Felitendo
d3c82fdff8
Middle-click autoscroll for every Chromium-based application on the system: Electron and CEF applications, Chromium-based browsers, Flatpaks, Spotify and Steam, plus anything installed later. The flag goes into an Arch wrapper's <name>-flags.conf where one exists, and into a shadowing desktop entry where it does not. Steam gets its web helper script patched and -noverifyfiles on its launcher, because it restores its own files otherwise. Every change is recorded so it can be taken back exactly.
143 lines
4.8 KiB
Scdoc
143 lines
4.8 KiB
Scdoc
middleclick-autoscroll(1)
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# NAME
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middleclick-autoscroll - middle-click autoscroll for Chromium-based applications
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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*
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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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*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. Every generated entry is marked with
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*X-MCA-Generated*; an entry that is not marked is somebody else's and is
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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 checksums that script at every start and restores it when it differs, so
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its launcher entry also gets *-noverifyfiles*. The trade-off is that Steam no
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longer repairs a damaged installation on its own; that is why Steam is a switch
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of its own in the settings.
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Starting Steam from a terminal without *-noverifyfiles* undoes the patch for
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that session. The watcher notices and puts it back, so the next start has it
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again.
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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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