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https://github.com/captn3m0/hackertray

:information_source: HackerTray is a minimalist Hacker News app for Linux
https://github.com/captn3m0/hackertray

gtk-application hacker-news-reader linux-desktop-app

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:information_source: HackerTray is a minimalist Hacker News app for Linux

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README 

        
# 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) [![Coverage Status](https://coveralls.io/repos/github/captn3m0/hackertray/badge.svg?branch=master)](https://coveralls.io/github/captn3m0/hackertray?branch=master)



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.

4. `--reverse` (or `-r`). Switches the order for the elements in the menu, so Quit is at top. Use this if your system bar is at the bottom of the screen.



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/). See the LICENSE file for complete license text.