xxxterm1

Usage

Overview

xxxterm is a minimalistic web browser that tries to stay out of the way so that valuable screen real estate can be used for much more important stuff. It has sane defaults and does not require one to learn a language to do any configuration. It was written by hackers for hackers and it strives to be small, compact, and fast.

xxxterm is very simple in its use. Most actions are initiated via key or mouse bindings. Key bindings are based on those of the vi(1) text editor, giving web browsing a similar feel to navigating a text document. The KEY BINDINGS section below documents the various defaults and possible customizations.

The options are as follows:

-f file

Specify an alternative configuration file.

-n

Open a new tab in a running xxxterm for each specified URL. This option requires enable_socket to be enabled.

-e command

Execute arbitrary command (see the COMMAND MODE section below) in a running xxxterm instance. This option requires enable_socket to be enabled. Example run: xxxterm -e "tabnew openbsd.org"; xxxterm -e tabclose; xxxterm -e wq.

-S

Disable the toolbar.

-s session_name

Open session that was saved with ":session save" command.

-T

Disable visualization of tabs.

-t

Disable tabs.

-V

Display version and exit.

Fast startup

The following notation is used throughout this page:

C-

Control

S-

Shift

M1-

Meta 1 (sometimes marked Alt)

M2-

Meta 2

M3-

Meta 3

M4-

Meta 4 (sometimes marked Windows)

M5-

Meta 2

MB1

Mouse button 1

To browse to a specific address, either use the mouse to click on the address bar or press F6 to shift the keyboard focus to the address bar. The address is then entered manually.

The mouse can be used to navigate the page in the traditional manner, or the keyboard can be used instead. For example, PageUp and PageDown will scroll up and down the page.

To follow a link, either click on it or use the f key and have xxxterm assign numbers to each link on the page; entering that number on the keyboard will prompt xxxterm to follow the link.

Key bindings

xxxterm provides many actions accessed via key or mouse bindings. Most can be reprogrammed using a keybinding entry in the configuration file. Each keyboard shortcut requires exactly one entry in the configuration file. A shortcut can have multiple entries in the configuration file. The format of the keybinding entry is as follows:

For example, "keybinding = tabnew,C-t" where tabnew is the action and C-t are the keystrokes. GTK has some default keybindings for manipulating text inside input fields, such as the URI or search entry widget, for example C-w deletes a word. To override these defaults prefix your key with an exclamation mark, like this: "keybinding = tabclose,!C-w". The clearall key word is special and is meant to reset the key binding list to the GTK+ and WebKit defaults. This keyword should be the first keybinding entry in the configuration file.

Shift should be used sparingly since it gets in the way of non-USA keyboards. See the accompanying configuration file for examples.

The various bindings are documented below. The relevant keybinding action is given afterwards, in parentheses.

Command mode

Command mode works in a similar fashion to the vi(1) editor; it is entered by typing a colon and exited by typing Esc. The commands and their descriptions are listed below.

about, version

Show the "About" page.

buffers, ls, tabs

Displays the currently open tabs and lets the user switch tab by typing the tab number or using the mouse.

ca

Display CA certificates.

cert, cert show

Download and display certificates of domain on tab.

cert save

Save certificate into a local store. The next time the site is visited it is compared against the store. If the certificate matches, the address bar will be blue; if it doesn't the bar will be red.

cookie

The cookie command is used to manipulate the cookie whitelist. Used by itself it expands to cookie show all.

cookiejar

Show cookie jar contents.

cookie purge

Remove all cookies from the cookie jar.

cookie save, cookie save fqdn

Save the current fully qualified domain name (FQDN) to the persistent whitelist. For example, the www.peereboom.us domain would result in saving .www.peereboom.us.

cookie save domain

Save the top level domain name to the persistent whitelist. For example, the www.peereboom.us domain would result in saving .peereboom.us.

This action enables cookies if it is currently disabled for this entry.

cookie show all

Show all persistent and session entries in the cookie whitelist.

cookie show persistent

Show all persistent entries in the cookie whitelist.

cookie show session

Show all session entries in the cookie whitelist.

cookie toggle domain

Toggle cookie support for the current top level domain.

cookie toggle, cookie toggle fqdn

Toggle cookie support for the current FQDN.

dl

Show download manager.

encoding <encoding>

If <encoding> is set the tab's encoding will be set to <encoding> and xxxterm reloads the tab. If <encoding> is not set xxxterm will display the current tab encoding.

editsrc

Opens the source for the current tab in the editor specified by the setting external_editor and then checks for changes to the file opened. If it is changed, the page will be updated.

editelement

If a text-element is currently active (<input> or <textarea>), it's contents will be opened in the same fashion as for the command editsrc above

fav

Show favorites.

favadd

Add the current page to favorites.

fullscreen, f

Toggle hiding tabs and url entry toolbar.

h, hist, history

Show global history.

help

Show help page.

home

Go to home URL.

js

The js command is used to manipulate the Java Script whitelist. Used by itself it expands to js show all.

js save, save fqdn

Saves the FQDN to the persistent whitelist. For example, the www.peereboom.us domain would result in saving .www.peereboom.us.

js save domain

Saves the top level domain name to the persistent whitelist. For example, the www.peereboom.us domain would result in saving .peereboom.us.

This action enables Java Script if it is currently disabled for this entry.

js show all

Shows all persistent and session entries in the JS whitelist.

js show persistent

Shows all persistent entries in the JS whitelist.

js show session

Shows all session entries in the JS whitelist.

js toggle, js toggle fqdn

Toggle Java Script execution for the current FQDN.

js toggle domain

Toggle Java Script execution for the current top level domain.

loadimages

If auto_load_images is disabled, load all images for current site.

open, op, o URL

Open URL.

plugin

The plugin command is used to manipulate the plugin whitelist. Used by itself it expands to plugin show all.

plugin save, save fqdn

Saves the FQDN to the persistent whitelist. For example, the www.peereboom.us domain would result in saving .www.peereboom.us.

plugin save domain

Saves the top level domain name to the persistent whitelist. For example, the www.peereboom.us domain would result in saving .peereboom.us.

This action enables plugins if they are currently disabled for this entry.

plugin show all

Shows all persistent and session entries in the plugin whitelist.

plugin show persistent

Shows all persistent entries in the plugin whitelist.

plugin show session

Shows all session entries in the plugin whitelist.

plugin toggle, plugin toggle fqdn

Toggle plugin execution for the current FQDN.

plugin toggle domain

Toggle plugin execution for the current top level domain.

print

Print page.

proxy

The proxy command is used to manipulate the currently set proxy. Used by itself it expands to proxy show.

proxy show

Displays the current http_proxy setting.

proxy toggle

Enables or disables the proxy for xxxterm. Note that http_proxy must be set before it can be toggled.

qa, qall, quitall

Quit xxxterm.

quit, q

Close current tab and quit xxxterm if it is the last tab.

restart

Restart xxxterm and reload all current tabs.

run_script [path_to_script]

Runs the script path_to_script with the current uri as the argument. If path_to_script is not provided, the value of default_script is used instead.

script [filename]

Run an external JavaScript script file in the current tab context.

session, session show

Display the current session name. By default the session name is main_session. To create a new session use the session save command. A session is defined as the lifetime of the browser application.

session delete <session_name>

Delete session session_name from persistent storage. If session_name is the current session then the session will revert to main_session.

session open <session_name>

Open session_name and close all currently open tabs. Going forward this session is named session_name.

session save <session_name>

Save current tabs to session_name session. This will close the current session and going forward this session is named session_name.

set

The set command is used to inspect, clear or change runtime options. There are 3 methods to use :set. When used by itself as :set the command displays all options as currently set.

To set a value use :set option=value. For example, :set http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8080.

To clear a value use :set option=. For example, :set http_proxy=.

Note, not all options can be set at runtime.

stats

Show blocked cookie statistics. These statistics vary based on settings and are not persistent.

statustoggle, statust

Toggle status bar.

stop

Stop loading the current web page.

tabclose

Close current tab.

tabhide

Hide tabs.

tabnew, tabedit [URL]

Create new tab and optionally open provided URL.

tabnext

Go to the next tab.

tabprevious

Go to the previous tab.

tabshow

Show tabs in GUI.

toplevel, toplevel toggle

Toggle the top level domain name cookie and JS session whitelist. This is to enable/disable short lived full site functionality without permanently adding the top level domain to the persistent whitelist.

urlhide, urlh

Hide url entry and tool bar.

urlshow, urls

Show url entry and tool bar.

userstyle

Toggle between normal and low contrast mode.

w

Save open tabs to current session. The tabs will be restored next time the session is opened. See the session command for additional details.

wq

Save open tabs and quit. The tabs will be restored next time xxxterm the session is opened. See the session command for additional details.

Buffer commands

In addition to shortcuts and commands xxxterm provides buffer commands. Buffer commands are short, multi character vi-like commands, often requiring an argument. Partial buffer commands are displayed in the buffer command statusbar element (see statusbar_elems). Pressing Esc or switching to another tab cancels a partially entered buffer command. In the following list arg denotes the argument a buffer command accepts. Buffer commands are defined as extended regular experssions. Note that if a character is used as a shortcut it will not be interpreted as the beginning of a buffer command. This is the case with 0.

gg

go to the top of the page

gG

go to the bottom of the page

[0-9]+%

go to the arg percent of the page

zz

go to 50% of the page

[0-9]*gu

go arg levels up. If arg is missing, 1 is assumed. Going a level up means going to a URI obtained from the current one by removing the last slash ('/') character and everything that follows it

gU

go to the root level, i.e. going up as many levels as possible.

gh

open the home page in the current tab

m[a-zA-Z0-9]

set a mark denoted by arg at the current page position. These marks behave like those in vi or less.

['][a-zA-Z0-9]

go to the position where mark arg was set

M[a-zA-Z0-9]

set the current uri as quickmark arg

go[a-zA-Z0-9]

open the uri marked as quickmark arg in the current tab

gn[a-zA-Z0-9]

open the uri marked as quickmark arg in a new tab

[0-9]+t

activate tab number

g0

go to first tab

g$

go to last tab

[0-9]*gt

go to the arg next tab

[0-9]*gT

go to the arg previous tab arg

ZZ

quit xxxterm

ZR

restart xxxterm

zi

zoom in by 4%

zo

zoom out by 4%

z0

set zoom level to 100%

[0-9]+Z

set zoom level to arg %

Quickmarks

Quickmarks are like bookmarks, except they are refered to by a single character (a letter or a digit), instead of a longer name. See the M[a-zA-Z0-9], go[a-zA-Z0-9] and gn[a-zA-Z0-9] buffer commands for usage. Quickmarks are stored in ~/.xxxterm/quickmarks and are saved automatically after each M[a-zA-Z0-9] buffer command.

About screens

The about screens are internally generated web pages by xxxterm for user interaction. These are entered in the address bar and the format is about:screen where screen is the desired screen to display. For example about:favorites. Any about screen can be used as the home page as specified by home in the configuration file.

about

show the about screen

blank

show a blank screen

cookiewl

show the cookie whitelist screen

cookiejar

show the cookiejar screen

downloads

show the downloads screen

favorites

show the favorites screen

help

show the help web page

history

show the history screen

jswl

show the Java Script whitelist screen

set

show the settings screen

stats

show the statistics screen

Whitelists

This section describes advanced usage settings. Most users should use browser_mode instead to setup xxxterm and skip over this section.

xxxterm has a number of whitelists to control blocking cookies and Java Script execution for FQDNs or domains. When properly enabled these whitelists require either the FQDN or top level domain to exist in the whitelists in order to allow cookies to be stored or Java Script to execute. Both Java Script and cookies have two whitelists associated with them. The whitelists are called session and persistent. Items in the session whitelists are only allowed for the lifetime of the xxxterm instance. Items in the persistent whitelists are stored on disk and are restored upon restarting.

Setting up the whitelists is a little tricky due to intricacies of WebKit. In fact the semantics are different for cookies and Java Script.

Cookie whitelist requires the following configuration to be set:

cookies_enabled

This is a WebKit setting and must be set to 1 (ENABLED) in order to be able to use a cookie whitelist.

enable_cookie_whitelist

This needs to be set to 1 to enable the cookie whitelist functionality.

cookie_wl

These entries in the configuration file are the actual domains names in the cookie whitelist.

Java Script whitelist requires the following configuration to be set:

enable_scripts

This is a WebKit setting and must be set to 0 (DISABLED) in order to be able to use a Java Script whitelist.

enable_js_whitelist

This needs to be set to 1 to enable the Java Script whitelist functionality.

js_wl

These entries in the configuration file are the actual domains names in the Java Script whitelist.

Plugin whitelist requires the following configuration to be set:

enable_plugins

This is a WebKit setting and must be set to 1 (ENABLED) in order to be able to use a plugin whitelist.

enable_plugin_whitelist

This needs to be set to 1 to enable the plugin whitelist functionality.

pl_wl

These entries in the configuration file are the actual domains names in the plugin whitelist.

See the FILES section for additional configuration file entries and details that alter runtime behavior.

Files

~/.xxxterm.conf

xxxterm user specific settings.

~/.xxxterm

xxxterm scratch directory.

xxxterm tries to open the user specific file, ~/.xxxterm.conf. If that file is unavailable, it then uses built-in defaults.

The format of the file is keyword = setting. For example:

http_proxy = http://127.0.0.1:8080

Enabling or disabling an option is done by using 1 or 0 respectively.

The file supports the following keywords:

alias

Defines an alias for a given URL, so that the URL is loaded when the alias is entered in the address bar. If the aliased URL includes a %s format specifier, then any argument given after the alias on the address bar is substituted. For example, if g,http://www.google.com/search?q=%s is defined as an alias, then the URL http://www.google.com/search?q=foo is loaded when navigating to "g foo".

allow_volatile_cookies

If set cookies are stored in the session cache but will be discarded once xxxterm exits. Unfortunately enabling this does allow for some limited tracking on the web.

append_next

When set a new tab is appended after the current tab instead of being appended as the last tab.

auto_load_images

If disabled, images will not be loaded automatically.

autofocus_onload

When set a tab that is loaded will attempt to autofocus the default input entry. This is only done for tabs that are currently visible.

browser_mode

The xxxterm browser has 3 default operating modes: normal (the default), whitelist and kiosk. In the normal mode the browser allows all cookies, plugins and Java Script as any other browser would. This means that all cookies are saved to persistent storage and that all Java Script and plugins run.

On the other hand, using the whitelist mode enables whitelists. This requires the user to add all the required cookie_wl, js_wl and pl_wl items. If a domain does not appear in the whitelists xxxterm disallows cookies, Java Script and plugin execution.

In kiosk mode the browse works just like normal mode however the toolbar only has the backward, forward and home button.

This setting must be the first entry in ~/.xxxterm.conf because it sets advanced settings that can be overridden later in the file. See the default config file for more details.

cmd_font

Set the command prompt font. E.g. cmd_font = monospace normal 9.

color_visited_uris

When enabled (the default) xxxterm will color visited links. This is done while the web page loads using JavaScript, rather than WebKit's (broken, see bug #51747) built-in facility for coloring visited links. The JavaScript approach is (probably) slower and is not consistent across tabs (unless the tabs are reloaded), but has the advantage of not leaking history data to web pages (see http://wtikay.com/docs/details.html).

cookie_policy

This field delineates the cookie policy. Possible values are: no3rdparty, reject 3rd party cookies. accept, accept all cookies. reject, reject all cookies.

cookie_wl

This is a cookie whitelist item. Use multiple times to add multiple entries. Valid entries are for example *.moo.com and the equivalent .moo.com. A fully qualified host is also valid and is for example www.moo.com.

cookies_enabled

Enable cookies.

ctrl_click_focus

Give focus in newly created tab instead of opening it in the background.

default_script

Path to the script used as the default value for the run_script command.

default_zoom_level

Set the default browsing zoom level.

download_dir

Locations where files are downloaded to. This directory must exist and xxxterm validates that during startup.

download_mode

Controls how downloads are handled. Possible values are:

start - automatically start download.
ask   - ask user for confirmation.
add   - add to downloadmanager, but
        do not start.

The default is "start".

enable_autoscroll

When enabled clicking MB3 will spawn the autoscroll ball, scrolling can then proceed by dragging the mouse away from the ball.

enable_cookie_whitelist

When enabled all cookies must be in the whitelist or they are rejected. Additionally whitelisted cookies also enable HTML5 local storage for the domain.

enable_favicon_entry

When enabled (the default) xxxterm displays the favicon of the web page at the URI entry. This setting affects both normal and compact tabs.

enable_favicon_tabs

When enabled (disabled by default) xxxterm displays favicons at each tab. This setting only affects compact tabs.

enable_js_whitelist

When enabled all domains must be in the js whitelist in order to run Java Script. NOTE: Make sure enable_scripts is set to 0.

enable_plugin_whitelist

When enabled all domains must be in the plugin whitelist in order to run plugins. NOTE: Make sure enable_plugins is set to 0.

enable_plugins

Enable external plugins such as Flash and Java.

enable_strict_transport

Enable support for the Strict-Transport-Security HTTP-header. When enabled, sites that set this flag will only be visited via HTTPS. Default value is 1

enable_scripts

Enable Java Script.

enable_socket

When enabled the first instance of xxxterm will create a socket in the ~/.xxxterm directory. Using the -n url option on subsequent xxxterm invocations will cause the specified URL to be loaded in a new tab. Only a user with identical UID and GID can use this option.

enable_localstorage

Enable html5 Local Storage.

enable_spell_checking

Enables spell checking. Preferred languages can be set using spell_check_languages option.

encoding

Set the default encoding. E.g. encoding = ISO-8859-1.

external_editor

Set which editor to use for external editing. the string <file> will be replaced by the current filename. E.g. external_editor = gvim -f <file> Note! xxxterm relies on the editor not forking into the background.

fancy_bar

Enables a backward, forward, and stop button to the toolbar. Additionally if search_string is set it'll enable an entry box for searches.

guess_search

When enabled xxxterm will try to guess if the string you entered, in the URI entry widget or the command widget, is term you want to search for using search_string (see above). If the string does not contain a dot nor a slash, is not a path to a local file and does not resolves to an IP then it is assumed to be a search term.

gui_mode

To simplify configuring xxxterm allows you pick between two GUI modes: classic (the default) and minimal. In the classic mode the GUI looks similar to that of most mainstream browsers. While in minimal mode the GUI looks more vi-like. One can get a GUI between the two by tweaking the low-level GUI settings found under the advanced GUI setting section in the configuration file.

history_autosave

When enabled xxxterm will save all command and search history. Upon restarting xxxterm the saved command and search history will be restored.

home

Homepage in URL format.

http_proxy

Proxy server in URL format. xxxterm overrides http_proxy if it is specified as an environment variable. It must be noted that on older webkit versions one MUST use an IP address and not a FQDN. This works as expected with webkit 1.4.2.

If one desires to use a socks proxy then an intermediary tool must be used. It has been reported that tsocks works with xxxterm.

icon_size

Permits icon sizes to be changed if fancy_bar is enabled. Size 1 is small; 2 is normal; 3 through 6 are progressively larger.

js_wl

This is a Java Script whitelist item. See cookie_wl for semantics and more details.

max_connections

The maximum number of connections that xxxterm can open at once.

max_host_connections

The maximum number of connections that xxxterm can open at once to a given host.

mime_type

Sets an action for a specific or default MIME type. For example, to download and view a pdf using kpdf set mime_type = application/pdf,kpdf. To set a default value use *, for example, mime_type = video/*,mplayer. Note that the action is only passed the URL and not all applications are capable of dealing with a URL and therefore one might have to create a wrapper script to download the content first. Alternatively one can add the @ in front of the MIME type to indicate "download first". For example, mime_type = @application/pdf,xpdf. When @ is use the file will be downloaded to the download_dir before the MIME handler is called.

oops_font

Set the font used to display error messages. E.g. oops_font = monospace normal 9.

pl_wl

This is a plugin whitelist item. See cookie_wl for semantics and more details.

read_only_cookies

Mark cookies file read-only and discard all cookies once the session is terminated.

refresh_interval

Refresh interval while in the download manager. The default is 10.

referer

Control how 'Referer' is handled in http-requests.

always      - always send referer
never       - never send referer
same-domain - only send referer if it's
              for the same domain

Any other value that is also a valid URL will use this custom value as referer. (E.g. you could set it to http://no-referer.com) The default value is "always"

resource_dir

Directory that contains various xxxterm resources such as icons. This is OS-specific and should be handled by the porter.

save_global_history

If set the global history will be saved to ~/.xxxterm/history when quitting and restored at startup. See the KEY BINDINGS section above for how the global history is accessed. Global history is not saved to disk by default.

save_rejected_cookies

Saves rejected cookies in cookie format in {work_dir}/rejected.txt. All cookies are saved and unlike a cookie jar they are never replaced. Make sure there is enough disk space to enable this feature.

search_string

Default search engine string. See the xxxterm.conf file for details.

session_autosave

Enable session auto-saving when changing state (e.g. adding or removing a tab). The session name is what is currently in use and is described in the session save and session open commands.

session_timeout

This value is the time that is added in seconds to a session cookie.

show_tabs

Enable or disable showing tabs.

show_url

Enable or disable showing the url and toolbar.

show_statusbar

Enable or disable showing the status bar.

single_instance

If set and enable_socket is enabled only one xxxterm will be permitted to run. If there is a URL specified it will be opened in a new tab in the already running xxxterm session.

spell_check_languages

The languages to be used for spell checking, separated by commas. For example, en_US.

ssl_ca_file

If set to a valid PEM file all server certificates will be validated against it. The URL bar will be colored green (or blue when saved ) when the certificate is trusted and yellow when untrusted.

If ssl_ca_file is not set then the URL bar will color all HTTPS connections red.

WebKit only supports a single PEM file. Many OS' or distributions have many PEM files. One can simply concatenate all separate files into one large one. E.g. for i in `ls`; do cat $i >> cert.pem; done and use the resulting cert.pem file as the input to ssl_ca_file. It is advisable to periodically recreate the cert.pem file.

ssl_strict_certs

If this value is set connections to untrusted sites will be aborted. This value is only used if ssl_ca_file is set.

statusbar_elems

Define the components of the status bar. The possible components are:

| - separator
P - page progress percent
B - buffer command
Z - page zoom level

The default is "BP". These components show nothing if there is nothing worth showing, like zoom amount 100%.

statusbar_font

Set the status bar font. E.g. statusbar_font = monospace normal 9.

tab_style

Set the tab style to either normal - the default gtk notebook tabs, or compact for an alternative. You can switch the tab style with the tabnextstyle command.

tabbar_font

Set the compact tab bar font. E.g. tabbar_font = monospace normal 9.

url_regex

This is the regular expression that is used to match what constitutes a valid URL when using guess_search.

user_agent

Set to override the default xxxterm user-agent string. May be specified several times for switching between user-agents.

userstyle_global

When enabled new tabs will automatically be displayed in low contrast mode.

window_height

Set the default height of the browser window.

window_width

Set the default width of the browser window.

window_maximize

Maximize the browser window at startup.

work_dir

Set the work directory where all xxxterm scratch files are stored. Default is ~/.xxxterm.

xterm_workaround

When enabled xxxterm will look additionally at CUT_BUFFER0 if PRIMARY clipboard is empty. Additionally when the PRIMARY clipboard is cleared it will copy CUT_BUFFER0 into the PRIMARY clipboard. Default is 0.