Jitsi Meet, my favourite video conferencing platform (and a way to share audio when using it in Linux)

During the current COVID-19 lockdown I have been using video conferencing platforms a lot for family virtual meet-ups, quizzes and multi-player games by Jackbox Games. Zoom seems to be the most popular video conference platform at the moment, although several articles in the media have pointed out some of its security limitations (see, e.g., ‘‘Zoom is malware’: why experts worry about the video conferencing platform‘). Although many people like Zoom, my favourite video conferencing platform is Jitsi Meet.

For an excellent third-party video introduction to Jitsi Meet, watch the video: ‘Using Jitsi: A free, no-registration video conferencing site‘. WIRED Magazine’s recent article on Jitsi Meet is also worth reading: ‘Want to Ditch Zoom? Jitsi Offers an Open-Source Alternative‘.

The reasons I prefer Jitsi Meet to Zoom include the following:

1. no subscriptions are required to use all the features of Jitsi Meet;
2. unlike Zoom, Jitsi Meet does not require you to sign up;
3. unlike Zoom, Jitsi Meet does not require the installation of an application — it runs in Google Chrome or Firefox;
4. unlike the free version of Zoom, Jitsi Meet does not impose a time limit on the length of the meeting;
5. unlike the free version of Zoom, Jitsi Meet does not have a limit on the number of meeting attendees;
6. Jitsi Meet provides end-to-end encryption for one-to-one video calls*;
7. I find the performance of Jitsi Meet better than Zoom, which seems to be corroborated in basic benchmarking by Jitsi Meet’s developers (‘WebRTC vs. Zoom – A Simple Congestion Test‘);
8. I find image quality better in Jitsi Meet;
9. I find Jitsi Meet on a desktop/laptop more intuitive and easier to use than Zoom;
10. if I share audio in Zoom for Linux, the audio is very distorted**;
11. I find the UI of the Jitsi Meet app for Android easy to use (the app can be installed via Google Play);
12. Jitsi Meet is open-source, so anyone can inspect the source code;
13. if I wanted to, I could download the Jitsi software to my own server and set up a Jitsi Meet server to handle meetings instead of using the Cloud server provided by 8×8, Inc. (the company that develops the Jitsi Meetings software).

* Neither platform currently provides end-to-end encryption for group meetings, although the developers of Jitsi Meet are apparently working on implementing end-to-end encryption for group meetings using a new feature of Google Chrome called ‘Insertable Streams’.

** There is a work-around for this problem in Zoom for Linux; see my answer to the Unix & Linux Stack Exchange question ‘Play audio output as input to Zoom’. In the case of Jitsi Meet in Linux, PulseAudio Volume Control can be used to share audio, as I explain further down.

Jitsi Meet requires no installation; it runs in a browser window. Either Google Chrome or Firefox can be used, although I find it runs better in Google Chrome. Actually, an Ubuntu 16.04 user told me that Firefox hangs when he tries to join a Jitsi Meet meeting, but Jitsi Meet works fine in Firefox in my two Gentoo Linux installations and in my family’s Lubuntu 18.04 installation. When using Google Chrome, to be able to share your screen you need to install the Google Chrome extension ‘Jitsi Meetings’ by meet.ji.si in the Google Chrome Web Store.

One of my family here at home has a laptop running Windows 10. Google Chrome, but not Firefox, displays a ‘Share audio’ tick box when the ‘Share your screen’ icon is clicked (see ‘Jitsi Meet features update, April 2020‘). The ‘Share audio’ feature is needed when, for example, you are casting via the Internet to remote players a multi-user game running on your machine. During the current COVID-19 lockdown we have been having fun playing Jackbox Games Party Pack 6 this way with family and friends in different locations (see ‘(My Solution) Best method for Virtual Couch Multiplayer‘). Each household connects a laptop to their TV via HDMI and joins the Jitsi Meet meeting. The Jackbox Games games are cast via Jitsi Meet from the laptop at my house, and the group of players in each household can view and hear the game on their TV and participate using their mobile phones as per the Jackbox Games paradigm.

Jitsi Meet provides a ‘Share audio’ function in Windows only, but I found a work-around to to be able to share any application’s audio in Linux if I ever want to use my Linux machines to cast games by Jackbox Games or other suppliers. For once, I have found PulseAudio useful! I use PulseAudio Volume Control to redirect the audio output from the desired application (be it a game, music player, video player or whatever) to the microphone input. The precise way to do this depends on the audio hardware your machine has, but an example is given in the blog post: ‘Redirect Audio Out to Mic In (Linux)‘.

My family’s desktop machine running Lubuntu 18.04 uses a Webcam with an integral microphone connected via USB, and external powered speakers connected to the machine’s Line Out green-coloured 3.5 mm jack socket. The contents of the tabs in PulseAudio Volume Control when no applications that produce audio are running are shown in the following screenshots:

I make sure ‘All Streams’ is selected on the ‘Playback’ and ‘Recording’ tabs, ‘All Output Devices’ is selected on the ‘Output Devices’ tab, and ‘All Input Devices’ is selected on the ‘Input Devices’ tab.

Let us say I have launched Audacious to play some music and I want to cast that music to members of a Jitsi Meet meeting. When I am using Jitsi Meet for a meeting in Google Chrome, the contents of the PulseAudio Volume Control tabs on this machine are as follows:

To redirect the audio from e.g. Audacious to the meeting members, I select (click on the square button with the green disc and white tick) ‘Monitor of Built-in Audio Analogue Stereo’ on the ‘Input Devices’ tab, and on the ‘Recording’ tab I click on Chrome input: RecordStream from ‘Camera Analogue Mono’ and select Chrome input: RecordStream from ‘Monitor of Built-in Audio Analogue Stereo’, as shown below.

With the above settings in PulseAudio volume control, all the members of the meeting will be able to hear clearly the audio from Audacious. To switch back to my microphone to speak, I simply click on Chrome input: RecordStream from ‘Monitor of Built-in Audio Analogue Stereo’ on the ‘Recording’ tab and select Chrome input: RecordStream from ‘Camera Analogue Mono’ again.

Using Bash scripts in Linux to delete the history, cookies and cache files of Firefox, Google Chrome and Thunderbird

The browsing data stored by Firefox, Google Chrome and Thunderbird can be deleted using the respective application’s GUI. But you can also do that using a Bash script, which could be useful if you want to delete unnecessary/unwanted files before e.g. backing up your home directory, or if you want a quick and easy way to clear-out browsing data. In this post I list the scripts and Desktop Configuration files I have created in Gentoo Linux and in Lubuntu 18.04 to remove browsing data.

In the case of Thunderbird, I am not sure if it is safe to delete Thunderbird’s cache files so my script only deletes cookies. Anyway, that could be added later if it transpires there is no harm in deleting Thunderbird’s cache files.

I am using the following 64-bit versions of the two browsers and e-mail client:

• Mozilla Firefox 74.0
• Mozilla Thunderbird 68.5.0 in Gentoo Linux only
• Google Chrome 80.0.3987.132 in Gentoo Linux
• Google Chrome 67.0.3396.99 in Lubuntu 18.04

I have not tested my scripts with other versions of Firefox, Chrome and Thunderbird, nor in other installations, so please do check carefully the directory paths and commands in the script against the directory paths in your installation before selecting ‘[D]elete‘ in the running script.

In Lubuntu 18.04 I had to install sqlite3 first:

$ sudo apt install sqlite3

In Gentoo Linux it was already installed:

$ eix -I sqlite
[I] dev-db/sqlite
     Available versions:  (3) 3.29.0^t 3.30.1^t 3.31.1^t
       {debug doc icu +readline secure-delete static-libs tcl test tools ABI_MIPS="n32 n64 o32" ABI_RISCV="lp64 lp64d" ABI_S390="32 64" ABI_X86="32 64 x32"}
     Installed versions:  3.31.1(3)^t(19:53:28 13/03/20)(icu readline secure-delete -debug -doc -static-libs -tcl -test -tools ABI_MIPS="-n32 -n64 -o32" ABI_RISCV="-lp64 -lp64d" ABI_S390="-32 -64" ABI_X86="32 64 -x32")
     Homepage:            https://sqlite.org/
     Description:         SQL database engine

Firefox and Thunderbird

I created the Bash script Firefox_or_Thunderbird_-_Clear_data.sh listed below. The user can select only Firefox or only Thunderbird, or both, and the script enables the user to choose whether to just view the current situation or to delete the data. The script checks if the applications are running and will not do anything if they are. In fact, the script offers the user the option to terminate the applications if they happen to be running. The script is still usable if either Firefox or Thunderbird are not installed. The same script can be used in Gentoo and in Lubuntu 18.04, and I believe it would also work in Ubuntu but have not tested it with that distribution.

#!/bin/bash
#
# If Delete is selected for Firefox, this script deletes the entire history, cookies, site data and cache.
# If Delete is selected for Thunderbird, this script deletes the cookies and leaves the cache intact.
#
echo
echo "WARNING:"
echo "The Firefox Browser must not be running if you are going to list or delete its data files."
echo "The Thunderbird e-mail client must not be running if you are going to list or delete its data files."
echo
FIREFOX=$( ls $HOME/.mozilla/firefox 2>/dev/null | grep .default )
THUNDERBIRD=$( ls $HOME/.thunderbird 2>/dev/null | grep .default )
while true
do
   echo -n "[F]irefox, [T]hunderbird, [B]oth or [E]xit: "
   read -n1 PROMPT2
   echo
   case $PROMPT2 in
      [fF]* ) CHOICE2="F"; break;;
      [tT]* ) CHOICE2="T"; break;;
      [bB]* ) CHOICE2="B"; break;;
      [eE]* ) exit;;
      * )     echo "Invalid entry.";;
   esac
done
FRUNNING="N"
pgrep -u $USER firefox > /dev/null
if [[ $? -eq 0 ]]; then
   FRUNNING="Y"
   while true
   do
      echo
      echo -n "The Firefox browser is running. Do you wish to close it now? [Y/N]: "
      read -n1 PROMPT0
      echo
      case $PROMPT0 in
         [yY]* ) CHOICE0="Y"; break;;
         [nN]* ) CHOICE0="N"; break;;
         * )     echo "Invalid entry.";;
      esac
   done
   if [[ $CHOICE0 == "Y" ]]; then
      FPID=$( pgrep -u $USER firefox )
      FPID=$( echo $FPID | cut -d" " -f1 )
      kill -1 $FPID
      FRUNNING="N"
   fi
fi
TRUNNING="N"
pgrep -u $USER thunderbird > /dev/null
if [[ $? -eq 0 ]]; then
   TRUNNING="Y"
   while true
   do
      echo -n "The Thunderbird e-mail client is running. Do you wish to close it now? [Y/N]: "
      read -n1 PROMPT1
      echo
      case $PROMPT1 in
         [yY]* ) CHOICE1="Y"; break;;
         [nN]* ) CHOICE1="N"; break;;
         * )     echo "Invalid entry.";;
      esac
   done
   if [[ $CHOICE1 == "Y" ]]; then
      FPID=$( pgrep -u $USER thunderbird )
      FPID=$( echo $FPID | cut -d" " -f1 )
      kill -1 $FPID
      TRUNNING="N"
   fi
fi
ABORT="N"
if [[ $FRUNNING == "Y" ]]; then
   if [[ $CHOICE2 == "F" ]] || [[ $CHOICE2 == "B" ]]; then
      echo
      echo "Please quit Firefox then re-run this script."
      echo
      ABORT="Y"
   fi
fi
if [[ $TRUNNING == "Y" ]]; then
   if [[ $CHOICE2 == "T" ]] || [[ $CHOICE2 == "B" ]]; then
      echo
      echo "Please quit Thunderbird then re-run this script."
      echo
      ABORT="Y"
   fi
fi
if [[ $ABORT == "N" ]]; then
   while true
   do
      echo
      echo -n "[D]elete, [L]ist or [E]xit: "
      read -n1 PROMPT3
      echo
      case $PROMPT3 in
         [dD]* ) CHOICE3="D"; break;;
         [lL]* ) CHOICE3="L"; break;;
         [eE]* ) exit;;
         * )     echo "Invalid entry.";;
      esac
   done
   if [[ $CHOICE3 == "D" ]]; then
      if [[ $CHOICE2 == "F" ]] || [[ $CHOICE2 == "B" ]]; then
         if [ -z "$FIREFOX" ]; then
            echo "Firefox directory does not exist"
         else
            echo
            echo "Deleting Firefox History..........."
            echo "==================================="
            sqlite3 ${HOME}/.mozilla/firefox/${FIREFOX}/places.sqlite "SELECT datetime(moz_historyvisits.visit_date/1000000,'unixepoch'), moz_places.url FROM moz_places, moz_historyvisits WHERE moz_places.id = moz_historyvisits.place_id;"
            sqlite3 ${HOME}/.mozilla/firefox/${FIREFOX}/places.sqlite "delete from moz_historyvisits;"
            echo
            echo "Deleting Firefox Cookies........"
            echo "================================"
            sqlite3 ${HOME}/.mozilla/firefox/${FIREFOX}/cookies.sqlite "select datetime(creationTime/1000000,'unixepoch'),host from moz_cookies; delete from moz_cookies;"
            echo
            echo "Deleting Firefox Site Data........"
            echo "=================================="
            ls ${HOME}/.mozilla/firefox/${FIREFOX}/storage/default/ | grep http
            find ${HOME}/.mozilla/firefox/${FIREFOX}/storage/default -name "http*" -type d -exec rm -r "{}" \; -prune
            echo
            echo "Deleting Firefox Cache..........."
            echo "================================="
            NUM=$( ls -1 ${HOME}/.cache/mozilla/firefox/${FIREFOX}/cache2/entries | wc -l )
            SIZ=$( du -sbh ${HOME}/.cache/mozilla/firefox/${FIREFOX}/cache2/entries )
            SIZ=$( echo $SIZ | cut -d" " -f1 )
            echo "Files: $NUM Size: $SIZ"
            find ${HOME}/.cache/mozilla/firefox/${FIREFOX}/cache2/entries -type f -delete 2>/dev/null
            echo
         fi
      fi
      if [[ $CHOICE2 == "T" ]] || [[ $CHOICE2 == "B" ]]; then
         if [ -z "$THUNDERBIRD" ]; then
            echo "Thunderbird directory does not exist"
         else
            echo "Deleting Thunderbird Cookies........"
            echo "===================================="
            sqlite3 ${HOME}/.thunderbird/${THUNDERBIRD}/cookies.sqlite "select datetime(creationTime/1000000,'unixepoch'),host from moz_cookies; delete from moz_cookies;"
         fi
      fi
   fi
   if [[ $CHOICE3 == "L" ]]; then
      if [[ $CHOICE2 == "F" ]] || [[ $CHOICE2 == "B" ]]; then
         if [ -z "$FIREFOX" ]; then
            echo "Firefox directory does not exist"
         else
            echo
            echo "Current Firefox History........."
            echo "================================"
            sqlite3 ${HOME}/.mozilla/firefox/${FIREFOX}/places.sqlite "SELECT datetime(moz_historyvisits.visit_date/1000000,'unixepoch'), moz_places.url FROM moz_places, moz_historyvisits WHERE moz_places.id = moz_historyvisits.place_id;" | more
            echo
            echo "Current Firefox Cookies........"
            echo "==============================="
            sqlite3 ${HOME}/.mozilla/firefox/${FIREFOX}/cookies.sqlite "select datetime(creationTime/1000000,'unixepoch'),host from moz_cookies;" | more
            echo
            echo "Current Firefox Site Data........"
            echo "================================="
            ls ${HOME}/.mozilla/firefox/${FIREFOX}/storage/default/ | grep http | more
            echo
            echo "Current Firefox Cache..........."
            echo "================================="
            NUM=$( ls -1 ${HOME}/.cache/mozilla/firefox/${FIREFOX}/cache2/entries | wc -l )
            SIZ=$( du -sbh ${HOME}/.cache/mozilla/firefox/${FIREFOX}/cache2/entries )
            SIZ=$( echo $SIZ | cut -d" " -f1 )
            echo "Files: $NUM Size: $SIZ"
            echo
         fi
      fi
      if [[ $CHOICE2 == "T" ]] || [[ $CHOICE2 == "B" ]]; then
         if [ -z "$THUNDERBIRD" ]; then
            echo "Thunderbird directory does not exist"
         else
            echo "Current Thunderbird Cookies......"
            echo "================================="
            sqlite3 ${HOME}/.thunderbird/${THUNDERBIRD}/cookies.sqlite "select datetime(creationTime/1000000,'unixepoch'),host from moz_cookies;" | more
         fi
      fi
   fi
fi
printf "\n"
read -rep $'\n Press ENTER to exit ' PROMPT4

Listed below is the Desktop Configuration file Firefox_or_Thunderbird_-_Clear_data.desktop for KDE in Gentoo Linux that I created in the ~/Desktop/ directory. I downloaded a nice PNG icon from the Web, which I saved as ~/Pictures/Icons/Mozilla.png, although of course the Desktop Configuration file can be modified if the icon file were to be stored elsewhere. Obviously change the username accordingly.

[Desktop Entry]
Comment[en_GB]=Clear Firefox or Thunderbird caches and cookies
Comment=Clear Firefox or Thunderbird caches and cookies
Exec=/home/fitzcarraldo/Firefox_or_Thunderbird_-_Clear_data.sh
GenericName[en_GB]=Clear Firefox or Thunderbird caches and cookies
GenericName=Clear Firefox or Thunderbird caches and cookies
Icon=/home/fitzcarraldo/Pictures/Icons/Mozilla.png
MimeType=
Name[en_GB]=Firefox_or_Thunderbird_-_Clear_data
Name=Firefox_or_Thunderbird_-_Clear_data
Path=/home/fitzcarraldo
StartupNotify=true
Terminal=true
TerminalOptions=
Type=Application
X-DBUS-ServiceName=
X-DBUS-StartupType=none
X-KDE-SubstituteUID=false
X-KDE-Username=fitzcarraldo

The equivalent Desktop Configuration file I created for Lubuntu 18.04 is very similar:

[Desktop Entry]
Comment[en_GB]=Clear Firefox or Thunderbird caches and cookies
Comment=Clear Firefox or Thunderbird caches and cookies
Exec=/home/fitzcarraldo/Firefox_or_Thunderbird_-_Clear_data.sh
GenericName[en_GB]=Clear Firefox or Thunderbird caches and cookies
GenericName=Clear Firefox or Thunderbird caches and cookies
Icon=/home/fitzcarraldo/Pictures/Icons/Mozilla.png
MimeType=
Name[en_GB]=Firefox_or_Thunderbird_-_Clear_data
Name=Firefox_or_Thunderbird_-_Clear_data
Path=/home/fitzcarraldo
StartupNotify=true
Terminal=true
TerminalOptions=\s--noclose
Type=Application
X-DBUS-ServiceName=
X-DBUS-StartupType=none
X-LXDE-SubstituteUID=false
X-LXDE-Username=fitzcarraldo

Google Chrome

I created the following Bash script Google-Chrome_-_Clear_data.sh for the Google Chrome browser in Gentoo Linux. Different scripts have to be used in Gentoo Linux and in Lubuntu 18.04 because the paths are different.

#!/bin/bash
#
# If Delete is selected, this script deletes the entire cache, the code cache,
# the Visited Links file and the Top Sites file.
#
echo
echo "WARNING:"
echo "The Google Chrome browser must not be running if you are going to list or delete its data files."
echo
while true
do
   echo -n "[D]elete, [L]ist or [E]xit: "
   read -n1 PROMPT1
   echo
   case $PROMPT1 in
      [dD]* ) CHOICE1="D"; break;;
      [lL]* ) CHOICE1="L"; break;;
      [eE]* ) exit;;
      * )     echo "Invalid entry.";;
   esac
done
CRUNNING="N"
pgrep -u $USER chrome > /dev/null
if [[ $? -eq 0 ]]; then
   CRUNNING="Y"
   while true
   do
      echo
      echo -n "The Google Chrome browser is running. Do you wish to close it now? [Y/N]: "
      read -n1 PROMPT0
      echo
      case $PROMPT0 in
         [yY]* ) CHOICE0="Y"; break;;
         [nN]* ) CHOICE0="N"; break;;
         * )     echo "Invalid entry.";;
      esac
   done
   if [[ $CHOICE0 == "Y" ]]; then
      FPID=$( pgrep -u $USER chrome )
      FPID=$( echo $FPID | cut -d" " -f1 )
      kill -1 $FPID
      CRUNNING="N"
   fi
fi
if [[ $CRUNNING == "Y" ]]; then
   echo
   echo "Please quit Google Chrome then re-run this script."
   echo
else
   if [[ $CHOICE1 == "D" ]]; then
      echo
      echo "Deleting URLs..........."
      echo "========================"
      sqlite3 ${HOME}/.config/google-chrome/Profile\ 2/History "select datetime(last_visit_time/1000000 + (strftime('%s', '1601-01-01')),'unixepoch'),url from urls; delete from urls;"
      echo
      echo "Deleting Cookies........"
      echo "========================"
      sqlite3 ${HOME}/.config/google-chrome/Profile\ 2/Cookies "select datetime(creation_utc/1000000 + (strftime('%s', '1601-01-01')),'unixepoch'),host_key from cookies; delete from cookies;"
      if [[ -d ${HOME}/.cache/google-chrome/Profile\ 2/Cache ]]; then
         echo
         echo "Deleting Chrome Cache......."
         echo "====================="
         NUM=$( ls -1 ${HOME}/.cache/google-chrome/Profile\ 2/Cache | wc -l )
         SIZ=$( du -sbh ${HOME}/.cache/google-chrome/Profile\ 2/Cache )
         SIZ=$( echo $SIZ | cut -d" " -f1 )
         echo "Files: $NUM Size: $SIZ"
         rm -r ${HOME}/.cache/google-chrome/Profile\ 2/Cache
      fi
      if [[ -d ${HOME}/.cache/google-chrome/Profile\ 2/Code\ Cache ]]; then
         echo
         echo "Deleting Code Cache......"
         echo "========================="
         rm -r ${HOME}/.cache/google-chrome/Profile\ 2/Code\ Cache
      fi
      if [[ -f ${HOME}/.config/google-chrome/Profile\ 2/Visited\ Links ]]; then
         echo
         echo "Deleting Visited Links......"
         echo "============================"
         rm ${HOME}/.config/google-chrome/Profile\ 2/Visited\ Links
      fi
      if [[ -f ${HOME}/.config/google-chrome/Profile\ 2/Top\ Sites ]]; then
         echo
         echo "Deleting Top Sites......"
         echo "========================"
         rm ${HOME}/.config/google-chrome/Profile\ 2/Top\ Sites
      fi
   fi
   if [[ $CHOICE1 == "L" ]]; then
      echo
      echo "Current URLs..........."
      echo "======================="
      sqlite3 ${HOME}/.config/google-chrome/Profile\ 2/History "select datetime(last_visit_time/1000000 + (strftime('%s', '1601-01-01')),'unixepoch'),url from urls;" | more
      echo
      echo "Current Cookies........"
      echo "======================="
      sqlite3 ${HOME}/.config/google-chrome/Profile\ 2/Cookies "select datetime(creation_utc/1000000 + (strftime('%s', '1601-01-01')),'unixepoch'),host_key from cookies;" | more
      if [[ -d ${HOME}/.cache/google-chrome/Profile\ 2/Cache ]]; then
         echo
         echo "Current Chrome Cache............."
         echo "================================="
         NUM=$( ls -1 ${HOME}/.cache/google-chrome/Profile\ 2/Cache | wc -l )
         SIZ=$( du -sbh ${HOME}/.cache/google-chrome/Profile\ 2/Cache )
         SIZ=$( echo $SIZ | cut -d" " -f1 )
         echo "Files: $NUM Size: $SIZ"
      fi
   fi
fi
printf "\n"
read -rep $'\n Press ENTER to exit ' PROMPT2

And below is the Desktop Configuration file Google-Chrome_-_Clear_data.desktop for Gentoo Linux. I downloaded a nice PNG icon from the Web, which I saved as ~/Pictures/Icons/Google-Chrome.png, although of course the Desktop Configuration file can be adjusted if the icon file were stored elsewhere. Obviously change the username accordingly.

[Desktop Entry]
Comment[en_GB]=Clear Google Chrome cache and cookies
Comment=Clear Google Chrome cache and cookies
Exec=/home/fitzcarraldo/Google-Chrome_-_Clear_data.sh
GenericName[en_GB]=Clear Google Chrome cache and cookies
GenericName=Clear Google Chrome cache and cookies
Icon=/home/fitzcarraldo/Pictures/Icons/Google-Chrome.png
MimeType=
Name[en_GB]=Google-Chrome_-_Clear_data
Name=Google-Chrome_-_Clear_data
Path=/home/fitzcarraldo
StartupNotify=true
Terminal=true
TerminalOptions=
Type=Application
X-DBUS-ServiceName=
X-DBUS-StartupType=none
X-KDE-SubstituteUID=false
X-KDE-Username=

Below is the version of the script Google-Chrome_-_Clear_data.sh for Lubuntu 18.04:

#!/bin/bash
#
# If Delete is selected, this script deletes the entire cache, the code cache,
# the Visited Links file and the Top Sites file.
#
echo
echo "WARNING:"
echo "The Google Chrome browser must not be running if you are going to list or delete its data files."
echo
while true
do
   echo -n "[D]elete, [L]ist or [E]xit: "
   read -n1 PROMPT1
   echo
   case $PROMPT1 in
      [dD]* ) CHOICE1="D"; break;;
      [lL]* ) CHOICE1="L"; break;;
      [eE]* ) exit;;
      * )     echo "Invalid entry.";;
   esac
done
CRUNNING="N"
pgrep -u $USER chrome > /dev/null
if [[ $? -eq 0 ]]; then
   CRUNNING="Y"
   while true
   do
      echo
      echo -n "The Google Chrome browser is running. Do you wish to close it now? [Y/N]: "
      read -n1 PROMPT0
      echo
      case $PROMPT0 in
         [yY]* ) CHOICE0="Y"; break;;
         [nN]* ) CHOICE0="N"; break;;
         * )     echo "Invalid entry.";;
      esac
   done
   if [[ $CHOICE0 == "Y" ]]; then
      FPID=$( pgrep -u $USER chrome )
      FPID=$( echo $FPID | cut -d" " -f1 )
      kill -1 $FPID
      CRUNNING="N"
   fi
fi
if [[ $CRUNNING == "Y" ]]; then
   echo
   echo "Please quit Google Chrome then re-run this script."
   echo
else
   if [[ $CHOICE1 == "D" ]]; then
      echo
      echo "Deleting URLs..........."
      echo "========================"
      sqlite3 ${HOME}/.config/google-chrome/Default/History "select datetime(last_visit_time/1000000 + (strftime('%s', '1601-01-01')),'unixepoch'),url from urls; delete from urls;"
      echo
      echo "Deleting Cookies........"
      echo "========================"
      sqlite3 ${HOME}/.config/google-chrome/Default/Cookies "select datetime(creation_utc/1000000 + (strftime('%s', '1601-01-01')),'unixepoch'),host_key from cookies; delete from cookies;"
      if [[ -d ${HOME}/.cache/google-chrome/Default/Cache ]]; then
         echo
         echo "Deleting Chrome Cache......."
         echo "====================="
         NUM=$( ls -1 ${HOME}/.cache/google-chrome/Default/Cache | wc -l )
         SIZ=$( du -sbh ${HOME}/.cache/google-chrome/Default/Cache )
         SIZ=$( echo $SIZ | cut -d" " -f1 )
         echo "Files: $NUM Size: $SIZ"
         rm -r ${HOME}/.cache/google-chrome/Default/Cache
      fi
      if [[ -d ${HOME}/.cache/google-chrome/Default/Code\ Cache ]]; then
         echo
         echo "Deleting Code Cache......"
         echo "========================="
         rm -r ${HOME}/.cache/google-chrome/Default/Code\ Cache
      fi
      if [[ -f ${HOME}/.config/google-chrome/Default/Visited\ Links ]]; then
         echo
         echo "Deleting Visited Links......"
         echo "============================"
         rm ${HOME}/.config/google-chrome/Default/Visited\ Links
      fi
      if [[ -f ${HOME}/.config/google-chrome/Default/Top\ Sites ]]; then
         echo
         echo "Deleting Top Sites......"
         echo "========================"
         rm ${HOME}/.config/google-chrome/Default/Top\ Sites
      fi
   fi
   if [[ $CHOICE1 == "L" ]]; then
      echo
      echo "Current URLs..........."
      echo "======================="
      sqlite3 ${HOME}/.config/google-chrome/Default/History "select datetime(last_visit_time/1000000 + (strftime('%s', '1601-01-01')),'unixepoch'),url from urls;" | more
      echo
      echo "Current Cookies........"
      echo "======================="
      sqlite3 ${HOME}/.config/google-chrome/Default/Cookies "select datetime(creation_utc/1000000 + (strftime('%s', '1601-01-01')),'unixepoch'),host_key from cookies;" | more
      if [[ -d ${HOME}/.cache/google-chrome/Default/Cache ]]; then
         echo
         echo "Current Chrome Cache............."
         echo "================================="
         NUM=$( ls -1 ${HOME}/.cache/google-chrome/Default/Cache | wc -l )
         SIZ=$( du -sbh ${HOME}/.cache/google-chrome/Default/Cache )
         SIZ=$( echo $SIZ | cut -d" " -f1 )
         echo "Files: $NUM Size: $SIZ"
      fi
   fi
fi
printf "\n"
read -rep $'\n Press ENTER to exit ' PROMPT2

And below is the Desktop Configuration file Google-Chrome_-_Clear_data.desktop for Lubuntu 18.04. I downloaded a nice PNG icon from the Web, which I saved as ~/Pictures/Icons/Google-Chrome.png, although of course the Desktop Configuration file can be adjusted if the icon file were stored elsewhere. Obviously change the username accordingly.

[Desktop Entry]
Comment[en_GB]=Clear Google Chrome cache and cookies
Comment=Clear Google Chrome cache and cookies
Exec=/home/fitzcarraldo/Google-Chrome_-_Clear_data.sh
GenericName[en_GB]=Clear Google Chrome cache and cookies
GenericName=Clear Google Chrome cache and cookies
Icon=/home/fitzcarraldo/Pictures/Icons/Google-Chrome.png
MimeType=
Name[en_GB]=Google-Chrome_-_Clear_data
Name=Google-Chrome_-_Clear_data
Path=/home/fitzcarraldo
StartupNotify=true
Terminal=true
TerminalOptions=\s--noclose
Type=Application
X-DBUS-ServiceName=
X-DBUS-StartupType=none
X-LXDE-SubstituteUID=false
X-LXDE-Username=fitzcarraldo

Below are a few examples of the output when I launch the scripts.

Here is the output of the script that deals with Firefox and/or Thunderbird when I only list the current situation:

WARNING:
The Firefox Browser must not be running if you are going to list or delete its data files.
The Thunderbird e-mail client must not be running if you are going to list or delete its data files.
 
[F]irefox, [T]hunderbird, [B]oth or [E]xit: b 
 
The Firefox browser is running. Do you wish to close it now? [Y/N]: y 
The Thunderbird e-mail client is running. Do you wish to close it now? [Y/N]: y 
 
[D]elete, [L]ist or [E]xit: l 
 
Current Firefox History.........
================================
2020-03-19 17:27:24|https://www.accuweather.com/en/gb/united-kingdom-weather
2020-03-19 17:27:20|https://www.youtube.com/
2020-03-19 17:27:30|https://www.theguardian.com/uk
2020-03-19 17:27:38|http://www.jb.com.br/
2020-03-19 17:27:38|https://www.jb.com.br/
 
Current Firefox Cookies........
===============================
2020-03-19 17:27:20|.youtube.com
2020-03-19 17:27:20|.youtube.com
2020-03-19 17:27:20|.youtube.com
2020-03-19 17:27:22|accounts.google.com
2020-03-19 17:27:23|.doubleclick.net
2020-03-19 17:27:24|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:27:24|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:27:24|.google.com
2020-03-19 17:27:24|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:27:24|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:27:25|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:27:25|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:27:24|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:27:25|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:27:30|.theguardian.com
2020-03-19 17:27:36|.theguardian.com
2020-03-19 17:27:36|.theguardian.com
2020-03-19 17:27:39|.denakop.com
2020-03-19 17:27:43|www.jb.com.br
2020-03-19 17:27:43|www.jb.com.br
2020-03-19 17:27:43|www.jb.com.br
2020-03-19 17:27:43|www.jb.com.br
2020-03-19 17:27:43|www.jb.com.br
2020-03-19 17:27:43|.tt-10969-0.seg.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:27:43|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:27:44|www.jb.com.br
2020-03-19 17:27:44|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:27:44|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:27:44|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:27:43|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:27:44|www.jb.com.br
2020-03-19 17:27:44|.tt-10969-0.seg.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:27:44|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:27:46|www.jb.com.br
2020-03-19 17:27:46|.www.jb.com.br
2020-03-19 17:27:43|www.jb.com.br
2020-03-19 17:27:43|www.jb.com.br
 
Current Firefox Site Data........
=================================
https+++www.google.com
https+++www.theguardian.com
https+++www.youtube.com
 
Current Firefox Cache...........
=================================
Files: 383 Size: 15M
 
Current Thunderbird Cookies......
=================================


 Press ENTER to exit

Here is the output of the script that deals with Firefox and/or Thunderbird when I delete only the Firefox data:

 
WARNING:
The Firefox Browser must not be running if you are going to list or delete its data files.
The Thunderbird e-mail client must not be running if you are going to list or delete its data files.
 
[F]irefox, [T]hunderbird, [B]oth or [E]xit: f 
 
[D]elete, [L]ist or [E]xit: d 
 
Deleting Firefox History...........
===================================
2020-03-19 17:27:24|https://www.accuweather.com/en/gb/united-kingdom-weather
2020-03-19 17:27:20|https://www.youtube.com/
2020-03-19 17:27:30|https://www.theguardian.com/uk
2020-03-19 17:27:38|http://www.jb.com.br/
2020-03-19 17:27:38|https://www.jb.com.br/
 
Deleting Firefox Cookies........
================================
2020-03-19 17:27:20|.youtube.com
2020-03-19 17:27:20|.youtube.com
2020-03-19 17:27:20|.youtube.com
2020-03-19 17:27:22|accounts.google.com
2020-03-19 17:27:23|.doubleclick.net
2020-03-19 17:27:24|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:27:24|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:27:24|.google.com
2020-03-19 17:27:24|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:27:24|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:27:25|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:27:25|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:27:24|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:27:25|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:27:30|.theguardian.com
2020-03-19 17:27:36|.theguardian.com
2020-03-19 17:27:36|.theguardian.com
2020-03-19 17:27:39|.denakop.com
2020-03-19 17:27:43|www.jb.com.br
2020-03-19 17:27:43|www.jb.com.br
2020-03-19 17:27:43|www.jb.com.br
2020-03-19 17:27:43|www.jb.com.br
2020-03-19 17:27:43|www.jb.com.br
2020-03-19 17:27:43|.tt-10969-0.seg.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:27:43|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:27:44|www.jb.com.br
2020-03-19 17:27:44|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:27:44|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:27:44|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:27:43|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:27:44|www.jb.com.br
2020-03-19 17:27:44|.tt-10969-0.seg.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:27:44|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:27:46|www.jb.com.br
2020-03-19 17:27:46|.www.jb.com.br
2020-03-19 17:27:43|www.jb.com.br
2020-03-19 17:27:43|www.jb.com.br
 
Deleting Firefox Site Data........
==================================
https+++www.google.com
https+++www.theguardian.com
https+++www.youtube.com
 
Deleting Firefox Cache...........
=================================
Files: 383 Size: 15M
 


 Press ENTER to exit

Here is the output of the script that deals with Google Chrome when I just list the current situation:

WARNING:
The Google Chrome browser must not be running if you are going to list or delete its data files.
 
[D]elete, [L]ist or [E]xit: l 
 
Current URLs...........
=======================
2020-03-19 17:30:41|https://duckduckgo.com/
2020-03-19 17:30:44|https://www.youtube.com/
2020-03-19 17:30:49|https://www.accuweather.com/en/gb/united-kingdom-weather
2020-03-19 17:30:57|http://www.folha.uol.com.br/
2020-03-19 17:30:57|https://www.folha.uol.com.br/
 
Current Cookies........
=======================
2020-03-19 17:30:49|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:11|.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:11|.bt.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:44|.youtube.com
2020-03-19 17:30:50|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:30:57|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:30:45|accounts.google.com
2020-03-19 17:30:44|.youtube.com
2020-03-19 17:30:46|.doubleclick.net
2020-03-19 17:31:08|player.mais.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:50|.google.com
2020-03-19 17:31:11|.dna.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:05|paywall.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:58|.www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.smartadserver.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.smartadserver.com
2020-03-19 17:30:50|.scorecardresearch.com
2020-03-19 17:30:50|.scorecardresearch.com
2020-03-19 17:30:44|.youtube.com
2020-03-19 17:30:44|.youtube.com
2020-03-19 17:31:05|.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:51|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:10|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:51|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:30:58|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:51|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:10|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:51|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:10|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:58|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:30:58|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:01|.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:58|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:04|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:50|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:01|.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:50|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:01|.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:11|.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:11|.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:51|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:30:51|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:30:51|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:00|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:31:05|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:05|paywall.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:51|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.rubiconproject.com
2020-03-19 17:30:49|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:30:50|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:08|.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:57|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:05|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:05|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:05|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:05|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.rubiconproject.com
2020-03-19 17:31:06|player.mais.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:06|player.mais.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:05|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:30:58|.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:58|.navdmp.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.smartadserver.com
2020-03-19 17:31:05|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:51|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.rubiconproject.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.smartadserver.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.smartadserver.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.rubiconproject.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.rubiconproject.com
2020-03-19 17:31:06|ivccf.ivcbrasil.org.br
2020-03-19 17:31:10|.tt-10162-1.seg.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.tt-12340-4.seg.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:31:05|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:05|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:04|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:04|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:04|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:04|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:05|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:31:05|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:31:05|.tt-10162-1.seg.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:31:05|.tt-12340-4.seg.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:31:05|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:31:00|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:30:50|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:30:57|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.rubiconproject.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.rubiconproject.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.smartadserver.com
2020-03-19 17:30:50|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.prg.smartadserver.com
2020-03-19 17:31:22|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:20|.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:10|.uol.com.br
 
Current Chrome Cache.............
=================================
Files: 317 Size: 8.6M


 Press ENTER to exit

Here is the output of the script that deals with Google Chrome when I delete the browser data:

WARNING:
The Google Chrome browser must not be running if you are going to list or delete its data files.
 
[D]elete, [L]ist or [E]xit: d 
 
Deleting URLs...........
========================
2020-03-19 17:30:41|https://duckduckgo.com/
2020-03-19 17:30:44|https://www.youtube.com/
2020-03-19 17:30:49|https://www.accuweather.com/en/gb/united-kingdom-weather
2020-03-19 17:30:57|http://www.folha.uol.com.br/
2020-03-19 17:30:57|https://www.folha.uol.com.br/
 
Deleting Cookies........
========================
2020-03-19 17:30:49|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:11|.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:11|.bt.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:44|.youtube.com
2020-03-19 17:30:50|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:30:57|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:30:45|accounts.google.com
2020-03-19 17:30:44|.youtube.com
2020-03-19 17:30:46|.doubleclick.net
2020-03-19 17:31:08|player.mais.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:50|.google.com
2020-03-19 17:31:11|.dna.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:05|paywall.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:58|.www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.smartadserver.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.smartadserver.com
2020-03-19 17:30:50|.scorecardresearch.com
2020-03-19 17:30:50|.scorecardresearch.com
2020-03-19 17:30:44|.youtube.com
2020-03-19 17:30:44|.youtube.com
2020-03-19 17:31:05|.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:51|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:10|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:51|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:30:58|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:51|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:10|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:51|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:10|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:58|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:30:58|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:01|.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:58|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:04|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:50|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:01|.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:50|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:01|.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:11|.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:11|.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:51|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:30:51|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:30:51|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:00|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:31:05|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:05|paywall.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:51|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.rubiconproject.com
2020-03-19 17:30:49|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:30:50|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:08|.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:57|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:05|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:05|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:05|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:05|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.rubiconproject.com
2020-03-19 17:31:06|player.mais.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:06|player.mais.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:05|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:30:58|.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:58|.navdmp.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.smartadserver.com
2020-03-19 17:31:05|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:30:51|.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.rubiconproject.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.smartadserver.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.smartadserver.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.rubiconproject.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.rubiconproject.com
2020-03-19 17:31:06|ivccf.ivcbrasil.org.br
2020-03-19 17:31:10|.tt-10162-1.seg.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.tt-12340-4.seg.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:31:05|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:05|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:04|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:04|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:04|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:04|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:05|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:31:05|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:31:05|.tt-10162-1.seg.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:31:05|.tt-12340-4.seg.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:31:05|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:31:00|.t.tailtarget.com
2020-03-19 17:30:50|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:30:57|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.rubiconproject.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.rubiconproject.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.smartadserver.com
2020-03-19 17:30:50|www.accuweather.com
2020-03-19 17:31:04|.prg.smartadserver.com
2020-03-19 17:31:22|www.folha.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:20|.uol.com.br
2020-03-19 17:31:10|.uol.com.br
 
Deleting Chrome Cache.......
=====================
Files: 317 Size: 8.6M
 
Deleting Code Cache......
=========================
 
Deleting Visited Links......
============================
 
Deleting Top Sites......
========================


 Press ENTER to exit

Update March 23, 2020: For those of you who would prefer a single script that can delete the browsing history, cookies and cache files of Google Chrome and/or Firefox and/or Thunderbird, I have now created the script clear_browser_data.sh shown below with appropriate Desktop Configuration files for Gentoo Linux and Lubuntu 18.04. In addition I have now added the ability to list and delete the history and cache files of Thunderbird, as I have checked that deleting those is not detremental to Thunderbird. Furthermore, this new script finds the directories itself rather than having them partially hard-coded in the script, so I am using the same script in both Gentoo and Lubuntu 18.04. That said, I have not tested the script with other versions of Chrome, Firefox and Thunderbird, nor with other Linux distributions, so do not select [D]elete until you have checked that the directories evaluated by the script match the directories in your installation.

#!/bin/bash
#
########################################################################
#
# Bash script to enable the user to list and/or delete browser data of:
# Google Chrome browser
# Mozilla Firefox browser
# Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail client
#
########################################################################
#
# Check for existence of the applications' directories
FIREFOX=$( ls $HOME/.mozilla/firefox 2>/dev/null | grep profiles.ini )
THUNDERBIRD=$( ls $HOME/.thunderbird  2>/dev/null | grep profiles.ini )
CHROME=$( ls -d $HOME/.config/google-chrome 2>/dev/null )
if [ -z "$CHROME" ]; then
   echo
   echo "Chrome directory does not exist"
else
   # Chrome directory locations
   #
   CLOCALST=$( find $HOME/.config/google-chrome -type f -name "Local State" )
   CCURPROF=$( cat "$CLOCALST" | awk -F "," '{for (I=1;I<=NF;I++) if ($I~/"info_cache"/) {print $(I)};}' | awk -F "info_cache" '{print $2}' | awk -F '"' '{print $3}' )   
   CHISTORY=$( find $HOME/.config/google-chrome/"$CCURPROF" -type f -name "History" )
   CCOOKIES=$( find $HOME/.config/google-chrome/"$CCURPROF" -type f -name "Cookies" )
   CVISITED=$( find $HOME/.config/google-chrome/"$CCURPROF" -type f -name "Visited Links" )
   CTOPSITS=$( find $HOME/.config/google-chrome/"$CCURPROF" -type f -name "Top Sites" )
   CCACHEDF=$( find $HOME/.cache/google-chrome/"$CCURPROF" -type d -name "Cache" )
   CCODECAC=$( find $HOME/.cache/google-chrome/"$CCURPROF" -maxdepth 2 -type d -name "Code Cache" )
   echo; echo "Chrome is using profile: $CCURPROF"
   
fi
if [ -z "$FIREFOX" ]; then
   echo
   echo "Firefox directory does not exist"
else
   # Firefox file locations. First get the current Profile Name
   # The profiles are listed in 'profiles.ini'.
   # If profiles.ini does not contain a line 'Locked=1' then the current profile
   # is followed by the line 'Default=1'. If profiles.ini does contain 'Locked=1'
   # then the current profile is followed by the line 'Locked=1'
   #
   FPROFILE=$( find $HOME/.mozilla/firefox/ -type f -name "profiles.ini" )
   if grep -q "Locked=1$" "$FPROFILE"; then
      FCURPROF=$( grep -B 1 "Locked=1$" "$FPROFILE" | grep -v Locked )
   else
      FCURPROF=$( grep -B 1 "Default=1$" "$FPROFILE" | grep -v Default )
   fi
   FCURPROF=$( echo "$FCURPROF" | cut -d"=" -f2 )
   FHISTORY=$( find $HOME/.mozilla/firefox/"$FCURPROF" -type f -name "places.sqlite" )
   FCOOKIES=$( find $HOME/.mozilla/firefox/"$FCURPROF" -type f -name "cookies.sqlite" )
   FSITEDAT=$( find $HOME/.mozilla/firefox/"$FCURPROF" -type d -name "default" )
   FCACHEDF=$( find $HOME/.cache/mozilla/firefox/"$FCURPROF" -type d -name "entries" )
   echo; echo "Firefox is using profile: $FCURPROF"
fi
if [ -z "$THUNDERBIRD" ]; then
   echo
   echo "Thunderbird directory does not exist"
else
   # Thunderbird file locations. First get the current Profile Name
   # The profiles are listed in 'profiles.ini'.
   # If profiles.ini does not contain the line 'Locked=1' then the current profile
   # is followed by the line 'Default=1'. If profiles.ini does contain 'Locked=1'
   # then the current profile is followed by the line 'Locked=1'
   #
   TPROFILE=$( find $HOME/.thunderbird/ -type f -name "profiles.ini" )
   if grep -q "Locked=1$" "$TPROFILE"; then
      TCURPROF=$( grep -B 1 "Locked=1$" "$TPROFILE" | grep -v Locked )
   else
      TCURPROF=$( grep -B 1 "Default=1$" "$TPROFILE" | grep -v Default )
   fi
   TCURPROF=$( echo "$TCURPROF" | cut -d"=" -f2 )
   THISTORY=$( find $HOME/.thunderbird/"$TCURPROF" -type f -name "places.sqlite" )
   TCOOKIES=$( find $HOME/.thunderbird/"$TCURPROF" -type f -name "cookies.sqlite" )
   TCACHEDF=$( find $HOME/.cache/thunderbird/"$TCURPROF" -type d -name "entries" )
   echo; echo "Thunderbird is using profile: $TCURPROF"
fi
#
MENU=""
while [[ $MENU != "E" ]] && [[ $MENU != "e" ]]; do
   echo
   echo -n "[C]hrome, [F]irefox, T[hunderbird or [E]xit: "
   read -n1 MENU
   echo
   case $MENU in
      [Cc] ) ;;
      [Ff] ) ;;
      [Tt] ) ;;
      [Ee] ) ;;
      * ) echo; echo " Enter 'C/c', 'F/f', 'T/t' or 'E/e'"
   esac
   #########
   # Chrome
   #########
   while [[ $MENU == "C" ]] || [[ $MENU == "c" ]]; do
      pgrep -u $USER chrome > /dev/null
      if [[ $? -eq 0 ]]; then
         echo
         echo -n "Chrome Browser is open, do you wish to close it now? [Y/N]: "
         read -n1 YN
         echo
         if [[ $YN == "Y" ]] || [[ $YN == "y" ]]; then
            CPID=$( pgrep -u $USER chrome )
            CPID=$( echo $CPID | cut -d" " -f1 )
            kill -1 $CPID
         else
            echo
            echo " Cannot list or delete browser URLs if the browser is open"
            break
         fi
      fi
      if [ -z "$CHROME" ]; then
         echo
         echo "Chrome directory does not exist"
         break
      else
         CPROMPT=""
         echo
         echo -n "[D]elete, [L]ist or [E]xit: "
         read -n1 CPROMPT
         echo
         case $CPROMPT in
            [Dd] ) echo; echo " Chrome is using profile: $CCURPROF";;
            [Ll] ) echo; echo " Chrome is using profile: $CCURPROF";;
            [Ee] ) ;;
            * ) echo; echo " Enter 'D/d', 'L/l' or 'E/e'";;
         esac
         if [[ $CPROMPT == "E" ]] || [[ $CPROMPT == "e" ]]; then MENU=""; fi
         if [[ $CPROMPT == "D" ]] || [[ $CPROMPT == "d" ]]; then
            echo
            echo " Deleting Chrome URLs............."
            echo " ================================="
            sqlite3 "$CHISTORY" "select datetime(last_visit_time/1000000 + (strftime('%s', '1601-01-01')),'unixepoch'),url from urls; delete from urls;" | sed 's/^/ /'
            echo
            echo " Deleting Chrome Cookies.........."
            echo " ================================="
            sqlite3 "$CCOOKIES" "select datetime(creation_utc/1000000 + (strftime('%s', '1601-01-01')),'unixepoch'),host_key from cookies; delete from cookies;" | sed 's/^/ /'
            if [[ -d "$CCACHEDF" ]]; then
               echo
               echo " Deleting Chrome Cache............"
               echo " ================================="
               NUM=$( ls -1 "$CCACHEDF" | wc -l )
               SIZ=$( du -sbh "$CCACHEDF" )
               SIZ=$( echo $SIZ | cut -d" " -f1 )
               echo " Files: $NUM Size: $SIZ"
               rm -r "$CCACHEDF"
            fi
            if [[ -d "$CCODECAC" ]]; then
               echo
               echo " Deleting Chrome Code Cache......."
               echo " ================================="
               NUM=$( ls -1 "$CCODECAC" | wc -l )
               SIZ=$( du -sbh "$CCODECAC" )
               SIZ=$( echo $SIZ | cut -d" " -f1 )
               echo " Files: $NUM Size: $SIZ"
               rm -r "$CCODECAC"
            fi
            if [[ -f "$CVISITED" ]]; then
               echo
               echo " Deleting Visited Links..........."
               echo " ================================="
               rm "$CVISITED"
            fi
            if [[ -f "$CTOPSITS" ]]; then
               echo
               echo " Deleting Chrome Top Sites........"
               echo " ================================="
               rm "$CTOPSITS"
            fi
         fi
         if [[ $CPROMPT == "L" ]] || [[ $CPROMPT == "l" ]]; then
            echo
            echo " Current Chrome URLs.............."
            echo " ================================="
            sqlite3 "$CHISTORY" "select datetime(last_visit_time/1000000 + (strftime('%s', '1601-01-01')),'unixepoch'),url from urls;" | sed 's/^/ /' | more
            echo
            echo " Current Chrome Cookies..........."
            echo " ================================="
            sqlite3 "$CCOOKIES" "select datetime(creation_utc/1000000 + (strftime('%s', '1601-01-01')),'unixepoch'),host_key from cookies;" | sed 's/^/ /' |more
            if [[ -d "$CCACHEDF" ]]; then
               echo
               echo " Current Chrome Cache............."
               echo " ================================="
               NUM=$( ls -1 "$CCACHEDF" | wc -l )
               SIZ=$( du -sbh "$CCACHEDF" )
               SIZ=$( echo $SIZ | cut -d" " -f1 )
               echo " Files: $NUM Size: $SIZ"
            fi
            if [[ -d "$CCODECAC" ]]; then
               echo
               echo " Current Chrome Code Cache............."
               echo " ======================================"
               NUM=$( ls -1 "$CCODECAC" | wc -l )
               SIZ=$( du -sbh "$CCODECAC" )
               SIZ=$( echo $SIZ | cut -d" " -f1 )
               echo " Files: $NUM Size: $SIZ"
            fi
         fi
         CPROMPT=""
      fi
   done
   ##########
   # Firefox
   ##########
   while [[ $MENU == "F" ]] || [[ $MENU == "f" ]]; do
      pgrep -u $USER firefox > /dev/null
      if [[ $? -eq 0 ]]; then
         echo
         echo -n "Firefox Browser is open, do you wish to close it now? [Y/N]: "
         read -n1 YN
         echo
         if [[ $YN == "Y" ]] || [[ $YN == "y" ]]; then
            FPID=$( pgrep -u $USER firefox )
            FPID=$( echo $FPID | cut -d" " -f1 )
            kill -1 $FPID
         else
            echo
            echo " Cannot list or delete browser URLs if the browser is open"
            break
         fi
      fi
      if [ -z "$FIREFOX" ]; then
         echo
         echo "Firefox directory does not exist"
         break
      else
         FPROMPT=""
         echo
         echo -n "[D]elete, [L]ist or [E]xit: "
         read -n1 FPROMPT
         echo
         case $FPROMPT in
            [Dd] ) echo; echo " Firefox is using profile: $FCURPROF";;
            [Ll] ) echo; echo " Firefox is using profile: $FCURPROF";;
            [Ee] ) ;;
            * ) echo; echo " Enter 'D/d', 'L/l' or 'E/e'";;
         esac
         if [[ $FPROMPT == "E" ]] || [[ $FPROMPT == "e" ]]; then MENU=""; fi
         if [[ $FPROMPT == "D" ]] || [[ $FPROMPT == "d" ]]; then
            echo
            echo " Deleting Firefox History........."
            echo " ================================="
            sqlite3 "$FHISTORY" "SELECT datetime(moz_historyvisits.visit_date/1000000,'unixepoch'), moz_places.url FROM moz_places, moz_historyvisits WHERE moz_places.id = moz_historyvisits.place_id;" | sed 's/^/ /'
            sqlite3 "$FHISTORY" "delete from moz_historyvisits;"
            echo
            echo " Deleting Firefox Cookies........."
            echo " ================================="
            sqlite3 "$FCOOKIES" "select datetime(creationTime/1000000,'unixepoch'),host from moz_cookies; delete from moz_cookies;" | sed 's/^/ /'
            echo
            echo " Deleting Firefox Site Data......."
            echo " ================================="
            ls "$FSITEDAT" | grep http | sed 's/^/ /'
            find "$FSITEDAT" -name "http*" -type d -exec rm -r "{}" \; -prune
            echo
            echo " Deleting Firefox Cache..........."
            echo " ================================="
            if [[ $( ls -A "$FCACHEDF" ) ]]; then # Directory not empty
               NUM=$( ls -1 "$FCACHEDF" | wc -l )
               SIZ=$( du -sbh "$FCACHEDF" )
               SIZ=$( echo $SIZ | cut -d" " -f1 )
               echo " Files: $NUM Size: $SIZ"
               find "$FCACHEDF" -type f -delete
            fi
         fi
         if [[ $FPROMPT == "L" ]] || [[ $FPROMPT == "l" ]]; then
            echo
            echo " Current Firefox History.........."
            echo " ================================="
            sqlite3 "$FHISTORY" "SELECT datetime(moz_historyvisits.visit_date/1000000,'unixepoch'), moz_places.url FROM moz_places, moz_historyvisits WHERE moz_places.id = moz_historyvisits.place_id;" | sed 's/^/ /' | more
            echo
            echo " Current Firefox Cookies.........."
            echo " ================================="
            sqlite3 "$FCOOKIES" "select datetime(creationTime/1000000,'unixepoch'),host from moz_cookies;" | sed 's/^/ /' | more
            echo
            echo " Current Firefox Site Data........"
            echo " ================================="
            ls "$FSITEDAT" | grep http | sed 's/^/ /' | more
            echo
            echo " Current Firefox Cache..........."
            echo " ================================"
            NUM=$( ls -1 "$FCACHEDF" | wc -l )
            SIZ=$( du -sbh "$FCACHEDF" )
            SIZ=$( echo $SIZ | cut -d" " -f1 )
            echo " Files: $NUM Size: $SIZ"
         fi
         FPROMPT=""
      fi
   done
   ##############
   # Thunderbird
   ##############
   while [[ $MENU == "T" ]] || [[ $MENU == "t" ]]; do
      pgrep -u $USER thunderbird > /dev/null
      if [[ $? -eq 0 ]]; then
         echo
         echo -n "Thunderbird e-mail client is open, do you wish to close it now? [Y/N]: "
         read -n1 YN
         echo
         if [[ $YN == "Y" ]] || [[ $YN == "y" ]]; then
            TPID=$( pgrep -u $USER thunderbird )
            TPID=$( echo $TPID | cut -d" " -f1 )
            kill -1 $TPID
         else
            echo
            echo " Cannot list or delete Thunderbird URLs if the e-mail client is open"
            break
         fi
      fi
      if [ -z "$THUNDERBIRD" ]; then
         echo
         echo "Thunderbird directory does not exist"
         break
      else
         TPROMPT=""
         echo
         echo -n "[D]elete, [L]ist or [E]xit: "
         read -n1 TPROMPT
         echo
         case $TPROMPT in
            [Dd] ) echo; echo " Thunderbird is using profile: $TCURPROF";;
            [Ll] ) echo; echo " Thunderbird is using profile: $TCURPROF";;
            [Ee] ) ;;
            * ) echo; echo " Enter 'D/d', 'L/l' or 'E/e'";;
         esac
         if [[ $TPROMPT == "E" ]] || [[ $TPROMPT == "e" ]]; then MENU=""; fi
         if [[ $TPROMPT == "D" ]] || [[ $TPROMPT == "d" ]]; then
            echo
            echo " Deleting Thunderbird History........."
            echo " ====================================="
            sqlite3 "$THISTORY" "SELECT datetime(moz_historyvisits.visit_date/1000000,'unixepoch'), moz_places.url FROM moz_places, moz_historyvisits WHERE moz_places.id = moz_historyvisits.place_id;" | sed 's/^/ /'
            sqlite3 "$THISTORY" "delete from moz_historyvisits;"
            echo
            echo " Deleting Thunderbird Cookies........."
            echo " ====================================="
            sqlite3 "$TCOOKIES" "select datetime(creationTime/1000000,'unixepoch'),host from moz_cookies; delete from moz_cookies;" | sed 's/^/ /'
            echo
            echo " Deleting Thunderbird Cache..........."
            echo " ====================================="
            if [[ $( ls -A "$TCACHEDF" ) ]]; then # Directory not empty
               NUM=$( ls -1 "$TCACHEDF" | wc -l )
               SIZ=$( du -sbh "$TCACHEDF" )
               SIZ=$( echo $SIZ | cut -d" " -f1 )
               echo " Files: $NUM Size: $SIZ"
               find "$TCACHEDF" -type f -delete
            fi
         fi
         if [[ $TPROMPT == "L" ]] || [[ $TPROMPT == "l" ]]; then
            echo
            echo " Current Thunderbird History.........."
            echo " ====================================="
            sqlite3 "$THISTORY" "SELECT datetime(moz_historyvisits.visit_date/1000000,'unixepoch'), moz_places.url FROM moz_places, moz_historyvisits WHERE moz_places.id = moz_historyvisits.place_id;" | sed 's/^/ /' | more
            echo
            echo " Current Thunderbird Cookies.........."
            echo " ====================================="
            sqlite3 "$TCOOKIES" "select datetime(creationTime/1000000,'unixepoch'),host from moz_cookies;" | sed 's/^/ /' | more
            echo
            echo " Current Thunderbird Cache..........."
            echo " ===================================="
            NUM=$( ls -1 "$TCACHEDF" | wc -l )
            SIZ=$( du -sbh "$TCACHEDF"  )
            SIZ=$( echo $SIZ | cut -d" " -f1 )
            echo " Files: $NUM Size: $SIZ"
         fi
         TPROMPT=""
      fi
   done
done
echo

Listed below is the Desktop Configuration file clear_browser_data.desktop for KDE in Gentoo Linux that I created in the ~/Desktop/ directory. I downloaded a nice PNG icon from the Web, which I saved as ~/Pictures/Icons/broom.png, although of course the Desktop Configuration file can be modified if the icon file were to be stored elsewhere. Obviously change the username accordingly.

[Desktop Entry]
Comment[en_GB]=Clear Chrome, Firefox or Thunderbird caches and cookies
Comment=Clear Chrome, Firefox or Thunderbird caches and cookies
Exec=/home/fitzcarraldo/clear_browser_data.sh
GenericName[en_GB]=Clear browser caches and cookies
GenericName=Clear browser caches and cookies
Icon=/home/fitzcarraldo/Pictures/Icons/broom.png
MimeType=
Name[en_GB]=clear_browser_data
Name=clear_browser_data
Path=/home/fitzcarraldo
StartupNotify=true
Terminal=true
TerminalOptions=
Type=Application
X-DBUS-ServiceName=
X-DBUS-StartupType=none
X-KDE-SubstituteUID=false
X-KDE-Username=fitzcarraldo

Listed below is the Desktop Configuration file clear_browser_data.desktop for LXDE in Lubuntu 18.04 that I created in the ~/Desktop/ directory. I downloaded a nice PNG icon from the Web, which I saved as ~/Pictures/Icons/broom.png, although of course the Desktop Configuration file can be modified if the icon file were to be stored elsewhere. Obviously change the username accordingly.

[Desktop Entry]
Comment[en_GB]=Clear Chrome, Firefox or Thunderbird caches and cookies
Comment=Clear Chrome, Firefox or Thunderbird caches and cookies
Exec=/home/fitzcarraldo/clear_browser_data.sh
GenericName[en_GB]=Clear browser caches and cookies
GenericName=Clear browser caches and cookies
Icon=/home/fitzcarraldo/Pictures/Icons/broom.png
MimeType=
Name[en_GB]=clear_browser_data
Name=clear_browser_data
Path=/home/fitzcarraldo
StartupNotify=true
Terminal=true
TerminalOptions=\s--noclose
Type=Application
X-DBUS-ServiceName=
X-DBUS-StartupType=none
X-LXDE-SubstituteUID=false
X-LXDE-Username=fitzcarraldo

Update April 5, 2020: I have modified Lines 24, 37 (a comment), 40 and 55 in the above script. The original Line 24 did not select the Chrome profile name correctly in another installation, the original Line 40 did not select the Firefox profile name correctly in another installation, and the search string for the Thunderbird profile was not tight enough in the original Line 55. The above script now works in three different installations.

Update April 25, 2020: Arrgghh! I installed Thunderbird in Lubuntu 18.04 and discovered that clear_browser_data.sh did not find the Thunderbird cached files to delete. Unlike Thunderbird in Gentoo Linux on my main laptop, the file profiles.ini for Thunderbird (but not Firefox) in my Lubuntu 18.04 installation contains a line ‘Locked=1‘, and the actual profile used by Thunderbird in Lubuntu 18.04 is the profile specified in the line before ‘Locked=1‘, not the profile specified in the line before ‘Default=1‘. Someone I know uses Ubuntu 16.04 and he tells me Firefox in his installation is like this too. So, for reasons I don’t know, profiles.ini contains ‘Locked=1‘ in some Firefox or Thunderbird installations but not in others. Anyway, I have now modified the script to cater for both cases. It checks if the profiles.ini files for Firefox and Thunderbird contain ‘Locked=1‘ and, if they do, finds the currently-used profile from the line before ‘Locked=1‘ instead of the line before ‘Default=1‘. The line numbers mentioned in my previous update will be different now.

HEIC image files in Linux

I was at an event recently where the attendees were asked to upload their camera and smartphone photos and videos to a shared Google Drive folder. Some of the uploaded photo files have a .HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) extension, which I had not come across before. I have since learnt that these HEIC files were produced by iPhones running iOS 11, encoded using the HEIF (High Efficiency Image File) format. Apparently the HEIF format is superior to the JPEG format in a number of ways (see the links at the end of my post, especially the image examples given by Nokia), although it is subject to patents and therefore I believe there are certain constraints to coding image files in HEIC format. Anyway, I’ll leave you to read the fine print. My interest was simply because I wanted to be able to download the above-mentioned photo files and view them all in the file managers and image-viewing applications in Linux and Android on my various devices.

Now, I can browse and view the above-mentioned shared HEIC images in Google Drive in the Firefox and Chrome browsers in Linux, although an ownCloud site viewed using the same browsers displays the HEIC files as grey icons that can only be downloaded, not opened and viewed in the browser. I also found that Cirrus, the Android app for ownCloud that I use on my Galaxy Note 8 phone, cannot display HEIC photos either.

I downloaded the HEIC files to a machine running Lubuntu 18.04 and to a machine running Gentoo Linux. The file manager PCManFM in Lubuntu 18.04 displays grey icons rather than thumbnails for these HEIC files, and KDE’s Dolphin 18.08.3 file manager in Gentoo Linux displays green image icons rather than thumbnails for them. As far as Linux image viewers go, in Lubuntu 18.04 I find that GPicView 0.2.5 and Geeqie 1.4 cannot display HEIC images, and in Gentoo Linux KDE I find that GQview 2.1.5-r1, Okular 18.08.3 and Gwenview 18.08.3 cannot display HEIC images. So I set about converting all the HEIC files to JPG files. I managed to do this but needed to use a range of tools, as illustrated by a couple of examples below for Lubuntu 18.04 and Gentoo Linux. This post might seem long-winded but perhaps may be of help to Linux users coming across .HEIC files for the first time.

From the .HEIC files I had downloaded I picked one at random to try and convert to a JPG file: IMG_3706.HEIC. Its EXIF data confirms it is an HEIC file:

user $ exiftool IMG_3706.HEIC | grep "File Type"
File Type                       : HEIC
File Type Extension             : heic
user $ exiftool IMG_3706.HEIC | grep "Camera Model"
Camera Model Name               : iPhone 7 Plus

Several of the files with the .HEIC suffix that I downloaded were not real HEIC files according to their EXIF data:

user $ exiftool IMG_9474.HEIC | grep "File Type"
File Type                       : JPEG
File Type Extension             : jpg
user $ exiftool IMG_9474.HEIC | grep "Camera Model"
Camera Model Name               : iPhone 8

Those files were apparently treated as JPEG files by the tools I mention below, so I have omitted the results for those ‘false’ HEIC files.

Lubuntu 18.04

1. I installed the libheif example tools:

user $ sudo apt install libheif-examples

2. I used the heif-info command to check the file:

user $ heif-info IMG_3706.HEIC 
image: 3024x4032 (id=49), primary
  thumbnail: 240x320
  alpha channel: no
  depth channel: no

3. I tried to convert the file using the heif-convert command:

user $ heif-convert IMG_3706.HEIC IMG_3706.jpg
File contains 1 images
Written to IMG_3706.jpg

4. Apparently Imagemagick >=7.0.7-22 compiled with --with-libheif is supposed to be able to convert HEIC files to JPG. Anyway, I tried to convert the file using the current version of Imagemagick in Lubuntu 18.04 (the current package version is 8:6.9.7.4+dfsg-16ubuntu6.4):

user $ convert IMG_3706.HEIC IMG_3706a.jpg
convert-im6.q16: no decode delegate for this image format `HEIC' @ error/constitute.c/ReadImage/504.
convert-im6.q16: no images defined `IMG_3706a.jpg' @ error/convert.c/ConvertImageCommand/3258.

5. Apparently the GIMP >=2.10.2 supports HEIF by using heif-gimp-plugin. Anyway, I tried to open the file with the current version of the GIMP in Lubuntu 18.04 (the current package version is 2.8.22-1). The GIMP launches and pops-up a window with the title ‘GIMP Message’ containing the following message and an ‘OK’ button:

GIMP Message
Opening /home/fitzcarraldo/IMG_3706.HEIC’ failed: Unknown file type

6. I used the online tool ‘libheif decoder demo’ (https://strukturag.github.io/libheif/) in a browser window. This can load the file IMG_3706.HEIC (‘Browse…’ button) and convert it (‘Save image…’ button) to IMG_3706.jpeg.

Gentoo Linux with KDE 5

1. I installed the libheif example tools implicitly by re-merging Imagemagick with USE="heif", which installs libheif.

root # cat /etc/portage/package.use/imagemagick 
media-gfx/imagemagick heif
root # emerge imagemagick

2. I used the heif-info command to check the file:

user $ heif-info IMG_3706.HEIC  
image: 3024x4032 (id=49), primary
  thumbnail: 240x320
  alpha channel: no
  depth channel: no

3. I tried to convert the file using the heif-convert command:

user $ heif-convert IMG_3706.HEIC IMG_3706.jpg
File contains 1 images
Written to IMG_3706.jpg

4. I tried to convert the file using Imagemagick >=7.0.7-22 compiled with --with-libheif (Imagemagick merged with USE="heif"):

user $ convert IMG_3706.HEIC IMG_3706a.jpg
user $

So Imagemagick 7.0.8.16 in Gentoo has no trouble with the file IMG_3706.HEIC.

5. I tried to open the file with the GIMP >=2.10.2, which supports HEIF using heif-gimp-plugin (GIMP >=2.10.6-r1 with USE="heif" in the case of Gentoo Linux)

First I re-merged the GIMP with the heif USE flag:

root # cat /etc/portage/package.accept_keywords/gimp
=media-gfx/gimp-2.10.8-r1 ~amd64
# required by media-gfx/gimp-2.10.8-r1::gentoo
=media-libs/libmypaint-1.3.0 ~amd64
# required by media-gfx/gimp-2.10.8-r1::gentoo
=media-gfx/mypaint-brushes-1.3.0-r1 ~amd64
# required by media-gfx/gimp-2.10.8-r1::gentoo
=media-libs/gegl-0.4.12 ~amd64
# required by media-gfx/gimp-2.10.8-r1::gentoo
=media-libs/babl-0.1.60 ~amd64
root # cat /etc/portage/package.use/gimp
media-gfx/gimp heif
root # emerge -1vp gimp

These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating dependencies... done!
[ebuild  N    ~] media-gfx/mypaint-brushes-1.3.0-r1:1.0::gentoo  2,390 KiB
[ebuild     U ~] media-libs/babl-0.1.60::gentoo [0.1.38::gentoo] USE="(-altivec)" CPU_FLAGS_X86="mmx sse sse2 sse3%* sse4_1 -f16c" 670 KiB
[ebuild  N     ] media-libs/gexiv2-0.10.8::gentoo  USE="-introspection -python -static-libs -test -vala" PYTHON_TARGETS="python2_7 python3_6 -python3_4 -python3_5" 620 KiB
[ebuild  NS   ~] media-libs/gegl-0.4.12:0.4::gentoo [0.2.0-r5:0::gentoo] USE="cairo ffmpeg introspection lcms openexr sdl svg tiff v4l -debug -jpeg2k -lensfun -libav -raw -test -umfpack -vala -webp" CPU_FLAGS_X86="mmx sse" 6,900 KiB
[ebuild  NS    ] media-libs/gegl-0.3.26:0.3::gentoo [0.2.0-r5:0::gentoo] USE="cairo ffmpeg introspection lcms openexr sdl svg tiff v4l -debug -jpeg2k -lensfun -raw -test -umfpack -vala -webp" CPU_FLAGS_X86="mmx sse" 6,378 KiB
[ebuild  N    ~] media-libs/libmypaint-1.3.0::gentoo  USE="gegl nls openmp -introspection" 428 KiB
[ebuild     U ~] media-gfx/gimp-2.10.8-r1:2::gentoo [2.8.22-r1:2::gentoo] USE="alsa heif%* mng openexr%* udev wmf -aalib (-altivec) (-aqua) -debug -doc -gnome -jpeg2k -postscript -python -smp -test -unwind% -vector-icons% -webp% -xpm (-bzip2%*) (-curl%) (-dbus%*) (-exif%*) (-jpeg%*) (-lcms%*) (-pdf%*) (-png%*) (-svg%*) (-tiff%*)" CPU_FLAGS_X86="mmx sse" PYTHON_TARGETS="python2_7" 31,206 KiB

Total: 7 packages (2 upgrades, 3 new, 2 in new slots), Size of downloads: 48,591 KiB

I then launched the GIMP and successfully opened the file IMG_3706.HEIC, and I was able to export it as IMG_3706.jpg.

6. As would be expected, the online tool ‘libheif decoder demo’ (https://strukturag.github.io/libheif/) behaves exactly the same in Gentoo Linux as it does in Lubuntu 18.04 (see earlier).

Summary

So there you have it; if the Linux file manager and/or image viewing applications you use cannot already handle HEIC files, the tools in Linux that I found may work are as follows:

• heif-convert (from the package libheif-examples in Ubuntu/Lubuntu, or from from the package libheif in Gentoo).
• Imagemagick (not every version).
• The GIMP (not every version).
• the online tool ‘libheif decoder demo’ (https://strukturag.github.io/libheif/).

I have not tried the copyright open-source code from Nokia (see link under Further Reading below), qt-heif-image-plugin and tifig (not in active development). If you have had success using another tool to convert HEIC files, please post a comment below for the benefit of other users, giving the name of the tool, the package name and version, and the Linux distribution (including release number, if not a rolling distribution).

Further reading

1. Wikipedia – High Efficiency Image File Format
2. Lifewire – What Are HEIF and HEIC, and Why Is Apple Using Them?
3. Nokia – High Efficiency Image File Format (HEIF)
4. libheif – a ISO/IEC 23008-12:2017 HEIF file format decoder and encoder
5. askubuntu – Any app on Ubuntu to open HEIF (.heic, High Efficiency Image File Format) pictures?

How to create missing favicons for your bookmarks in Firefox Quantum for Linux

Prior to the advent of Firefox Quantum, several add-ons were available that enabled you to replace the favicons of bookmarks in Firefox, or to create custom favicons for bookmarks lacking a favicon. One of my favourite such add-ons was Favicon Picker 3. However, Firefox Quantum currently lacks an add-on that would enable you to insert a favicon of your choice for bookmarks without one. This has annoyed me for some time, as my bookmarks menu in Firefox includes several Web sites without favicons. Today I found a 2013 post ‘How to change Firefox bookmark icons (favicons) without extensions or addons!‘ for Windows predating Firefox Quantum. I have applied a similar procedure for Firefox Quantum in Linux in order to add a custom favicon to each bookmark in my bookmarks menu that did not already have a favicon. The procedure I used is given below.

1. Launch Firefox and enter ‘about:support’ (without the quotes) in the address bar.

2. Click on ‘Profile Directory’ > ‘Open Directory’ (which, in my case, is the directory /home/fitzcarraldo/.mozilla/firefox/l7nt0jx2.default).

3. Create the sub-directory ‘chrome‘.

4. Open the new directory’s folder.

5. Create the file ‘userChrome.css‘ in the new directory.

6. Open the file userChrome.css with a text editor and paste the following CSS code into it:

@namespace url("http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul");

.bookmark-item[label="<bookmark name>"] image {
    width:0!important;
    height:0!important;
    padding: 0 0 16px 16px !important;
    background:url(<base64 string>)!important; 
}

7. Make the following changes to the above code:

7.1 Replace ‘<bookmark name>’ with the name of the bookmark as it appears in the bookmarks menu. You must supply a name, even if you do not want a name to appear.

7.2 Replace ‘<base64 string>’ with the base64-encoded string of the desired favicon, which you can obtain by uploading the 16×16 pixel image file to a website such as https://www.base64-image.de/.

Example

Below are the steps I took to create a favicon for the bookmark for Hotmail I have in Firefox:

1. I used a search engine to find an image of the Microsoft ‘flag’ logo. The image happened to be a 200×200 pixels PNG file. I downloaded it to my home directory and named it ‘Microsoft.png‘.

2. I loaded the image file into the GIMP, scaled it to 16×16 pixels and exported it as Microsoft.png to overwrite the original downloaded file.

3. I viewed the Web page https://www.base64-image.de/ in a Web browser and clicked on the button ‘OR CLICK HERE’ to upload my image file Microsoft.png to that site. Then I clicked on the button ‘</> show code’, selected and copied the text displayed underneath ‘For use as CSS background:’ that looked like this:

url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAQCAMAAAAoLQ9TAAAAOVBMVEXxURv7vAmAzCgAre/////xTxf8wB8csfD7wCXyXjDyWyuHzzaJ0Dohs/DyWSj0Zz2Q00b8xDMxt/HxkgKEAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAB3RJTUUH4goMEQsUc/RzwQAAAB5JREFUGNNjYIAAViYoYKCPACsUwAWYoYARCgZIAADfYwHMYVta3QAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==')

4. I created the directory ~/.mozilla/firefox/l7nt0jx2.default/chrome and the file userChrome.css containing the following:

@namespace url("http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul");

.bookmark-item[label="Hotmail"] image {
    width:0!important;
    height:0!important;
    padding: 0 0 16px 16px !important;
    background:url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAQCAMAAAAoLQ9TAAAAOVBMVEXxURv7vAmAzCgAre/////xTxf8wB8csfD7wCXyXjDyWyuHzzaJ0Dohs/DyWSj0Zz2Q00b8xDMxt/HxkgKEAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAB3RJTUUH4goMEQsUc/RzwQAAAB5JREFUGNNjYIAAViYoYKCPACsUwAWYoYARCgZIAADfYwHMYVta3QAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==')!important; 
}

5. I restarted Firefox, and my custom favicon is now visible for the Hotmail entry in the Bookmarks Menu. I then deleted the file ~/Microsoft.png as it is no longer required.

6. I also wanted to create a custom favicon for another bookmark I have, the Web site of a Brazilian newspaper Correio Popular. As I was unable to find an image that would be suitable for a favicon, I created one myself (16×16 pixels) using the GIMP, and exported it as the file ‘~/Correio Popular.png‘.

7. I followed the same procedure to encode the image file as a Base64 image, and I added another entry to the file ~/.mozilla/firefox/l7nt0jx2.default/chrome/userChrome.css, which now contains the following:

@namespace url("http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul");

.bookmark-item[label="Hotmail"] image {
    width:0!important;
    height:0!important;
    padding: 0 0 16px 16px !important;
    background:url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAQCAMAAAAoLQ9TAAAAOVBMVEXxURv7vAmAzCgAre/////xTxf8wB8csfD7wCXyXjDyWyuHzzaJ0Dohs/DyWSj0Zz2Q00b8xDMxt/HxkgKEAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAB3RJTUUH4goMEQsUc/RzwQAAAB5JREFUGNNjYIAAViYoYKCPACsUwAWYoYARCgZIAADfYwHMYVta3QAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==')!important; 
}

.bookmark-item[label="Correio Popular"] image {
    width:0!important;
    height:0!important;
    padding: 0 0 16px 16px !important;
    background:url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAQCAIAAACQkWg2AAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAB3RJTUUH4goMFzEqk7HMoQAAAQdJREFUKM/NkrGKg0AURd+EwSkMBPwLSxlI5dR+haSxFE0T7KxtghCwtfNH7FLZpkkXgvMDophwtzArYUMWUizsad7j8i7cC48BoE9Y0If8vYFPo+u6MAxXq9VyubxcLoyxsiz3+31VVUqp6/WqlIqiiIgIAADO+el0wje73W5a5oP1el0UBQACUBSF67p4ou97ALfbbTakaer7PoAFER2PR8dxnoMKIX5Er+taSvnoMI4j5/xdy+12ez6fpZRxHD86ZFnmed7vkWYIwDAMRKS1ntUkSQDc7/dXAyciwzC01kEQ2LZtmmbbtk3TENHhcBBC5Hm+2Wwsy5oSsne/BIAx9qqz//d8XzCj1kv+0nVJAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC')!important; 
}

8. For any other bookmarks that do not have a favicon, I will just repeat the procedure to add further entries to the file ~/.mozilla/firefox/l7nt0jx2.default/chrome/userChrome.css. It is not as easy as using an add-on, but, until someone creates one, the process described above at least allows me to fill those annoying favicon gaps in the Firefox bookmark menus on my machines.

Syncing browser bookmarks between browsers and machines in Linux

I use several computers and various browsers (predominantly Firefox, Chrome and Chromium) and was fed up with bookmarking a site on one machine and later not finding it on another machine. For quite some time I had therefore been looking for a simple way of synchronising browser bookmarks across all my machines and browsers, and I finally found one. Below I explain what I did.

I wanted to avoid storing my bookmarks on a third-party company’s server, so that ruled out tools such as Xmarks, EverSync, Google Bookmarks and the like. I wanted the bookmark database to reside on one of my own servers that is already accessible securely via the Internet. Apparently Xmarks optionally does enable you to use your own server providing you use only Firefox, but I use various browsers (Firefox is the default browser on my main laptop whereas Chrome is the default browser on my backup laptop, for example). Furthermore, I prefer to use open-source solutions whenever possible.

Although I was looking for a GUI solution, it turns out that the command-line bookmark manager Buku does a good job in a drop-down terminal such as Yakuake, Guake or Tilda. Buku is quite powerful, yet simple to use. It is certainly practical to use in a drop-down terminal (I’m currently using it with Yakuake in KDE, and with Tilda in LXDE). Not only can you click on links to open pages in the default browser, you can also easily configure your desktop environment to use a keyboard shortcut to bookmark directly from the browser window (see the instructions in the Buku Wiki for details).

Of course, if you only want to use Buku as a local bookmark manager on a machine, you can just install it and use it solely on that machine.

It is not difficult to set up a centralised Buku database that is then synchronised with any machine on which Buku is installed. If you do not have your own Cloud server (ownCloud or Nextcloud, for example), you could use Dropbox instead. The instructions are given in the Buku Wiki. Basically, I did the following to configure several machines to use Buku via the Cloud:

1. Use each browser’s bookmark manager to export the bookmarks to a file.

2. Install Buku on each machine (see ‘Installation‘ on the package’s GitHub repository page if your Linux distribution’s package manager does not offer Buku).

3. Launch Buku once on each machine to create the local database:

$ buku -p
DB file is being created at /home/fitzcarraldo/.local/share/buku/bookmarks.db.
You should encrypt it.
[ERROR] 0 records

4. On one machine, move the Buku database file (~/.local/share/buku/bookmarks.db) to a folder on the machine that is already being synced with the Cloud, then set up a symlink to it. For example:

fitzcarraldo@clevow230ss ~ $ ls -la ~/.local/share/buku/bookmarks.db
lrwxrwxrwx 1 fitzcarraldo fitzcarraldo 51 Mar 21 13:17 /home/fitzcarraldo/.local/share/buku/bookmarks.db -> /media/NTFS/Windows/ownCloud/Bookmarks/bookmarks.db

5. Allow the Cloud client on the other machines to download the bookmarks.db file into their local Cloud sync folder, then delete the local Buku database on each machine (~/.local/share/buku/bookmarks.db) and create a symlink to the Cloud-synchronised database file. For example, in addition to the symlink shown above on the machine clevow230ss, I have the following symlinks on two other machines:

fitzcarraldo@aspirexc600:~$ ls -la ~/.local/share/buku/bookmarks.db
lrwxrwxrwx 1 fitzcarraldo fitzcarraldo 42 Mar 21 16:05 /home/fitzcarraldo/.local/share/buku/bookmarks.db -> /home/fitzcarraldo/ownCloud/Bookmarks/bookmarks.db

fitzcarraldo@meshedgedx ~ $ ls -la /home/fitzcarraldo/.local/share/buku/bookmarks.db
lrwxrwxrwx 1 fitzcarraldo users 42 Mar 26 19:15 /home/fitzcarraldo/.local/share/buku/bookmarks.db -> /home/fitzcarraldo/ownCloud/Bookmarks/bookmarks.db

6. Use Buku on each machine to import the browser bookmark files that you created in Step 1. See the Buku documentation for the command. You can find documentation and a demo video on the above-mentioned GitHub page. The commands ‘man buku‘ and ‘buku --help‘ also list the commands. The man(ual) page also contains several examples to help you.

7. Use Buku as normal on each machine. You will be able to search the synchronised database, add bookmarks and edit them (title, URL, comment and tags), delete bookmarks, print bookmarks, click on links to view the pages in the default browser, and so on.

Looking through a flat list of bookmarks in a terminal window to find something is not as fast as in a GUI but, overall, Buku is a decent bookmark manager and its options are easy to learn and use. Buku’s comprehensive search options of course help to find bookmarks, but it is still not quite as ergonomic as a GUI bookmark manager in my opinion. The ability to have multiple tags in Buku does help, as you can search for either any or all tags. In a browser’s bookmark manager I would copy the same bookmark into different folders if the Web page covers multiple topics.

In summary, Buku is a viable bookmark manager and I like it. It is extremely easy to configure for use with a Cloud server, and I have set it up to synchronise bookmarks on all my machines. I have already imported into Buku the 1,300+ bookmarks from the various browsers on my machines, and deleted the bookmarks in those browsers, so I am using Buku in earnest. I just kept a few of the most-used bookmarks on the browser’s Bookmarks Toolbar, but I’m using Buku on my machines for all the other bookmarks.

If I do have to use a third-party machine running Windows or Linux without Buku installed, I would not be able to access my bookmarks from my Cloud server. To partially get around that, I created a cron job for my user account on each of my machines to periodically run Buku and print the bookmarks to a text file synced on my Cloud server. That way I can at least search through the text file remotely via the Cloud’s Web browser interface (or via WebDAV or via OpenVPN) if I cannot find the Web page I want in a search engine on the third-party machine.

fitzcarraldo@clevow230ss ~ $ crontab -l | grep -v \#
6,26,46 * * * * rm /media/NTFS/Windows/ownCloud/Bookmarks/*.txt; sleep 30s && /usr/bin/buku -p --nc > /media/NTFS/Windows/ownCloud/Bookmarks/Buku_bookmarks_backup.txt

fitzcarraldo@aspirexc600:~$ crontab -l | grep -v \#
1,21,41 * * * * rm /home/fitzcarraldo/ownCloud/Bookmarks/*.txt; sleep 30s && /usr/local/bin/buku -p --nc > /home/fitzcarraldo/ownCloud/Bookmarks/Buku_bookmarks_backup.txt

fitzcarraldo@meshedgedx ~ $ crontab -l | grep -v \#
11,31,51 * * * * rm /home/fitzcarraldo/ownCloud/Bookmarks/*.txt; sleep 30s && /usr/bin/buku -p --nc > /home/fitzcarraldo/ownCloud/Bookmarks/Buku_bookmarks_backup.txt

Below is a small taste of searching the bookmark database using Buku on any of my machines. Output is colour-coded (user-configurable), and links are clickable in a terminal window. You can search for any keyword(s), all keywords, sub-strings, just a tag or tags, regular expression matches, and so on. You can make titles immutable (read-only) if you want, or allow Buku to update them with the title from the Web site page. There is even a command that will check and list broken links. I will leave you to study the Buku documentation.

fitzcarraldo@aspirexc600:~$ buku -S Brazil samba
1. Kaká e Mário Monteiro são os novos carnavalescos da Imperatriz Leopoldinense [159]
   > http://www.sidneyrezende.com/editoria/carnaval
   +  Notícias sobre Carnaval 2016, escolas de samba, desfiles do Grupo Especial, Série A, ensaios técnicos, enredos, carnavalescos, bateria, mestre-sala, porta-bandeira, samba. Mangueira, Unidos da Tijuca, Vila Isabel, Beija-Flor, Grande Rio, Imperatriz, Mocidade, Portela, Salgueiro, União da Ilha, Viradouro, São Clemente, Porto da Pedra, Império da Tijuca, Império Serrano, Estácio de Sá, Caprichosos de Pilares, Tradição, Cubango, Em Cima da Hora, Inocentes de Belford Roxo, Alegria da Zona Sul, Unidos de Padre Miguel, Unidos de Bangu, Renascer de Jacarepaguá, Acadêmicos da Rocinha, Acadêmicos de Santa Cruz, Paraíso de Tuiuti, União de Jacarepaguá, União do Parque Curicica.
        
   # brazil,carnaval

2. Samba do Tuiuti 2018  Versão Acústica - YouTube [1270]
   > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUxfwAzHOeY
   # brazil,carnaval,music,samba,video

buku (? for help) q

In this post I have only scratched the surface of what Buku can do. For example, a simple Buku command will encrypt (AES256) the bookmark database so you can prevent others viewing your bookmarks after you have finished searching the database, should you decide to store the database on a third-party Cloud server such as Dropbox. The search and editing tools are comprehensive yet straightforward, and you will quickly learn how to use them. I take my hat off to its developer, Arun Prakash Jana from Bangalore, India. He and the other contributors to Buku have done a great job, and I recommend you give Buku a try.

Stuttering audio in Linux: PulseAudio strikes again

I unmasked PulseAudio 10.0 back in January 2017 and installed it in my Gentoo Stable amd64 installation, and everything worked fine… until a couple of days ago, when the audio in streaming YouTube videos started to stutter every so often. It sounded rather like a scratched LP jumping. At first I thought the problem lay with Firefox, but the stuttering audio also occurred in Chrome. Then I wondered if my Internet connection was to blame; perhaps the ISP’s service had deteriorated. But a Windows 10 machine on my home network didn’t suffer from the problem, so that seemed to rule out the Internet connection. I tested the broadband throughput, and it was circa 32 Mbps, actually a little higher than the last time I tested it last year.

Now, Gentoo is a rolling distribution and I update my laptops regularly, but I couldn’t think what had been upgraded in the last couple of months that could be causing the problem. Although PulseAudio had not been upgraded since January, I began to wonder if PulseAudio could be involved, as my audio woes in the past have usually been due to PulseAudio.

I have always had PulseAudio installed with USE=”-realtime”:

user $ eix -I pulseaudio
[I] media-sound/pulseaudio
     Available versions:  10.0 {+X +alsa +alsa-plugin +asyncns bluetooth +caps dbus doc equalizer +gdbm +glib gnome gtk ipv6 jack libressl libsamplerate lirc native-headset neon ofono-headset +orc oss qt4 realtime selinux sox ssl system-wide systemd tcpd test +udev +webrtc-aec zeroconf ABI_MIPS="n32 n64 o32" ABI_PPC="32 64" ABI_S390="32 64" ABI_X86="32 64 x32"}
     Installed versions:  10.0(16:07:53 19/04/17)(X alsa alsa-plugin asyncns bluetooth caps dbus gdbm glib gnome gtk ipv6 jack orc qt4 ssl tcpd udev webrtc-aec zeroconf -doc -equalizer -libressl -libsamplerate -lirc -native-headset -neon -ofono-headset -oss -realtime -selinux -sox -system-wide -systemd -test ABI_MIPS="-n32 -n64 -o32" ABI_PPC="-32 -64" ABI_S390="-32 -64" ABI_X86="32 64 -x32")
     Homepage:            http://www.pulseaudio.org/
     Description:         A networked sound server with an advanced plugin system

but I wondered if PulseAudio’s real-time scheduling was somehow the cause of the problem, so I edited /etc/pulse/daemon.pa and added ‘realtime-scheduling = no‘ (I assume the default is ‘yes‘, as it was commented as such in the file):

; realtime-scheduling = yes
realtime-scheduling = no

Problem solved. PulseAudio is indeed a demon. 😡

Using the ClamAV daemon to scan files placed in my Downloads directory in Gentoo Linux

In a previous post I explained how to automatically detect files placed in my Downloads directory in Linux and scan them for viruses. The method I described in that post used clamscan, the command-line anti-virus scanner of ClamAV. Now, in addition ClamAV has a daemon (a program that runs continuously in the background), clamdscan, that you can enable. So I decided to switch to using clamdscan, as its response to downloaded files is much faster because the process waiting for new files to appear in ~/Downloads/ does not have to load clamscan from disk each time a new file arrives. Anyway, if you want to monitor a download directory in Gentoo Linux (running OpenRC) by using the ClamAV daemon — which will also download virus signature database updates automatically — then the procedure to set this up is given below.

1. Install clamav if it is not installed already:

root # emerge clamav

2. Add the service to the default runlevel:

root # rc-update add clamd default

The daemon will be launched automatically next time the computer boots.

3. The first download of the virus database has to be done manually:

root # freshclam

4. Start the daemon now:

root # rc-service clamd start

5. Create the Bash script ~/monitorDownloadsGUI with the following contents:

#!/bin/bash

DIR=$HOME/Downloads

# Get rid of old log file, if any
rm $HOME/virus-scan.log 2> /dev/null

IFS=$(echo -en "\n\b")

# Optionally, you can use shopt to avoid creating two processes due to the pipe
shopt -s lastpipe
inotifywait --quiet --monitor --event close_write,moved_to --recursive --format '%w%f' $DIR | while read FILE
# Added '--recursive' so that a directory copied into $DIR also triggers clamscan/clamdscan, although downloads
# from the Web would just be files, not directories.
do
# Have to check file length is nonzero otherwise commands may be repeated
if [ -s $FILE ]; then
# Replace 'date >' with 'date >>' if you want to keep log file entries for previous scans.
date > $HOME/virus-scan.log
clamdscan --fdpass --move=$HOME/virus-quarantine $FILE >> $HOME/virus-scan.log
kdialog --title "Virus scan of $FILE" --msgbox "$(cat $HOME/virus-scan.log)"
fi
done

Make it executable:

user $ chmod +x ~/monitorDownloadsGUI

6. Create the directory ~/virus-quarantine/ to store infected files pending investigation/deletion:

user $ mkdir ~/virus-quarantine

7. Install kdialog if it is not already installed:

root # emerge kdialog

8. Use ‘System Settings’ > ‘Startup and Shutdown’ > ‘Autostart’ to add the script ~/monitorDownloadsGUI to the list of script files that are automatically started each time you log in to KDE.

9. Log out then back in again, and you should see that everything is running as expected:

user $ rc-status | grep clam
 clamd                                                             [  started  ]

user $ ps -ef | grep clam | grep -v grep
clamav    1920     1  0 01:48 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/clamd
clamav    1929     1  0 01:48 ?        00:00:00 /usr/bin/freshclam -d

user $ ps -ef | grep GUI | grep -v grep
fitzcarraldo      9143  8971  0 13:56 ?        00:00:00 /bin/bash /home/fitzcarraldo/.config/autostart-scripts/monitorDownloadsGUI.sh

10. To test, surf to http://www.eicar.org/ and download one of the EICAR test files into your ~/Downloads/ directory. You should see a pop-up KDialog window with a message similar to the following:

Virus scan of /home/fitzcarraldo/Downloads/eicarcom2.zip — KDialog

Mon 27 Feb 14:05:26 GMT 2017
/home/fitzcarraldo/Downloads/eicarcom2.zip: Eicar-Test-Signature FOUND
/home/fitzcarraldo/Downloads/eicarcom2.zip: moved to ‘/home/fitzcarraldo/virus-quarantine/eicarcom2.zip’

———– SCAN SUMMARY ———–
Infected files: 1
Time: 0.001 sec (0 m 0 s)

Note that the above-mentioned pop-up window may be preceded by one or more pop-up windows with an error message. I’m using the Chrome browser at the moment, but you may get a similar message if you are using another browser. Here is an example:

Virus scan of /home/fitzcarraldo/Downloads/.com.google.Chrome.Uh3oGm — KDialog ?

Mon 27 Feb 14:16:30 GMT 2017
/home/fitzcarraldo/Downloads/.com.google.Chrome.Uh3oGm: Access denied. ERROR

———– SCAN SUMMARY ———–
Infected files: 0
Total errors: 1
Time: 0.000 sec (0 m 0 s)

Read the error message and click ‘OK’, as this is not an actual problem; it is inotifywait detecting temporary files in the ~/Downloads/ directory during the download process. With larger files sometimes several such messages are displayed, presumably because the file being downloaded is being opened and closed more than once during the downloading process. This issue does not occur if you copy or move a file into ~/Downloads/ from another directory in your installation; try it and see for yourself. Then you only get the one pop-up window with the scan result for the file you put in ~/Downloads/.

Also have a look in ~/virus-quarantine/ and you will see the EICAR test file in that directory. You can delete it if you want (it is not infected with a real virus, so does no harm).

In future be sure to read the messages in the pop-up windows before clicking ‘OK’, as they will inform you that an infected file has been moved to the quarantine directory.

That’s all there is to it. Very simple, and quite handy if you want to check quickly that files you download don’t have a malware payload. Just make sure you download all files into ~/Downloads/ or they will not be checked automatically. Also, if you are given e.g. a USB pen drive with a file on it, you can copy the file to ~/Downloads/ if you want it to be scanned for malware.

After updating Firefox for Linux, the folder icons in the bookmarks menu disappeared

Only a short post this time, but this problem has been annoying me for a few weeks. I use KDE 4.14 (kde-meta-4.14.3-r1) in Gentoo Linux on my main laptop, and recently upgraded Firefox to Version 46.0. The folder icons in Firefox’s bookmarks menu were no longer visible, although favicons were still visible in the bookmarks menu. The 2011 mozillaZine Forums thread After updating- ff4 bookmark folder icons disappeared [Linux] steered me in the right direction: I checked KDE 4’s ‘System Settings’ > ‘Application Appearance’ > ‘GTK’ and found that ‘Show icons in GTK menus’ was not ticked. I ticked this and clicked on ‘Apply’, and the problem was solved.

Automatically detecting files placed in my Downloads directory in Gentoo Linux and scanning them for viruses

I have been using Linux for almost a decade and have never been unduly concerned about viruses on my machines running Linux. However, I do receive files from people who use Windows and Mac OS, and some of those files might contain Windows or Mac OS viruses, so, as a matter of courtesy and assistance to others, it would make some sense to scan those files before passing them on. Furthermore, as I use some Windows applications under WINE, it would also make sense to scan received files for Windows viruses if I am going to use those files with a Windows application running under WINE.

External files could get into my Gentoo Linux installations via pen drives, memory cards, optical discs, e-mails, my Dropbox directory and downloads from Web sites. In this post I am going to concentrate on the last of these. All the various e-mail account providers I use already scan e-mails for viruses on their e-mail servers before I even download e-mail into the e-mail client on my laptop (standard practice these days), so e-mail is not a particular worry.

I have had ClamAV and its GUI, ClamTk, installed for a long time. Whilst ClamTk can be used to schedule a daily update of virus signatures and a daily scan of one’s home directory by ClamAV, I normally run ClamTk and ClamAV ad hoc. However, I can see some benefit in launching ClamAV automatically when I download a file from the Internet, so I decided to do the following …

Automatically scan a file downloaded via a Web browser

I use Firefox to browse the Web, and had configured it to download files to the directory /home/fitzcarraldo/Downloads/. I decided to monitor automatically the Downloads directory for the addition of any file. As I use the ext4 file system, the method I opted to use is inotify, specifically the inotifywait command which is available once you install the package sys-fs/inotify-tools.

It is surprisingly easy to create a shell script to detect files downloaded into a directory. The following script, running continuously in a terminal, would detect any files created in my /home/fitzcarraldo/Downloads directory, scan the new files with ClamAV and display a report in the terminal window:

#!/bin/bash

echo
DIR=$HOME/Downloads

inotifywait -q -m -e create --format '%w%f' $DIR | while read FILE
do
     date
     echo "File $FILE has been detected. Scanning it for viruses now ..."
     clamscan $FILE
     echo
done

A usable script would need to be a bit more sophisticated than the one shown above, because an existing file in the directory could be overwritten by one with the same name, or opened and amended. Furthermore, the script above would need a permanently open terminal window. Therefore I created a script to run in the background and use a GUI dialogue tool to pop up a window with the virus scanner’s report when the script detects a new or changed file in the Downloads directory. As this laptop has KDE 4 installed I opted to use KDialog to display the pop-up window, but I could instead have used Zenity. The final script is shown below.

#!/bin/bash

DIR=$HOME/Downloads

# Get rid of old log file
rm $HOME/virus-scan.log 2> /dev/null

inotifywait -q -m -e close_write,moved_to --format '%w%f' $DIR | while read FILE
do
     # Have to check file length is nonzero otherwise commands may be repeated
     if [ -s $FILE ]; then
          date > $HOME/virus-scan.log
          clamscan $FILE >> $HOME/virus-scan.log
          kdialog --title "Virus scan of $FILE" --msgbox "$(cat $HOME/virus-scan.log)"
     fi
done

Now when I download a file in Firefox, a window pops up, displaying a message similar to the following:

Virus scan of /home/fitzcarraldo/Downloads/eicar_com.zip – KDialog

Fri 19 Feb 23:42:02 GMT 2016
/home/fitzcarraldo/Downloads/eicar_com.zip: Eicar-Test-Signature FOUND

———– SCAN SUMMARY ———–
Known viruses: 4259980
Engine version: 0.98.7
Scanned directories: 0
Scanned files: 1
Infected files: 1
Data scanned: 0.00 MB
Data read: 0.00 MB (ratio 0.00:1)
Time: 4.595 sec (0 m 4 s)

Notice in the above message that ClamAV detected a virus in a file eicar_com.zip that I downloaded from the European Expert Group for IT Security Web site (originally ‘European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research’). In fact the executable eicar.com does not contain a real virus; it was designed to contain a known signature that virus scanner creators and users can use in checking anti-virus software. You can find out more about the virus test files on the EICAR Web site.

Of course, if I use applications other than Firefox to download files, I need to make sure they download the files into the applicable directory so that the script can detect and scan the files:

fitzcarraldo@clevow230ss ~ $ cd Downloads/
fitzcarraldo@clevow230ss ~/Downloads $ youtube-dl -o Carnavalito.mp4 -f 18 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDUL3w7zFD4
ZDUL3w7zFD4: Downloading webpage
ZDUL3w7zFD4: Downloading video info webpage
ZDUL3w7zFD4: Extracting video information
ZDUL3w7zFD4: Downloading MPD manifest
[download] Destination: Carnavalito.mp4
[download] 100% of 16.61MiB in 00:05

So, now I have a shell script that pops up a window informing me whether or not any file I put in $HOME/Downloads/ contains a virus. But I would like the script to be launched automatically when I login to the Desktop Environment. Therefore, as I use KDE 4, I selected ‘System Settings’ > ‘Startup and Shutdown’ and, in the ‘Autostart’ pane, clicked on ‘Add Script…’ and entered the path to my shell script (I left ‘create as symlink’ ticked). Now, every time I use KDE, any file placed (automatically or manually) into $HOME/Downloads/ is scanned for viruses automatically and a window pops up giving the result.

As my laptop is not always connected to the Internet, I prefer to update the ClamAV virus signatures database manually, which I do either using the ClamTk GUI or via the command line using the freshclam command:

fitzcarraldo@clevow230ss ~ $ su
Password:
clevow230ss fitzcarraldo # freshclam
ClamAV update process started at Sat Feb 20 10:51:01 2016
WARNING: Your ClamAV installation is OUTDATED!
WARNING: Local version: 0.98.7 Recommended version: 0.99
DON'T PANIC! Read http://www.clamav.net/support/faq
main.cvd is up to date (version: 55, sigs: 2424225, f-level: 60, builder: neo)
Downloading daily-21375.cdiff [100%]
Downloading daily-21376.cdiff [100%]
Downloading daily-21377.cdiff [100%]
Downloading daily-21378.cdiff [100%]
Downloading daily-21379.cdiff [100%]
Downloading daily-21380.cdiff [100%]
Downloading daily-21381.cdiff [100%]
Downloading daily-21382.cdiff [100%]
Downloading daily-21383.cdiff [100%]
Downloading daily-21384.cdiff [100%]
Downloading daily-21385.cdiff [100%]
Downloading daily-21386.cdiff [100%]
Downloading daily-21387.cdiff [100%]
Downloading daily-21388.cdiff [100%]
Downloading daily-21389.cdiff [100%]
Downloading daily-21390.cdiff [100%]
Downloading daily-21391.cdiff [100%]
daily.cld updated (version: 21391, sigs: 1850214, f-level: 63, builder: neo)
bytecode.cld is up to date (version: 271, sigs: 47, f-level: 63, builder: anvilleg)
Database updated (4274486 signatures) from db.UK.clamav.net (IP: 129.67.1.218)
WARNING: Clamd was NOT notified: Can't connect to clamd through /var/run/clamav/clamd.sock: No such file or directory

Not able to access the CUPS Printer Manager in Firefox when, or after, using a proxy server

Just a quick tip if you are trying to use the CUPS Printer Manager in a Firefox browser window (http://localhost:631/) to add a printer, manage a printer or view print jobs but the brower displays a message such as ‘Connecting to 10.48.80.49…’ and eventually times out and displays the following message:

 Network Error (tcp_error)

A communication error occurred: “Operation timed out”
The Web Server may be down, too busy, or experiencing other problems preventing it from responding to requests. You may wish to try again at a later time.

For assistance, contact your network support team.

or the following message:

Unable to connect

Firefox can’t establish a connection to the server at 10.48.80.49.

    The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few moments.
    If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer’s network connection.
    If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure that Firefox is permitted to access the Web.

    Try Again

This sometimes happens to me when my laptop is connected to a corporate network and the browser is, or recently was, configured to use a proxy server. Anyway, in Firefox I select ‘Open menu’ > ‘Preferences’ > ‘Network’ > ‘Settings…’ and make sure ‘No proxy’ is selected, then I select ‘Open menu’ > ‘Preferences’ and click on the ‘Clear Now’ button for ‘Cached Web Content’ (I have to click twice to clear the cache, for some reason) and the ‘Clear Now’ button for ‘Offline Web Content and User Data’. After doing this, I can access all the CUPS Printer Manager pages in the browser again.