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, Plug
ger uses external programs 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/.mozilla/
$HOME/.opera/
$MOZILLA_HOME/
$OPERA_DIR/
/usr/freeware/etc/pluggerrc
/usr/local/netscape/pluggerrc
/etc/pluggerrc
/usr/etc/pluggerrc
/usr/local/etc/pluggerrc
The format of pluggerrc is very simple. The general layout
is to have one or more lines describing mime-types fol
lowed by one or more lines describing commands used to
handle those mime-types. Lines beginning with # are con
sidered comments and are ignored. Here is a simple exam
ple:
video/mpeg; mpeg; Mpeg video
video/quicktime; qt; Mpeg video
: xanim +W$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 con
tent 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:plu
gins 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
configuration 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 com
mands 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.
stream This indicates that this command takes input on
stdin. Plugger will attempt to stream data as it
is being downloaded and send it to the application.
Note that streaming applications can also be used
to play files and data which is already in your
netscape cache.
preload
This flag is only meaningful in when used together
with the stream flag. It tells plugger to preload a
buffer with 40000 bytes of data before starting to
play the file. If the buffer runs out, Plugger will
stop sending data to the application until the
buffer is full again. This is usually a good thing
for streaming sound.
many This indicates that the application can accept sev
eral files on the command line. Using this option
can reduce clicks, choppiness and machine load, but
it is never required.
ignore_errors
This options tells Plugger to ignore the exit sta
tus of the application.
exits This option tells Plugger that the application
exits, but should not be restarted. This can be
used with applications which automatically 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.
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.
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 application 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.
BUGS
You have to remove ~/.netscape/plugin-list after changing
the configuration, or nothing will happen. This is a
netscape bug, not a Plugger bug.
Netscape 3.x will not play anything for <EMBED> tags for
which height or width are zero. This too is a Netscape
bug.
AUTHOR
Fredrik Hbinette, hubbe@hubbe.net
plugger(7)
