Alternative Browser apps?

nero355

@dpitti
Do you mean a Native Firefox version for Ubuntu Touch ?!

That would be GREAT !!

Even with todays shortcomings of Firefox across any platform...

6mv

Hi @dpitti,
What and how, pls.

A Former User

@6mv yes firefox click.

flohack

@Fuseteam please comment here ^^

TotalSonic

The beta of the Firefox 88 click does not correctly call the on screen keyboard yet, so is of limited use on mobile devices until this issue is fixed.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

domubpkm

@totalsonic said in Alternative Browser apps?:

The beta of the Firefox 88 click

beta FIrefox click ?? WHERE is the click ??

Fuseteam

@flohack who what where how when?

A Former User

@fuseteam the Download Link from firefox click please

Fuseteam

ah the cat's out of the bag; i wouldn't even call what i have a beta at this point, it is an pre-alpha click package.
basically i'm downloading the firefox deb package with apt, extracting it and packaging that result as a click.

It does not pop up the keyboard, it has no touch support out of the box and it does not integrate at all with the os. it just launches and the interface is somewhat scaled.
It is also unconfined due to needing xmir atm, which not available to confined apps.

to get the keyboard to pop up we need to either get maliit-inputcontext-gtk3 working in the click or ship it with the rootfs.

i'm currently more focused on generalizing my work so others can benefit of it. the build script is based off work by mateo salta, maciek sopyło and my crackle script altered to fit the needs of a custom clickable builder

the firefox click can be found at gitlab.com/debclick/ufirefox.
i created the debclick group to organize all similar experiments under one umbrella, if anyone wants access hit me up

the clicks build from the master branch do not launch as they lack proper wayland support.
the clicks from the xmir branch do launch and are unconfined, and suffers from all the issues associated with xmir

Fuseteam

ok i think i generalized the firefox repo to the limit;

the meat of the builder is in builder.sh.
the template files are placed in the correct location with the specific name while the environment for building is setup with prebuild.sh (hmmm maybe i can move that to build.sh)

the package specific stuff are saved in pkg.d

the actual package to build is specificied in clickable.json any package in the ubuntu repos can be specified, no command line apps tho those won't magically launch in the terminal (i ain't a magician sorry :P)
package maintainer info can be set in manifest.json, the package name will be set with prebuild.sh
apparmore permissions can be set in apparmor.json

Limitations:

as mentioned earlier it needs to be unconfined due to needing xmir, as such only the xmir branch has an actual working click, the master branch would launch on wayland but this particular version has broken wayland support, if the package has wayland support confined may be possible
any package which has an all package as a dependency will fail to build, cause i'm a noob
no command line apps! we have crackle for that nudge nudge
no touch (so far), no OSK (so far), no content hub, no media hub
no per device scaling, currently scaling is set with the environment variable GDK_DPI_SCALE=2
i have no idea how to handle the above 2
i also have no idea how to handle settings schema's at all

A Former User

@fuseteam Wouldn't it be possible to solve the keybord problem with the onboard (virtual keyboard)? I have already tried that with moderate success

Keneda

@fuseteam
What a great job you took, a hard one, but will really be a changer for the community.

I know that's not your first one here, and see you use previous (precious) work you did and even have help, good start, wish you the best, a dream to synch ff between pc and phone !

One question though, appart from FF port to UT wich is a thing in itself, is what you are all achieving here is kind of a way to compile quite any native GNU/L program sources directly to an usable Ubuntu Touch click ?

Fuseteam

Hiya @keneda, i'm not sure if i understand your question.
i can only make assumptions

if i assume you mean if i'm compiling "desktop applications" to make these clicks, i'm not. what i'm doing it using apt to download packages from the ubuntu repos, extracting them and the repackaging them as clicks, all using a bash script.
if i assume you if it's possible to compile desktop apps from source to an usable ubuntu touch click, yes that's perfectly possible. we could perhaps do that to gtk itself, maybe that will fix the keyboard issue. i've been testing a couple of environment variables to see if it's some kind of path it's not reading correctly but so far i'm only hitting dead ends. but i'm trailing off, yes it is perfectly possible to recompile desktop apps and package them as a click, it could possibly even overcome some of the limitations i've encountered so far

Fuseteam

@dpitti wasn't the keyboard so large it covered your entire screen?

A Former User

@fuseteam yes us they curled up with laughter