hackertray/README.md

# HackerTray

[![HackerTray on PyPi](https://pypip.in/v/hackertray/badge.png)](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/hackertray/)
[![HackerTray on PyPi](https://pypip.in/d/hackertray/badge.png)](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/hackertray/)
[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/captn3m0/hackertray.png)](https://travis-ci.org/captn3m0/hackertray)

HackerTray is a simple [Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/) Linux application
that lets you view top HN stories in your System Tray. It uses appindicator where available,
but provides a Gtk StatusIcon fallback in case AppIndicator is not available.

The inspiration for this came from [Hacker Bar](http://hackerbarapp.com), which is Mac-only.

## Screenshot

![HackerTray Screenshot in elementaryOS](http://i.imgur.com/63l3qXV.png)

## Installation

HackerTray is distributed as a python package. Do the following to install:

```sh
sudo pip install hackertray
OR
sudo easy_install hackertray
OR
#Download Source and cd to it
sudo python setup.py install
```

After that, you can run `hackertray` from anywhere and it will run. You can
now add it to your OS dependent session autostart method. In Ubuntu, you can
access it via:

1.  System > Preferences > Sessions
    (OR)
2.  System > Preferences > Startup Applications

depending on your Ubuntu Version. Or put it in `~/.config/openbox/autostart`
if you are running OpenBox. [Here](http://imgur.com/mnhIzDK) is how the
configuration should look like in Ubuntu and its derivatives.

### Upgrade

The latest stable version is [![the one on PyPi](https://pypip.in/v/hackertray/badge.png)](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/hackertray/)

You can check which version you have installed with `hackertray --version`.

To upgrade, run `pip install -U hackertray`. In some cases (Ubuntu), you might
need to clear the pip cache before upgrading:

`sudo rm -rf /tmp/pip-build-root/hackertray`

HackerTray will automatically check the latest version on startup, and inform you if there is an update available.

## Options

HackerTray accepts its various options via the command line. Run `hackertray -h` to see all options. Currently the following switches are supported:

1.  `-c`: Enables comments support. Clicking on links will also open the comments page on HN. Can be switched off via the UI, but the setting is not remembered.
2.  `--chrome PROFILE-PATH`: Specifying a profile path to a chrome directory will make HackerTray read the Chrome History file to mark links as read. Links are checked once every 5 minutes, which is when the History file is copied (to override the lock in case Chrome is open), searched using sqlite and deleted. This feature is still experimental.
3.  `--firefox PROFILE-PATH`: Specify path to a firefox profile directory. HackerTray will read your firefox history from this profile, and use it to mark links as read. Pass `auto` as PROFILE-PATH to automatically read the default profile and use that.

Note that the `--chrome` and `--firefox` options are independent, and can be used together. However, they cannot be specified multiple times (so reading from 2 chrome profiles is not possible).

### Google Chrome Profile Path

Where your Profile is stored depends on [which version of chrome you are using](https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git/+/62.0.3202.58/docs/user_data_dir.md#linux):

- [Chrome Stable] `~/.config/google-chrome/Default`
- [Chrome Beta] `~/.config/google-chrome-beta/Default`
- [Chrome Dev] `~/.config/google-chrome-unstable/Default`
- [Chromium] `~/.config/chromium/Default`

Replace `Default` with `Profile 1`, `Profile 2` or so on if you use multiple profiles on Chrome. Note that the `--chrome` option accepts a `PROFILE-PATH`, not the History file itself. Also note that sometimes `~` might not be set, so you might need to use the complete path (such as `/home/nemo/.config/google-chrome/Default/`).

### Firefox Profile Path

The default firefox profile path is `~/.mozilla/firefox/*.default`, where `*` denotes a random 8 digit string. You can also read `~/.mozilla/firefox/profiles.ini` to get a list of profiles. Alternatively, just pass `auto` and HackerTray will pick the default profile automatically.

## Features

1.  Minimalist Approach to HN
2.  Opens links in your default browser
3.  Remembers which links you opened, even if you opened them outside of HackerTray
4.  Shows Points/Comment count in a simple format
5.  Reads your Google Chrome/Firefox History file to determine which links you've already read (even if you may not have opened them via HackerTray)

### Troubleshooting

If the app indicator fails to show in Ubuntu versions, consider installing
python-appindicator with

`sudo apt-get install python-appindicator`

Note that appindicator is no longer supported in non-Ubuntu distros, because it only works on Python2.

### Development

To develop on hackertray, or to test out experimental versions, do the following:

-   Clone the project
-   Run `(sudo) python setup.py develop` in the hackertray root directory
-   Run `hackertray` with the required command line options from anywhere.

## Analytics

On every launch, a request is made to `https://pypi.python.org/pypi/hackertray/json` to check the latest version.

**No more tracking**. All data every collected for this project has been deleted. You can see [the wiki](https://github.com/captn3m0/hackertray/wiki/Analytics) for what all was collected earlier (Version `< 4.0.0`).

## Credits

-   Mark Rickert for [Hacker Bar](http://hackerbarapp.com/) (No longer active)
-   [Giridaran Manivannan](https://github.com/ace03uec) for troubleshooting instructions.
-   [@cheeaun](https://github.com/cheeaun) for the [Unofficial Hacker News API](https://github.com/cheeaun/node-hnapi/)

## Licence

Licenced under the [MIT Licence](https://nemo.mit-license.org/).