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how to locate downloaded file

  • 1 reply
  • 5 have this problem
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  • Last reply by John99

jfcmarg
jfcmarg
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"Preferences" indicates an application to play videos (which happens to be a bash shell script that invokes mplayer with appropriate command line options). When I click on a video link (a .wmv) the video does not play, but is downloaded instead.

When I find the location of that download (another headache, but that issue is for some other time) and try to play it using the application (i.e., using the shell script), it plays right fine.

So playing a .wmv file works from an xterm, using my application "moz" (which happens to be a shell script), but that very same application "moz" which is specified in "Preferences" will not play the file, but parks it on my hard drive.

How do I get a shell script to work as the application which plays a .wmv file?!

"Preferences" indicates an application to play videos (which happens to be a bash shell script that invokes mplayer with appropriate command line options). When I click on a video link (a .wmv) the video does not play, but is downloaded instead. When I find the location of that download (another headache, but that issue is for some other time) and try to play it using the application (i.e., using the shell script), it plays right fine. So playing a .wmv file works from an xterm, using my application "moz" (which happens to be a shell script), but that very same application "moz" which is specified in "Preferences" will not play the file, but parks it on my hard drive. How do I get a shell script to work as the application which plays a .wmv file?!

All Replies (2)

John99
John99
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My understanding of your question is that you are asking how to play .wmv files in Firefox using mplayer.

I am new to Firefox on Linux and do not play .wmv streams/files with Firefox unless in Windows. What I can say is that

  1. firefox will offer to download something if there is no other installed and enabled extension that will play it.
  2. mplayer should be able to handle .wmv files
    (probably not if they are protected files, but you say the files play)

I would not know how to use a bash script as a Firefox add-on and am not sure that is possible.

Have you read and followed the suggestions in

jfcmarg
jfcmarg Question owner
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I still don't know how to get a bash script to work, but...

One can write c code (call the corresponding executable mplay) which executes execve("/usr/bin/mplayer",argv,Envp); and point mozilla to open using mplay. That way, mplay can muck with argv all it wants -- to supply appropriate command line arguments to mplayer -- before the execve. It is important, however, to get Envp right. I havent bothered to sort out exactly what is needed, but mplayer will crash the X server with a null Envp. What workes (for me) is simply to use the output generated by typing env in a bash shell.

Hope this helps others Happy hacking...