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[1] Submitted by: Frederik on Friday May 16th 2003

He, good work. Problem is: if you forget to upload your bookmarks at work, you have a problem when you come home at night.

There are some excellent server-side bookmark managers out there. One of the best is without any doubt Bookmark4U (http://bookmark4u.sourceforge.net/). Another promising one is Active PHP Bookmarks (http://lbstone.com/apb/).

[2] Submitted by: S2 on Friday May 16th 2003

hi frederik,
thanks fot the feedback!
bookmark4u is really nice, but it requires a running box, or someone who hosts php, apache and mysql for you. not anyone has that, and it's obvious that if you can afford that, you don't really have to use this script, but look at bookie http://bookie.mozdev.org or the two links mentioned by you.

[3] Submitted by: Sam on Friday May 16th 2003

Why FTP? Why not SFTP/scp?

[4] Submitted by: S2 on Friday May 16th 2003

because there are a lot of users with just dialup, and a free ftp account for a small webpage (like me :). ergo: no sftp.
it's a lot easier to find a free ftp account, than an sftp server.
but, do you mind about security on the server? if you think bookmarks are private, and should be encrypted, we could add pgp encryption to the bookmarks before uploading them, and decrypt them after downloading them using gnupg http://www.gnupg.org/

[5] Submitted by: Jeremy on Saturday May 17th 2003

Good idea you've got going . If you could make the download script automatically run when mozilla opened , and the upload script automatically run when mozilla closes it would be nearly foolproof.

It got me wondering if it were possible to make a script that could add a single url to an existing bookmarks.html on an ftp server. You could then leave that script accessible on a personal page. If you find a url you'd like to have in your bookmarks , and you're on a computer thats not your own , you pull up your page witht the script , enter the url , and have it append to your bookmarks.html . When you download your bookmarks again it'd be there.

[6] Submitted by: Eule on Tuesday May 20th 2003

this script rules :)
but there is an error on some ftp servers, this script creates an space after the password in temp file.

change
echo %ftpuser% >> %temp%boksynctmp
echo %ftppass% >> %temp%boksynctmp

to

echo %ftpuser%>> %temp%boksynctmp
echo %ftppass%>> %temp%boksynctmp

and it will work :)

[7] Submitted by: Ryan on Tuesday May 20th 2003

I'm not sure that FTP is the best way to go. I would personally second the scp/sftp recommendation. Another alternative that wouldn't cause server admins to enable new daemons would be to use WebDav. Those Apple users with .Mac accounts would have no problems and just about anyone running an apache server can set up WebDav.

[8] Submitted by: Brodie on Tuesday May 20th 2003

I can't use the standard ftp.exe program because I am behind a firewall and need passive FTP. Thus I modified the batch file to use ncftpget/ncftpput from cygwin.

Delete all of the lines from:
copy /y %localbookdir%bookmarks.html %localbookdir%bookmarks.html.bk > nul

to:
goto theendnostuff

and insert:
if "%batupordown%"=="down" ncftpget -a -v -F -u %ftpuser% -p %ftppass% %ftpserver% "%localbookdir%" /bookmarks.html
if "%batupordown%"=="up" ncftpput -a -v -F -u %ftpuser% -p %ftppass% %ftpserver% / "%localbookdir%bookmarks.html"

Cheers,
Brodie.

[9] Submitted by: S2 on Wednesday May 21st 2003

Eule, tnx for pointing that out!

Ryan, what talks against ftp? it's a strong standard used everywhere in the world, it's supported by almost any os, and it's available to anyone. the Apple users with .Mac accounts would not be able to use this script anyway: it's batch :) they could just use wwwampire http://wwwampire.mozdev.org

[10] Submitted by: Ken Crandall on Wednesday June 4th 2003

Even better than ftp would be to tap into Mozilla's guts and use WebDAV...

...Unfortunately, that would need to be much more than a script. It would probably have to be an extension.

Just a suggestion. :)

[11] Submitted by: S2 on Wednesday June 4th 2003

hi ken,
just wait for mozbug 124029 to be fixed, and you are done.

[12] Submitted by: S2 on Wednesday June 4th 2003

sorry. the url of the bug is http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=124029

[13] Submitted by: Daniel on Wednesday July 16th 2003

How about turning this into a cross-platform extension? I have a mac at home and a PC at work and would like to be able sync my bookmarks.

[14] Submitted by: Giovix on Tuesday July 29th 2003

Is it possible to use booksync under WinXP?
I've tried but it doesen't run :<

[15] Submitted by: S2 on Wednesday August 6th 2003

Giovix, is there an error message? i'm actually using it with xp.

[16] Submitted by: Giovix on Wednesday August 27th 2003

Sorry, I was on holiday :)

If I open a DOS window and I run booksync2.bat the system says "command syntax error"!
I have edited the file in this way:

rem --- editable section ---

rem -+- ftp info -+-

set ftpserver=
set ftpuser=
set ftppass=
set ftpfile=httpdocs/bookmarks.html

rem -+- local file info -+-

set localbookdir=C:Documents and SettingsGiovanniDati applicazioniMozillaProfilesdefaultd372sicz.slt

rem -+- where is mozilla? -+-

set batmozpath=C:Programmimozilla.orgMozillamozilla.exe

rem --- end editable section ---

what can I do?

[17] Submitted by: Giovix on Wednesday August 27th 2003

ooops! the msg has lost the "" characater

[18] Submitted by: Damon on Thursday August 28th 2003

Hi Guys,

your idea with the bookmark is very good. i also thougt on a solution, but i found no one. but i will follow the development of this projekt. perhabs i may create this für windows xp. I still have no real idea to start, but i think that your information und your stuff will help me.

But I will try your work an university, i think, this i an good idea. Maybe i am able to get run.

Damon
/index.php

[19] Submitted by: Alex on Sunday August 31st 2003

Nice project!

[20] Submitted by: Noah on Monday September 1st 2003

What am I doing wrong? The V2 script works fine as far as uploading/downloading the file, but I don't see it opening mozilla for me/automatically uploading and downloading bookmarks. I have double clicked the bat file and it downloads the bookmarks file, but doesn't start mozilla. Isn't this what's supposed to happen...

Looking at the .bat file, I see at the bottom:

:theend
if "%batupordown%"=="down" %batmozpath% %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
if "%batupordown%"=="down" call %0 up

but doesn't the section have to be called in order to be executed? Sorry if this is plainly obvious - I'm not much of a hacker.

[21] Submitted by: rainer on Wednesday September 10th 2003

an interesting project - can I help?
greetings rainer
/
mail: erel@kortenbrede-holz.de

[22] Submitted by: jims on Sunday September 21st 2003

Mozilla is a nice browser!

[23] Submitted by: S2 on Monday September 22nd 2003

Giovix, did you set all variables at the top of the file? the problem could be that.

Noah, did you set the batmozpath variable to the path of your mozilla executable? the section is called automatically, you don't need to call it manualy.

[24] Submitted by: Noah on Tuesday September 23rd 2003

Ok, got it working. I had to put double quotes around the Mozilla executable path to get it to launch mozilla properly. Strange that localbookdir didn't require double quotes even though its value too had spaces.

[25] Submitted by: Giovix on Tuesday September 30th 2003

> Giovix, did you set all variables at the top of the
> file? the problem could be that.

ok, I've found the mistake! now it runs perfectly!!!
great idea, many thanks :)

p.s.: is it possible to hide/close the batch window after the download is finished?

p.s(2): think I'll modify your batch file to upload any other file I need (all my job documents when I finish working for example ;)

[26] Submitted by: S2 on Monday November 17th 2003

to Giovix:
> is it possible to hide/close the
> batch window after the download is finished?

that would be the clicky version. if you close the dos window, it would not be able to upload the files once you close mozilla/your browser.

> p.s(2): think I'll modify your batch file to upload
> any other file I need (all my job documents when I
> finish working for example ;)

that's a great idea, i did that too :)

[27] Submitted by: Giovix on Monday November 24th 2003

Hi, now I've got a new problem: I can't run your batch file under Win98!
It says "Invalid command or file name", how is it possible?

[28] Submitted by: S2 on Tuesday November 25th 2003

> It says "Invalid command or file name", how is it possible?

where? line? can you c&p the lines before the error?

[29] Submitted by: Giovix on Tuesday November 25th 2003

>> It says "Invalid command or file name", how is it possible?
>
>where? line? can you c&p the lines before the error?

when I double click the S2.bat a dos window appears reporting only that message :<

[30] Submitted by: S2 on Tuesday November 25th 2003

which version of the script?
try executing one line in the file at time, and see what goes wrong.

[31] Submitted by: auriel manolson on Tuesday November 25th 2003

__Actually Synch Two Bookmark Files:__

I have the same problem as orig inspired this project,
but at work I am behind all sorts of firewalls with no direct FTP access, so thought to do an occasional synch with this app:

http://bookmarkbridge.sourceforge.net/

Would be cool if you folks could team up.

OF course, our synch problem is, however not only a bookmarks problem, but a problem with all browser profile data (eg. passwords, cookies, auto fill form data, history) (assuming firebird, not even getting into email etc in full M suite) ... your simple approach could solve.

Would be cool if Mozilla/Firebird profile implemented something like SyncML for all it's data... any how...good night.

[32] Submitted by: Murz on Saturday November 29th 2003

Do you plan to do an extension that do this? Because .bat-file isn't so comfortable!.

[33] Submitted by: Andy on Monday December 1st 2003

Could you change the script file extension from .bat to .txt so it can get pat my corporate firewall?

[34] Submitted by: mawcs on Tuesday December 2nd 2003

I created a WSH version that will work on XP and 2000. This eliminates the extra batch window and I've added a few features like uploading 'user.js' and 'cookperm.txt' (it can easily be modified to support other files). Also, it makes a backup of your local files.

It is *not* a batch file. I don't know if that will help any of you.

I have submitted to S2 for review. Hope to see it posted soon.

[35] Submitted by: mawcs on Tuesday December 2nd 2003

Made a few changes to the WSH script I wrote and I decided to post in on my site until S2 has reviewed it. If you are interested:
http://www.williamsonclan.us/opensource/booksync4.js

[36] Submitted by: S2 on Wednesday December 3rd 2003

tnx mawcs for your version!
it's on the page now.
i've also added the infobox on the top-right of the page to give an overview of the current versions, in case someone dosn't want to read through the whole page.

[37] Submitted by: mawcs on Wednesday December 3rd 2003

Fixed a few bugs and added some features to the .js version:

http://www.williamsonclan.us/opensource/booksync4.js

I've been thinking a lot about creating an actual Mozilla plug-in that is sort of "remote profile" technology. Basically, it would be a plugin that would store all profile info (minus cache, of course) on a remote server.

It is sort of evolutionary to this project so I would appreciate any feedback on this idea:

booksync@williamsonclan.us

[38] Submitted by: Windows only? on Monday December 15th 2003

Love the idea! Haven't used it yet though... Is therre any reason in particular for the bat-file?

I'm running linux at home, windows at work and do not have a computer constantly online...

[39] Submitted by: Rob Vonk on Wednesday December 17th 2003

This seems a problem for more people. It was for us too. Thats why we created onjab:

http://onjab.sf.net

It syncs bookmarks over different clients using the http protocol. We have two server implementations (php and python) and two client implementations (python and delphi)

[40] Submitted by: S2 on Thursday December 18th 2003

a bash version will be here once i get over myself and install linux at home :)

[41] Submitted by: Kev on Tuesday February 10th 2004

I'd also love a bash version of this script- great work so far :o)

[42] Submitted by: John on Saturday March 20th 2004

There are numerous web based bookmark managers on the market. Example: www.ofni.us. And Google has even a list of bookmark managers - it appears all of the above described features are already covered by www.ofni.us or other bookmark managers that I am already using. No offense, but why inventing this for a second time?

[43] Submitted by: S2 on Tuesday March 30th 2004

> No offense, but why inventing this for a second time?

John, did you read what this script does?

[44] Submitted by: Giovix on Wednesday May 12th 2004

>>Hi, now I've got a new problem: I can't run your batch >>file under Win98!
>>It says "Invalid command or file name", how is it >>possible?
>
>where? line? can you c&p the lines before the error?

sorry for the very tardy reply :<
seems to stop after the command ":theend"

[45] Submitted by: michael05 on Saturday June 12th 2004

hi, i like the idea of your project. so i try to make it available on other platforms. since i have got a mac, windows-pc and linux-pc i have got a complete bookmark chaos.

the big problem i have is to see if mozilla is running or not under linux and os x. there are several processes running. mozilla is not just an exe file. it has got its own startup shellscript.

the clickable version would work fine..

here is a short test to upload the bookmarks and start mozilla (it should be the other way round...)

#################################
#! /bin/sh

# define ftp connection
ftplogin=xxxxxx
ftppass=xxxxxx
ftpserver=www.xxxxxx.de
ftpstring=$ftplogin:$ftppass@$ftpserver

# location of the bookmarks
bookpath=/home/username/.mozilla/default/xxxxxx.slt
cd $bookpath
bookmarks=bookmarks.html

# upload bookmarks to ftp
ftp -n $ftpserver

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.7b) Gecko/20040422

[46] Submitted by: michael05 on Saturday June 12th 2004

this one works with suse linux 9.1 and mozilla. i just want to implement a check if the bookmarks were edited (file size with ls --block-size=1 -s bookmarks.html).

##############################################
#! /bin/sh

# define ftp connection
ftplogin=xxxxxx
ftppass=xxxxxx
ftpserver=www.xxxxxx.de
ftpstring=$ftplogin:$ftppass@$ftpserver

# location of the bookmarks
bookpath=/home/username/.mozilla/default/xxxxxx.slt
cd $bookpath
bookmarks=bookmarks.html

# download bookmarks from ftp
ftp -n $ftpserver

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.7b) Gecko/20040422

[47] Submitted by: Jason on Monday 12th July 2004 at 20:21 -0400

1. Some of the problems users reported here might be attributable to leaving the "" around the variables they have to set (like ftp server).

2. If you have a long bookmarks file and a slow connection, you might want to add

echo hash>> %temp%\boksynctmp

between echo ftppass and echo type ascii

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040514

[48] Submitted by: LouieG on Sunday 15th August 2004 at 02:13 -0400

Can't get it to run. Tried the booksync.bat and edited the editable portion. I keep getting:
331 Password required for XXX

530 User XXX cannot log in
Login failed

Any ideas?

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040803 Firefox/0.9.3

[49] Submitted by: S2 on Wednesday 18th August 2004 at 06:00 -0400

LouieG, did you set the username/password?

set ftpuser=youruser
set ftppass=yourpass

no spaces

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.6) Gecko/20040510

[50] Submitted by: TriMoon on Sunday 5th September 2004 at 10:20 -0400

Guys, any of you able to make this functionality into a bookmark bar?
What i mean is this:
You probably seen the companion bars like the one from yahoo didnt you?
Your bookmarks are stored on a external server, in this case the users own selected server.
The application gets the bookmarks from that server and enables you to add/edit your bookmarks on the server.
This can be easily done with ftp uploads...

This way you dont need to "sync" with the server stored version as the application syncs automaticaly when you open your browser...

Send Comments pls to: tripple_moon_3m yahoo com
Spam abuse will be dealtwith acoardingly..:D

None of your bussness, get it?!

[51] Submitted by: super-cool on Tuesday 21st December 2004 at 05:08 -0500

hello
Supported languages: fr-FR
good

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; fr; rv:1.7) Gecko/20040803 Firefox/0.9.3

[52] Submitted by: Des on Monday 20th June 2005 at 13:18 -0400

Doesn't work with firefox?

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; fr-FR; rv:1.7.8) Gecko/20050511 Firefox/1.0.4