plugger(7)						 Miscellaneous Information Manual						plugger(7)

NAME

       plugger - a streaming multimedia plugin for UNIX netscape
       pluggerrc - configure file for plugger

DESCRIPTION

       Plugger	is a  Netscape plugin which can show many types of multimedia inside your Netscape. To accomplish this, Plugger uses external pro-
       grams such as xanim, mtv, timidity and tracker.

       For up-to-date information on Plugger, see the plugger home page: http://fredrik.hubbe.net/plugger.html

CONFIGURE FILE

       You can configure plugger by changing the file pluggerrc which can be located in any of the following directories:

	    $HOME/.netscape/
	    $HOME/.opera/
	    $MOZILLA_HOME/
	    $OPERA_HOME/
	    /usr/local/netscape/pluggerrc
	    /etc/pluggerrc
	    /usr//etc/pluggerrc
	    /usr/local/etc/pluggerrc

       The format of pluggerrc is very simple. The general layout is to have one or more lines describing mime-types followed by one or more lines
       describing commands used to handle those mime-types. Lines beginning with # are considered comments and are ignored. Here is a simple exam-
       ple:

	    video/mpeg; mpeg; Mpeg video
	    video/quicktime; qt; Mpeg video
		 : xanim +W$window -Zr +q +Ze +f $file

	    audio/mpeg2: mp2: MPEG audio
	    audio/x-mpeg2: mp2: MPEG audio
	    audio/mpeg3: mp3: MPEG audio
	    audio/x-mpeg3: mp3: MPEG audio
	    audio/mpeg: mpa,abs,mpega: MPEG audio
	    audio/x-mpeg: mpa,abs,mpega: MPEG audio
		 stream, preload: mpg123 -q -b 128 -
		 many: splay -t 200 $file
		 many: amp -b 200 -q $file

       Each line describing a mime type has three fields:

	     mime type ; extensions ; description

       mime type
	      The mime type is the standardized name for the content type you want Plugger to handle. This must be the same type as the web server
	      claims the file to be, or Plugger will not be used for that file, regardless of the extension.

       extensions
	      This  is a comma separated list of extensions that should be associated with this particular mime type. The extensions are only used
	      when a web server does not report what type of file it is, or when loading files directly from disk.

       description
	      This is the description that shows up in about:plugins and in the application preferences section in Netscape.

	      Lines that describe what command to use for a mime type must begin with a whitespace and have two fields:

		    flags : command

       flags  This is a comma-separated list of flags which tells plugger how to  handle  this	particular  application.  See  below  for  further
	      details.

       command
	      This is a command which is sent to /bin/sh when handling this mime type.

FINDING THE RIGHT COMMAND

       When Plugger is called from netscape, it looks through the configuration file and tries to find a matching mime type. For an application to
       be chosen it has to fulfill certain criteria, it has to exist, and it must match the flags given to plugger.

       When it does, it tries to figure out which command to use. If the input is streamable, it looks through all the commands for that  particu-
       lar  mime  type	to  see if it can find an application that has the stream flag. If it cannot find a streaming application it downloads the
       file and tries again. Note that Plugger will check the first word of the command and search your $PATH for that command. If that command is
       not found Plugger will go to the next line in your pluggerrc.

FLAGS

       repeat This indicates that the command uses the $repeat variable. If this flag is set, Plugger will only start the application once.

       loop   This  indicates that the application loops forever. If the <EMBED> tag used to start Plugger indicated that the file should not loop
	      forever, the command on this line will not be used.

       stream This indicates that this command takes input on stdin.  Plugger will attempt to stream data as it is being downloaded and send it to
	      the application. Note that streaming applications can also be used to play files and data which is already in your netscape cache.

       preload
	      This  flag  is  only meaningful in when used together with the stream flag. It tells plugger to preload a buffer with 40000 bytes of
	      data before starting to play the file. If the buffer runs out, Plugger will stop sending data to the application until the buffer is
	      full again. This is usually a good thing for streaming sound.

       many   This  indicates  that  the application can accept several files on the command line. Using this option can reduce clicks, choppiness
	      and machine load, but it is never required.

       ignore_errors
	      This options tells Plugger to ignore the exit status of the application.

       exits  This option tells Plugger that the application exits, but should not be restarted. This can be used with applications which automat-
	      ically forks into the background.

       nokill This  will  tell plugger not to try to kill the application when leaving the page. This is normally used for programs which start in
	      their own window and can play multiple files, such as xmms.

       swallow ( name )
	      This is the only option that takes an argument so far. It will tell plugger that the application will open a window with the  speci-
	      fied name and that this window will then be moved to inside your browser.

VARIABLES

       Plugger gives some variables to /bin/sh when starting the application, these variables are:

       $repeat
	      This  variable  contains	how many times the file should be played.  Applications which use this variable should also set the repeat
	      flag.

       $window
	      This is the X window Netscape has given the plugin. This can be used with applications such as xanim to display graphics inside  the
	      netscape window.

       $file  This is the file to play. This variable is not set if the application uses the stream flag. It may also be more than one file if you
	      use the many flag.

       $mimetype
	      This variable contains the mime type of $file.

BUGS

       You have to remove ~/.netscape/plugin-list after changing the configuration, or nothing will happen. This is a netscape bug, not a  Plugger
       bug.

       Netscape 3.x will not play anything for <EMBED> tags for which height or width are zero. This too is a Netscape bug.

AUTHOR

       Fredrik Hubinette, hubbe@hubbe.net

																	plugger(7)