Uzbl. A browser that adheres to the unix philosophy.

Question

UPDATE:
This thread is out of date (well, at least the beginning) and no longer the most optimal means to reach the community.
If you have useful things to contribute, our irc/mailing list/wiki is probably a better choice.
See: http://www.uzbl.org/
Inspired by http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=67463
ideas on how i sort of want it:
- Uzbl.
  In my opinion, any program can only be really useful if it complies to the unix philosophy.
  Web browsers are frequent violators of this principle.  Time to change that!
Right now uzbl is in a very early state but here are some ideas I would like to (not) implement
- each instance of uzbl renders 1 page (eg it's a small wrapper around webkit), no tabbing, tab previews, or speed dial
things. we have window managers for that.
- simple ini config file ("profile") for keyboard, network,.. settings
- implement some basic keyboard shortcuts for going up, down, refresh etc
- listen to signals and do useful stuff when triggered.
-  open up a socket file/fifo/.. so we can easily control each instance by writing things like 'uri <foo>' to
/tmp/uzbl-pid
- MAYBE (if needed): 1 control application called uzblctrl or something. use this to modify the behavior of a uzbl
instance (change url, refresh).  use xdotool to get the window with focus.  eg uzblctrl -win <id> -url <http://>.
  use xbindkeys to bind keys to call uzblctrl.
- no bookmark management builtin.  make your own solution.  for pulling a bookmark a plaintxt-based program using dmenu
would work great here. combine with uzbltcrl and xbindkeys.
  uzblctrl should support an option to query the current page so you can script something to add to your bookmarks.  use
  zenity or something to add tags.
- similar story for history.
- no ad blocking built in. use the power of /etc/hosts.  though uzblctrl should support an option to list all images on
a page, so you can easily pick the links to ads to add them to your /etc/hosts. (dmenu can again be great here to
automate this)
- no download manager. allow user to pick wget/curl/a custom script/...
- no build in command interpreters like ubiquity.  uzbl should be accessible and you should use a shell or similar.
to figure out:
- password management. maybe an encrypted store that unlocks with an ssh key?
- how to handle hyperlinks? number them like konqueror does?
NOTE:
- My c skills are very rusty, it will take me a while to get back up to speed
current state? very close to zero.
you can all uzbl --uri http://<someurl> and it will open a window with the rendered page. That's it.
howto @ http://github.com/Dieterbe/uzbl/blob/e3 … 580e/HOWTO
Last edited by Dieter@be (2009-06-19 07:17:30)

Answer 1

I started working on the tab feature. I am at work so can't really get much done now, but this would qualify as a start.
Things are shamefully hardcoded but this is the jist of it. Obviouslly create_browser() and create_statusbar() need to be rewritten to create individual widgets (webkit widgets too), otherwise tabs will be useless. Yay finally a project to work on
// Original code taken from the example webkit-gtk+ application. see notice below.
* Copyright (C) 2006, 2007 Apple Inc.
* Copyright (C) 2007 Alp Toker <[email protected]>
* Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
* modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
* are met:
* 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
* notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
* 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
* notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
* documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
* THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY APPLE COMPUTER, INC. ``AS IS'' AND ANY
* EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
* IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
* PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL APPLE COMPUTER, INC. OR
* CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,
* EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
* PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR
* PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY
* OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
* (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
* OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
#include <gtk/gtk.h>
#include <gtk/gtknotebook.h>
#include <webkit/webkit.h>
static GtkWidget* main_window;
static GtkWidget* uri_entry;
static GtkStatusbar* main_statusbar;
static WebKitWebView* web_view;
static gchar* main_title;
static gint load_progress;
static guint status_context_id;
static GtkWidget* tabs;
static gchar* uri = NULL;
static gboolean verbose = FALSE;
static GOptionEntry entries[] =
{ "uri", 'u', 0, G_OPTION_ARG_STRING, &uri, "Uri to load", NULL },
{ "verbose", 'v', 0, G_OPTION_ARG_NONE, &verbose, "Be verbose", NULL },
{ NULL }
static void
activate_uri_entry_cb (GtkWidget* entry, gpointer data)
const gchar* uri = gtk_entry_get_text (GTK_ENTRY (entry));
g_assert (uri);
webkit_web_view_load_uri (web_view, uri);
static void update_title (GtkWindow* window)
GString* string = g_string_new (main_title);
g_string_append (string, " - Uzbl browser");
if (load_progress < 100)
g_string_append_printf (string, " (%d%%)", load_progress);
gchar* title = g_string_free (string, FALSE);
gtk_window_set_title (window, title);
g_free (title);
static void
link_hover_cb (WebKitWebView* page, const gchar* title, const gchar* link, gpointer data)
/* underflow is allowed */
gtk_statusbar_pop (main_statusbar, status_context_id);
if (link)
gtk_statusbar_push (main_statusbar, status_context_id, link);
static void
title_change_cb (WebKitWebView* web_view, WebKitWebFrame* web_frame, const gchar* title, gpointer data)
if (main_title)
g_free (main_title);
main_title = g_strdup (title);
update_title (GTK_WINDOW (main_window));
static void
progress_change_cb (WebKitWebView* page, gint progress, gpointer data)
load_progress = progress;
update_title (GTK_WINDOW (main_window));
static void
load_commit_cb (WebKitWebView* page, WebKitWebFrame* frame, gpointer data)
const gchar* uri = webkit_web_frame_get_uri(frame);
if (uri)
gtk_entry_set_text (GTK_ENTRY (uri_entry), uri);
static void
destroy_cb (GtkWidget* widget, gpointer data)
gtk_main_quit ();
static void
go_back_cb (GtkWidget* widget, gpointer data)
webkit_web_view_go_back (web_view);
static void
go_forward_cb (GtkWidget* widget, gpointer data)
webkit_web_view_go_forward (web_view);
static GtkWidget*
create_browser ()
GtkWidget* scrolled_window = gtk_scrolled_window_new (NULL, NULL);
gtk_scrolled_window_set_policy (GTK_SCROLLED_WINDOW (scrolled_window), GTK_POLICY_AUTOMATIC, GTK_POLICY_AUTOMATIC);
web_view = WEBKIT_WEB_VIEW (webkit_web_view_new ());
gtk_container_add (GTK_CONTAINER (scrolled_window), GTK_WIDGET (web_view));
g_signal_connect (G_OBJECT (web_view), "title-changed", G_CALLBACK (title_change_cb), web_view);
g_signal_connect (G_OBJECT (web_view), "load-progress-changed", G_CALLBACK (progress_change_cb), web_view);
g_signal_connect (G_OBJECT (web_view), "load-committed", G_CALLBACK (load_commit_cb), web_view);
g_signal_connect (G_OBJECT (web_view), "hovering-over-link", G_CALLBACK (link_hover_cb), web_view);
return scrolled_window;
static GtkWidget* create_statusbar ()
main_statusbar = GTK_STATUSBAR (gtk_statusbar_new ());
status_context_id = gtk_statusbar_get_context_id (main_statusbar, "Link Hover");
return (GtkWidget*)main_statusbar;
static GtkWidget* create_window ()
GtkWidget* window = gtk_window_new (GTK_WINDOW_TOPLEVEL);
gtk_window_set_default_size (GTK_WINDOW (window), 800, 600);
gtk_widget_set_name (window, "Uzbl browser");
g_signal_connect (G_OBJECT (window), "destroy", G_CALLBACK (destroy_cb), NULL);
return window;
int main (int argc, char* argv[])
gtk_init (&argc, &argv);
if (!g_thread_supported ())
g_thread_init (NULL);
tabs = gtk_notebook_new();
GtkWidget* vbox = gtk_vbox_new (FALSE, 0);
gtk_box_pack_start (GTK_BOX (vbox), create_browser(), TRUE, TRUE, 0);
gtk_box_pack_start (GTK_BOX (vbox), create_statusbar(), FALSE, FALSE, 0);
gtk_notebook_append_page (GTK_NOTEBOOK (tabs), vbox, gtk_label_new ("TAB 1"));
GtkWidget* vbox2 = gtk_vbox_new (FALSE, 0);
gtk_box_pack_start (GTK_BOX (vbox2), gtk_label_new("tab 2 content"), TRUE, TRUE, 0);
gtk_notebook_append_page (GTK_NOTEBOOK (tabs), vbox2, gtk_label_new ("TAB 2"));
main_window = create_window ();
gtk_container_add (GTK_CONTAINER (main_window), tabs);
GError *error = NULL;
GOptionContext* context = g_option_context_new ("- some stuff here maybe someday");
g_option_context_add_main_entries (context, entries, NULL);
g_option_context_add_group (context, gtk_get_option_group (TRUE));
g_option_context_parse (context, &argc, &argv, &error);
webkit_web_view_load_uri (web_view, uri);
gtk_widget_grab_focus (GTK_WIDGET (web_view));
gtk_widget_show_all (main_window);
gtk_main ();
return 0;