Patched*. The two are never confused: the first is deleted when
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undoing, the second is restored from its backup. An entry with neither
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marker belongs to somebody else and is left alone.
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Programs that start themselves at login write their own entry into
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_~/.config/autostart_ pointing straight at their binary, bypassing the menu
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entry entirely. Those are patched in place as well.
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# STEAM
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Steam's interface is CEF and supports the feature, but Steam builds the command
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line for its web helper itself. The only way in is the script that starts the
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helper, inside Steam's own installation:
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~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/steamwebhelper_sniper_wrap.sh
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Steam compares the installed files against its manifest at every start - by
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size, not by content - and restores whatever differs, so its launcher entry
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gets *-noverifyfiles*. So does its entry in _~/.config/autostart_, which Steam
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writes as soon as it is set to run at login: that entry bypasses the menu one
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entirely, and without the switch a Steam started at login spends the session in
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an update dialog. The trade-off is that Steam no longer repairs a damaged
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installation on its own; that is why Steam is a switch of its own in the
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settings.
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The shortcuts Steam writes for single games carry the switch too. A game is not
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an application this program has anything to offer and none of them is listed
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under *Applications*, but starting one with Steam closed is a Steam start like
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any other, and without the switch it costs the interface its autoscroll for the
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rest of the session.
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Starting Steam some other way - from a terminal, from a script - leaves the
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switch out, and Steam puts its own copy of the script back for that session.
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The patch returns at the next apply with Steam closed. It is deliberately not
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repeated while the client is running: the two would only undo each other, and
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the helper is started once, at the start, so it would not help that session
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anyway.
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# SPOTIFY
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The official client is CEF rather than Electron. Installed through
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*spotify-launcher*, it is started by a program that builds its own command line
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and has a configuration file with a slot for extra arguments; that slot is
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where the flag goes. Installed as a plain package, it is an ordinary desktop
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entry and needs nothing special.
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# WHAT CANNOT BE DETECTED
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An AppImage keeps its payload in a compressed filesystem, so there is no way to
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tell from the outside whether it contains Chromium. Those are listed as *cannot
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tell* and left alone until they are switched on from the applications screen.
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# FILES
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_~/.config/middleclick-autoscroll/config_
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Written by the program. Every option in it is reachable from the menu.
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_~/.local/state/middleclick-autoscroll/ledger_
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One line per change, so *disable* can undo exactly what was done and
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nothing else.
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_~/.local/state/middleclick-autoscroll/backup/_
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Copies of the files that are edited in place rather than shadowed.
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_~/.cache/middleclick-autoscroll/detect_
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Which programs were found to be Chromium, keyed by size and modification
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time. Safe to delete.
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# ENVIRONMENT
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*NO_COLOR*
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Disables colour.
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# SEE ALSO
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*systemctl*(1), *flatpak*(1)
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# AUTHORS
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Felitendo. Source and issue tracker at
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https://github.com/Felitendo/middleclick-autoscroll
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