The configuration file (.mozconfig) has changed slightly with the newer versions of Firefox, so the older guides out there no longer work. Below is an updated step by step process which works up to Firefox 3.7a1pre (the newest version available at the time of this writing). Needless to say, this should also work with Firefox 3.5 and 3.6.

Build all the necessary packages to compile Firefox:

sudo apt-get build-dep firefox

Mozilla has switched from CVS to mercurial for source code management. Install mercurial and fetch the source:

sudo apt-get install mercurial
hg clone http://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/ mozilla

The above will retrieve the latest version of Minefield. If you want use 3.6 or 3.5, check out this Mozilla wiki.

Once the source is done downloading, cd into mozilla and create the .mozconfig file:

cd mozilla
vim .mozconfig

# .mozconfig:
mk_add_options MOZ_CO_PROJECT=browser
mk_add_options MOZ_OBJDIR=@TOPSRCDIR@/firefox-jssh
ac_add_options --enable-extensions=default,jssh
ac_add_options --enable-application=browser
ac_add_options --enable-webservices
ac_add_options --disable-libnotify
ac_add_options --disable-necko-wifi

The last two lines are optional. It might be because I’m using awesome, but the source wouldn’t compile for me without those last two lines.

Save the file and run make:

make -f client.mk build

It’ll take a few minutes but once it’s done you can launch Firefox by running:

./firefox-jssh/dist/bin/firefox -jssh

Keep in mind, this is separate from any existing Firefox installation you might have already had.
I would recommend creating a separate Firefox profile to use for this installation.

If you’re doing this to get Watir running, you can test it out with this simple script:

require 'rubygems'
require 'firewatir'

fx = FireWatir::Firefox.new
fx.goto("http://www.whatismyreferrer.com");

It should open a new window and change the URL to http://www.whatismyreferrer.com

That’s about it. Hope this helps a few of you.

Pivotal Tracker – PT is a free web-based project management tool. Its simplicity makes it ideal for keeping track of small and personal projects. It’s especially useful for projects consisting of small teams, where ideas need to be prioritized in an ever-changing environment.

MediaWiki – If it’s important but not of immediate use, I dump it into my wiki. Retaining everything you come across isn’t practical or feasible. Text files are great, but messy in the long run. A wiki provides one with the flexibility of a notepad, and the reference power of an encyclopedia.

In the past, I relied heavily on Evernote to organize all of my notes. Despite it’s many benefits, it is proprietary software. Due to its closed-source nature, it provides no plugins, limited markup and UI has flaws that made it difficult for me to navigate my notes. Switching to MediaWiki was well worth it.

Ex: This {string|sentence|bit of text} will be different every time you {run|execute} the {function|method|Mad Lib function|madlib method}

// Madlib function:
public static String madlib(String content){
	Pattern regex = Pattern.compile("\\{(.*?)\\}");
	Matcher matches = regex.matcher(content);

	String[] madlibArray = null;

	while(matches.find()){
		madlibArray = matches.group(1).split("\\|");
		content = content.replace("{" + matches.group(1) + "}", madlibArray[(int) (Math.random() * madlibArray.length)]);
	}
	return content;
}

If you have any suggestions on how to improve this method, leave a comment.

CmdUtils.CreateCommand({
name: "rapidshare",
  preview: function(pblock){
    var selection=context.focusedWindow.getSelection();
    selection=selection.toString();
    selection=selection.match(/http:\/\/rapidshare[^\s]*/gi);
    var links='';
    for(var i=0; i<selection.length; i++){
      links=links+selection[i]+"<br />";
    }
    pblock.innerHTML=links;
  },
  execute: function(){
    var selection=context.focusedWindow.getSelection();
    selection=selection.toString();
    selection=selection.match(/http:\/\/rapidshare[^\s]*/gi);
    if(selection!=null){
      var links=selection.length;
      for(var i=0; i<links; i++) Utils.openUrlInBrowser(selection[i]);
    }
  }
})

The code examines the selected block of text, extracts URLs which resemble Rapidshare links and opens each link in a new tab.

To use: select the block of text, ctrl + alt to open ubiquity, then start typing “rapidshare”

PS: The code can be easily modified to work with other sites, simply replace any mention of “rapidshare” with the applicable site.

public static String capitalize(String content){
	Pattern capitalize = Pattern.compile("([\\?!\\.] )([a-z])");
	Matcher m = capitalize.matcher(content);
	while (m.find()) {
		content = m.replaceFirst(m.group(1) + m.group(2).toUpperCase());
		m = capitalize.matcher(content);
	}
	return content;
}

If you have any suggestions on how to improve this method, leave a comment.

• Every profile has its own set of bookmarks, extensions, themes and browsing history.
• If one instance of Firefox crashes, it will not bring down other instances of Firefox running under different profiles.
• The only thing shared between profiles are the plugins (Java, Flash, etc).
• Separate profiles can be used to run different versions of Firefox at the same time.

Here’s how it’s done:

1. Launch the profile manager to create a new profile:
   “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe” -profilemanager

   

   Make sure you close all current instances of Firefox otherwise it will simply open a new window instead of the manager.

2. Create a new profile. I would recommend using a single lowercase word.
3. Modify your Firefox shortcut to look like this:
   “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe” -P “profile-name”

   

4. Now that you’ve setup separate profiles, you still need to tell Firefox to run them independently of one another, by adding the “-no-remote” option to one or both of your shortcuts:
   “C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe” -P “profile-name” -no-remote

-no-remote allows you to run multiple profiles simultaneously, otherwise any new request to open a Firefox window will simply attach the window to the profile that’s already running.
-no-remote effectively tells Firefox to open an independent instance of the indicated profile.

The disadvantage of the -no-remote option is that it limits you to one instance of a profile at any given time, so clicking twice on a Firefox shortcut that has the -no-remote parameter will give you the following error.

Getting around this is fairly simple: only add -no-remote to the profile that you expect to use less often.