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remap C-n and C-p in firefox and tor for search bar navigation. Makes the keybindings more consistent with emacs.

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firefox and tor remap C-n and C-p like emacs

post on reddit.

Table of content

Usage

  • Newly Created [2021-05-30 Sun 12:17:52]
git clone https://github.com/natask/firefox-tor-remap-C-n-and-C-p-for-search-bar-navigation
./apply_patches.sh

Don’t depend on the patches listed in the patches section bellow. The patches in this readme maybe out of date. Look for the patches within apply_patches.sh.

Firefox

  • Newly Created [2020-08-23 Sun 06:07:37]

remapping Ctrl-n and Ctrl-p for searchbar navigation on firefox

Thanks to nilcons of github for maintaining a repo with pointers to modifying internals to customize keybindings.

I am prefer to use ctrl-n and ctrl-p in search results (helm and rofi). I wanted the same for firefox. Unfortunately, Firefox unlike chromium doesn’t support ctrl-n and ctrl-p on search results out of the box. luckily, firefox has a mechanism to modify internal files.

Citing nilcons, firefox places keybindings within /usr/lib/firefox-developer-edition/browser/omni.ja or /usr/lib/firefox/browser/omni.ja depending on the type of firefox you are using. This compressed file can be unpacked, edited and repacked to modify keybindings among other interactive features of firefox.

The first thing I wanted to do was disable opening new windows on ctrl-n. And while I was at it disable ctrl-p. I found that these are set within chrome/browser/content/browser/browser.xhtml. I changed their default modifier from accel (which can be set globally in about:config) to alt. the key (N or P) for these can be modified within localization/en-US/browser/browserSets.ftl -> window-new-shortcut and localization/en-US/browser/menubar.ftl -> print-shortcut on firefox 80.06.

The next thing was to attach them to search engine navigation. I found that modules/UrlbarController.jsm deals with the bulk of search bar navigation while auxiliary features like switching search engines are handled in chrome/browser/content/browser/search/search-one-offs.js and chrome/browser/content/browser/contentSearchUI.js.

The downside is that this has to be done on every update. Although I haven’t tried, I have seen that Omni.ja files change per update according to =diff= so I don’t expect copy and pasting a patched omni.ja of a previous version to work. I tried and copy pasting patch old omni.ja doesn’t work.

chrome/browser/content/browser/browser.xhtml changed on 80.0b6 (64-bit) firefox so the diffs may need to be modified per update.

If you build firefox from source, you can apply the patches to firefox.

Disable opening new window and printing

patch chrome/browser/content/browser/browser.xhtml << EOF

diff --git a/browser.xhtml_orig b/browser.xhtml
index c4920cd..f319163 100644
--- a/browser.xhtml_orig
+++ b/browser.xhtml
@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ if (AppConstants.platform == "macosx") {
     <key id="key_newNavigator"
          data-l10n-id="window-new-shortcut"
          command="cmd_newNavigator"
-         modifiers="accel" reserved="true"/>
+         modifiers="alt" reserved="true"/>
     <key id="key_newNavigatorTab" data-l10n-id="tab-new-shortcut" modifiers="accel"
          command="cmd_newNavigatorTabNoEvent" reserved="true"/>
     <key id="focusURLBar" data-l10n-id="location-open-shortcut" command="Browser:OpenLocation"
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ if (AppConstants.platform == "macosx") {
     <key id="key_openAddons" data-l10n-id="addons-shortcut" command="Tools:Addons" modifiers="accel,shift"/>
     <key id="openFileKb" data-l10n-id="file-open-shortcut" command="Browser:OpenFile"  modifiers="accel"/>
     <key id="key_savePage" data-l10n-id="save-page-shortcut" command="Browser:SavePage" modifiers="accel"/>
-    <key id="printKb" data-l10n-id="print-shortcut" command="cmd_print"  modifiers="accel"/>
+    <key id="printKb" data-l10n-id="print-shortcut" command="cmd_print"  modifiers="alt"/>
     <key id="key_close" data-l10n-id="close-shortcut" command="cmd_close" modifiers="accel" reserved="true"/>
     <key id="key_closeWindow" data-l10n-id="close-shortcut" command="cmd_closeWindow" modifiers="accel,shift" reserved="true"/>
     <key id="key_toggleMute" data-l10n-id="mute-toggle-shortcut" command="cmd_toggleMute" modifiers="control"/>

Enable going up and down inside searchbar

patch modules/UrlbarController.jsm << EOF

--- extract_orig/modules/UrlbarController.jsm   2010-01-01 00:00:00.000000000 -0800
+++ extract/modules/UrlbarController.jsm        2020-07-22 16:36:20.000000000 -0700
@@ -337,6 +337,35 @@
           event.preventDefault();
         }
         break;
+      case KeyEvent.DOM_VK_N:
+      case KeyEvent.DOM_VK_P:
+        if(event.ctrlKey && !event.altKey && !event.shiftKey) {
+            if (this.view.isOpen) {
+                if (executeAction) {
+                    //this.userSelectionBehavior = "emacs";
+                    this.view.selectBy(
+                            1,
+                        {
+                            reverse:
+                            event.keyCode == KeyEvent.DOM_VK_P,
+                        }
+                    );
+                }
+            } else {
+                if (this.keyEventMovesCaret(event)) {
+                    break;
+                }
+                if (executeAction) {
+                    //this.userSelectionBehavior = "emacs";
+                    this.input.startQuery({
+                        searchString: this.input.value,
+                        event,
+                    });
+                }
+            }
+            event.preventDefault();
+        }
+        break;
       case KeyEvent.DOM_VK_DOWN:
       case KeyEvent.DOM_VK_UP:
       case KeyEvent.DOM_VK_PAGE_DOWN:

script

the following is a script that can does the above. need to modify the main variables highlighted in the script to use the script. 
# need to these variables before using script
backup=true
firefoxType="firefox-developer-edition"
backupOmniLocation="~/org-data/23/bf5056-ded7-4a8e-8c00-c6a924208c17/omni.ja"

# setup stuff and get started
backupOmniLocation="${backupOmniLocation/#\~/$HOME}" #replaces ~ with ${HOME}
omniPath="/usr/lib/${firefoxType}/browser/omni.ja" 
tempdir=$(mktemp -d)
mkdir "$tempdir/extract"
cd "$tempdir/extract"

#unzip /usr/lib/firefox/browser/omni.ja
unzip ${omniPath}; 

# apply patches
set +e
patch chrome/browser/content/browser/browser.xhtml << EOF
diff --git a/browser.xhtml_orig b/browser.xhtml
index c4920cd..f319163 100644
--- a/browser.xhtml_orig
+++ b/browser.xhtml
@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ if (AppConstants.platform == "macosx") {
     <key id="key_newNavigator"
          data-l10n-id="window-new-shortcut"
          command="cmd_newNavigator"
-         modifiers="accel" reserved="true"/>
+         modifiers="alt" reserved="true"/>
     <key id="key_newNavigatorTab" data-l10n-id="tab-new-shortcut" modifiers="accel"
          command="cmd_newNavigatorTabNoEvent" reserved="true"/>
     <key id="focusURLBar" data-l10n-id="location-open-shortcut" command="Browser:OpenLocation"
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ if (AppConstants.platform == "macosx") {
     <key id="key_openAddons" data-l10n-id="addons-shortcut" command="Tools:Addons" modifiers="accel,shift"/>
     <key id="openFileKb" data-l10n-id="file-open-shortcut" command="Browser:OpenFile"  modifiers="accel"/>
     <key id="key_savePage" data-l10n-id="save-page-shortcut" command="Browser:SavePage" modifiers="accel"/>
-    <key id="printKb" data-l10n-id="print-shortcut" command="cmd_print"  modifiers="accel"/>
+    <key id="printKb" data-l10n-id="print-shortcut" command="cmd_print"  modifiers="alt"/>
     <key id="key_close" data-l10n-id="close-shortcut" command="cmd_close" modifiers="accel" reserved="true"/>
     <key id="key_closeWindow" data-l10n-id="close-shortcut" command="cmd_closeWindow" modifiers="accel,shift" reserved="true"/>
     <key id="key_toggleMute" data-l10n-id="mute-toggle-shortcut" command="cmd_toggleMute" modifiers="control"/>
EOF
if [ "$?" -ne 0 ]; then
  echo >&2 "Unexpected exit code from first patch"
  exit 1
fi
patch  modules/UrlbarController.jsm << EOF
--- extract_orig/modules/UrlbarController.jsm   2010-01-01 00:00:00.000000000 -0800
+++ extract/modules/UrlbarController.jsm        2020-07-22 16:36:20.000000000 -0700
@@ -337,6 +337,35 @@
           event.preventDefault();
         }
         break;
+      case KeyEvent.DOM_VK_N:
+      case KeyEvent.DOM_VK_P:
+        if(event.ctrlKey && !event.altKey && !event.shiftKey) {
+            if (this.view.isOpen) {
+                if (executeAction) {
+                    //this.userSelectionBehavior = "emacs";
+                    this.view.selectBy(
+                            1,
+                        {
+                            reverse:
+                            event.keyCode == KeyEvent.DOM_VK_P,
+                        }
+                    );
+                }
+            } else {
+                if (this.keyEventMovesCaret(event)) {
+                    break;
+                }
+                if (executeAction) {
+                    //this.userSelectionBehavior = "emacs";
+                    this.input.startQuery({
+                        searchString: this.input.value,
+                        event,
+                    });
+                }
+            }
+            event.preventDefault();
+        }
+        break;
       case KeyEvent.DOM_VK_DOWN:
       case KeyEvent.DOM_VK_UP:
       case KeyEvent.DOM_VK_PAGE_DOWN:
EOF
if [ "$?" -ne 0 ]; then
  echo >&2 "Unexpected exit code from second patch"
  exit 1
fi
set -e

# zip back omni.ja
zip -qr9XD ../omni.ja *

#do backup if told
if [ "${backup}" = "true" ];then
cat "${omniPath}" > "${backupOmniLocation}"
fi

#set new omni.ja as current omni.ja
sudo bash -c "cat $tempdir/omni.ja > ${omniPath}"

#flush cache 
find ~/.cache/mozilla/firefox -type d -name startupCache | xargs rm -rf
cd /

rm -r "$tempdir"

path of main setting

/chrome/browser/content/browser/browser.xhtml

remap the n in C-n

/localization/en-US/browser/browserSets.ftl:window-new-shortcut =

remap the p in C-p

was menu-file-print pre 80.0b6 (64-bit) firefox changed to print-shortcut it seems on 80.0b6 (64-bit) firefox /localization/en-US/browser/menubar.ftl:print-shortcut =

patches

  • Newly Created [2020-08-22 Sat 02:11:32]

disable opening new window and printing

  • Newly Created [2020-08-22 Sat 02:12:17]
patch chrome/browser/content/browser/browser.xhtml << EOF 
diff --git a/chrome/browser/content/browser/broswer.xhtml.orig b/chrome/browser/content/browser/browser.xhtml
index ffd3d59..ed48e55 100644
--- a/chrome/browser/content/browser/broswer.xhtml.orig
+++ b/chrome/browser/content/browser/browser.xhtml
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ if (AppConstants.platform == "macosx") {
     <key id="key_newNavigator"
          data-l10n-id="window-new-shortcut"
          command="cmd_newNavigator"
-         modifiers="accel" reserved="true"/>
+         modifiers="alt" reserved="true"/>
     <key id="key_newNavigatorTab" data-l10n-id="tab-new-shortcut" modifiers="accel"
          command="cmd_newNavigatorTabNoEvent" reserved="true"/>
     <key id="focusURLBar" data-l10n-id="location-open-shortcut" command="Browser:OpenLocation"
@@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ if (AppConstants.platform == "macosx") {
     <key id="key_openAddons" data-l10n-id="addons-shortcut" command="Tools:Addons" modifiers="accel,shift"/>
     <key id="openFileKb" data-l10n-id="file-open-shortcut" command="Browser:OpenFile"  modifiers="accel"/>
     <key id="key_savePage" data-l10n-id="save-page-shortcut" command="Browser:SavePage" modifiers="accel"/>
-    <key id="printKb" data-l10n-id="print-shortcut" command="cmd_print"  modifiers="accel"/>
+    <key id="printKb" data-l10n-id="print-shortcut" command="cmd_print"  modifiers="alt"/>
     <key id="key_close" data-l10n-id="close-shortcut" command="cmd_close" modifiers="accel" reserved="true"/>
     <key id="key_closeWindow" data-l10n-id="close-shortcut" command="cmd_closeWindow" modifiers="accel,shift" reserved="true"/>
     <key id="key_toggleMute" data-l10n-id="mute-toggle-shortcut" command="cmd_toggleMute" modifiers="control"/>
     <key id="key_toggleMute" data-l10n-id="mute-toggle-shortcut" command="cmd_toggleMute" modifiers="control"/>

EOF

enable going up and down

  • Newly Created [2020-08-22 Sat 02:11:52]
patch modules/UrlbarController.jsm << EOF 
--- extract_orig/modules/UrlbarController.jsm   2010-01-01 00:00:00.000000000 -0800
+++ extract/modules/UrlbarController.jsm        2020-07-22 16:36:20.000000000 -0700
@@ -337,6 +337,35 @@
           event.preventDefault();
         }
         break;
+      case KeyEvent.DOM_VK_N:
+      case KeyEvent.DOM_VK_P:
+        if(event.ctrlKey && !event.altKey && !event.shiftKey) {
+            if (this.view.isOpen) {
+                if (executeAction) {
+                    //this.userSelectionBehavior = "emacs";
+                    this.view.selectBy(
+                            1,
+                        {
+                            reverse:
+                            event.keyCode == KeyEvent.DOM_VK_P,
+                        }
+                    );
+                }
+            } else {
+                if (this.keyEventMovesCaret(event)) {
+                    break;
+                }
+                if (executeAction) {
+                    //this.userSelectionBehavior = "emacs";
+                    this.input.startQuery({
+                        searchString: this.input.value,
+                        event,
+                    });
+                }
+            }
+            event.preventDefault();
+        }
+        break;
       case KeyEvent.DOM_VK_DOWN:
       case KeyEvent.DOM_VK_UP:
       case KeyEvent.DOM_VK_PAGE_DOWN:

EOF

more modifications

the following can be configured to make them feel like more like UP and Down. This means also navigate on search engines after getting to the bottom of search results. Only modifying /chrome/browser/content/browser/search/search-one-offs.js= is sufficient.

  • /chrome/browser/content/browser/contentSearchUI.js
  • /chrome/browser/content/browser/search/search-one-offs.js

improvements

  • Newly Created [2020-08-23 Sun 04:20:14]
Can grep chrome/browser/content/browser/browser.xhtml to find if window-new-shortcut or menu-file-print are still being used.

for now the code attempts to look at whether patching fails and halts if so.

/tmp/tmp.pYrSHZxpZv/extract]$ grep print-shortcut chrome/browser/content/browser/browser.xhtml <key id=”printKb” data-l10n-id=”print-shortcut” command=”cmd_print” modifiers=”accel”/> /tmp/tmp.pYrSHZxpZv/extract]$ grep window-new-shortcut chrome/browser/content/browser/browser.xhtml data-l10n-id=”window-new-shortcut”

(the following is usless match) <key id=”key_undoCloseWindow” command=”History:UndoCloseWindow” data-l10n-id=”window-new-shortcut” modifiers=”accel,shift”/>

need to grep multiple lines for window-new-shortcut.

it maybe better to grep multiple lines for key_newNavigator and printKb and then pick the first data-l10n-id=”print-shortcut”/

awking for linke key id prntKB, cmd_print awking for key_undoCloseWindow and

I do wish firefox-team made this easier than it currently is.

alternative

  • Newly Created [2020-08-23 Sun 06:19:21]
can rebind gtk bindings by applying the following code to ~/.config/gtk-3.0/gtk.css as floscr suggests.

I advantage of rebinding gtk bindings is that there is no need to patch firefox on every update. Another I do want to mention that the key difference (beyond having to patch every update) between modifying omni.ja vs remapping gtk bindings is that C-n and C-p don’t do anything when outside an input field. That maybe a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it.

I do want to mention that the key difference (beyond having to patch every update) between modifying omni.ja vs remapping gtk bindings is that C-n and C-p don’t do anything when outside an input field. That maybe a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it.

I haven’t personally tried it yet.

With that said, I wouldn’t have done all this if I knew I could just modify gtk.css.

OS

  • Newly Created [2020-08-23 Sun 06:47:21]
linux
This is or linux.
windows
Altough this doesn’t on windows natively, the core idea can be used.
OSX
Supports this out the box.

Tor

  • Newly Created [2020-08-23 Sun 06:08:28]
like firefox mod C-n and C-p, but instead need to change crome/browser/content/browser/browser.xul instead of chrome/browser/content/browser/browser.xhtml. modules/UrlbarController.jsm is still the same but startupCache is in /TorBrowser/Data/Browser/profile.default/startupCache/ and tor-browser_en-US/Browser/TorBrowser/Data/Browser/profile.default/chrome_debugger_profile/startupCache

omni.ja in tor-browser_en-US/Browser/browser/

setup

tempdir=$(mktemp -d)
mkdir "$tempdir/extract"
cd "$tempdir/extract"
set +e
unzip ~/bin/tor-browser_en-US/Browser/browser/omni.ja

browser xul to unmap C-n and C-p (map them to M-n and M-p)

patch chrome/browser/content/browser/browser.xul

patch chrome/browser/content/browser/browser.xul << EOF
271c271
<          modifiers="accel" reserved="true"/>
---
>          modifiers="alt" reserved="true"/>
285c285
<     <key id="printKb" key="&printCmd.commandkey;" command="cmd_print"  modifiers="accel"/>
---
>     <key id="printKb" key="&printCmd.commandkey;" command="cmd_print"  modifiers="alt"/>
EOF

implement C-n and C-p

the other side is the same. The next thing was to attach them to search engine navigation. I found that modules/UrlbarController.jsm deals with the bulk of search bar navigation while auxiliary features like switching search engines are handled in chrome/browser/content/browser/search/search-one-offs.js and chrome/browser/content/browser/contentSearchUI.js.

patch with the following.

patch modules/UrlbarController.jsm << EOF
--- extract_orig/modules/UrlbarController.jsm   2010-01-01 00:00:00.000000000 -0800
+++ extract/modules/UrlbarController.jsm        2020-07-22 16:36:20.000000000 -0700
@@ -337,6 +337,35 @@
           event.preventDefault();
         }
         break;
+      case KeyEvent.DOM_VK_N:
+      case KeyEvent.DOM_VK_P:
+        if(event.ctrlKey && !event.altKey && !event.shiftKey) {
+            if (this.view.isOpen) {
+                if (executeAction) {
+                    //this.userSelectionBehavior = "emacs";
+                    this.view.selectBy(
+                            1,
+                        {
+                            reverse:
+                            event.keyCode == KeyEvent.DOM_VK_P,
+                        }
+                    );
+                }
+            } else {
+                if (this.keyEventMovesCaret(event)) {
+                    break;
+                }
+                if (executeAction) {
+                    //this.userSelectionBehavior = "emacs";
+                    this.input.startQuery({
+                        searchString: this.input.value,
+                        event,
+                    });
+                }
+            }
+            event.preventDefault();
+        }
+        break;
       case KeyEvent.DOM_VK_DOWN:
       case KeyEvent.DOM_VK_UP:
       case KeyEvent.DOM_VK_PAGE_DOWN:
EOF

startupCache

cache is tor-browser_en-US/Browser/TorBrowser/Data/Browser/profile.default/startupCache and tor-browser_en-US/Browser/TorBrowser/Data/Browser/profile.default/chrome_debugger_profile/startupCache

emacs like C-a and C-e in tor

  • Newly Created [2020-08-23 Sun 05:12:03]
I maybe able to map C-a and C-e and get them to work by modifying gtk stuff. specially settings.ini
  • tor-browser_en-US/Browser/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini
  • tor-browser_en-US/Browser/.config/gtk-3.0/bookmarks

Turns out this is possible. add gtk-key-theme-name=Emacs to tor’s gtk-3.0/settings.ini gave me what I wanted. Thanks to floscr for suggesting it.

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remap C-n and C-p in firefox and tor for search bar navigation. Makes the keybindings more consistent with emacs.

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firefox emacs tor remapping

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