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Firefox Html Validator on Ubuntu Gutsy

by Will Bond - October 12, 2007 / 10:10am View more articles

Recently here at work I took the plunge. I downloaded the beta version of Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon…gosh they have awesome names) and installed it on my workstation. Yes, it took me a little while to really get settled. Yes, I do boot up my old Windows XP install inside of VMWare in case I forgot something.

The reason I recently switched is because Wine has made some great improvements. Version 0.9.46 supports installing, activating and running Adobe Photoshop CS2. Also, my editor, PHPEd, is fully functioning. Granted, Photoshop CS2 is not running perfectly, but I don't spend too much time in there, and I know the remaining bugs will be fixed soon.

Anyway, back to Ubuntu. The only real snag I hit along the way was that the Html Validator extension for Firefox won’t install properly. First you get errors about libstdc++ not being found. I ran sudo apt-get install libstdc++5. This removed the first error, however another error appeared. Not only was I getting an error for the extension, but my back and forward buttons stopped working.

After a bit of forum reading, I downloaded the Ubuntu source for Firefox 2.0.0.6 and started bug fixing and compiling. About an hour or so later I came up with a working .xpi file.

To save anyone else from having to do this, here is a link to download the Html Validator Firefox extension v0.841 for Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon.
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20 Comments

by Craig Henry   #
on October 12, 2007 / 11:44am
Who turned off the nerd filter?............... Just kidding buddy!
by Patrick McPhail   #
on October 12, 2007 / 1:08pm
Boy that sounds like a great time...
by Markus   #
on October 24, 2007 / 12:23pm
Thanks a ton, searched everywhere for that damn extension!

Austrian greets :P
Markus
by Alex S   #
on November 8, 2007 / 4:31am
Awesome!
Just awesome. Thank you :)
by Ryan   #
on November 15, 2007 / 12:27pm
Thank you so much!! Is there any way you'd be willing to donate your fix back to the HTML Validator maintainers so it can be "permanently" fixed?
by Will Bond   #
on November 15, 2007 / 1:18pm
@Ryan

The maintainer of the HTML Validator does produce a version for Linux that works with the official Mozilla builds of Firefox. I believe the issue comes from the fact that Ubuntu customizes Firefox.

Also, the fixes I implemented came from a thread where the maintainer was actively helping solve the issue. I think he knows there are issues, it is just that Ubuntu is maintaining a different code tree.

Probably the best solution would be to get the HTML Validator maintained as an Ubuntu package. For that to happen someone needs to volunteer to maintain it.
by Bakyt Niyazov   #
on February 11, 2008 / 8:18am
Hello! You ' re great.
by andes   #
on February 14, 2008 / 12:37pm
Thanks so much for this...
by David Hopkins   #
on March 5, 2008 / 9:36am
Will thank you very much for creating this :) I was in the same position.

You should consider a donate button ;)
by Mike   #
on March 12, 2008 / 2:03am
OMG thank you so much!!! I just installed Ubuntu and am trying to wean myself off of my windows machine. This helps... a lot!
by Julian   #
on March 21, 2008 / 6:22pm
Thanks, can this get pushed on to the main website.
by Will Bond   #
on March 21, 2008 / 8:34pm
@Julian

If you read my comment above, you will notice that this version works with the customizations to Firefox specific to Ubuntu.

@Everyone

For anyone just coming to this page, be sure to try the latest official build from http://users.skynet.be/mgueury/mozilla/download.html. It has been updated three times since I released this, so the compatibility issues may not exist anymore.
by ImNotQuiteJack   #
on April 3, 2008 / 12:02pm
Will, I don't care who updated whatever official build. You're still awesome.
by levon   #
on June 24, 2008 / 4:41pm
I am still having issues with the official release. This is working a treat though. Thanks very much. Where's your donate button ;)
by Miodrag Tokic   #
on July 14, 2008 / 5:28pm
I got it working on Ubuntu 8.04 [Hardy Heron] and Firefox 3:

~$ sudo apt-get install libstdc++5 xulrunner-1.9-dev

That's all! ;)
by Simeon Anastasov   #
on July 22, 2008 / 1:24am
Big thanks to you mr. Bond... Will Bond :) I was really missing my validating buddy down there in the status bar... I can confirm for combination of Hardy 8.04 + Firefox 2.0.0.16 working with your build. Can you post (if suitable) what was the problem so there is no official .xpi for Linux on the FF addons site? Thanks again and keep up the good work :)
by Simeon Anastasov   #
on July 22, 2008 / 1:27am
Forget about my last question - i was too lazy to read through the whole comment chain. Now I got it :)
by Amit   #
on August 5, 2008 / 6:21am
Thanks for the share it is really an excellent plugin. I was looking for the same from a long time.

Now at last i got it with your help.
by Benjamin Nolan   #
on August 29, 2008 / 5:14am
Hmm... The fix listed above by Miodrag Tokic doesn't seem to work on Firefox 3.0.1 on Ubuntu 8.04 the official build of HTML Validator, and the .xpi you've attached above announces its incompatibility when installation is attempted.

Is there any chance you can detail the changes you made so I can at least begin to try to fix one or the other of these problems? Changing the compatible versions in the .xpi contents makes Firefox have a hissy-fit. :)
by Will Bond   #
on August 29, 2008 / 8:23am
@Benjamin

The official XPI from http://users.skynet.be/mgueury/mozilla/download.html works perfectly on 8.04 with Firefox 3 if you install http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/libstdc++5. You can install libstdc++5 through the command line by running sudo apt-get install libstdc++5.

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About the Author

Will's Head Will Bond, Senior Technical Architect
I’m involved with everything technical at iMarc from servers to coding and markup best practices. I’m also the unofficial resident open source advocate.

After work I spend time with my awesome wife, daughter & son in and around our home in beautiful Newbury, MA.
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