pwebarc: ./extension/README.md

A suite of tools for mirroring and hoarding web pages you visit for later offline viewing. I.e. your own personal Wayback Machine that can also archive HTTP POST requests and responses, as well as most other HTTP-level data, which also follows “archive everything now, figure out what to do with it later” philosophy

git clone https://github.com/Own-Data-Privateer/pwebarc
git clone https://oxij.org/software/pwebarc

Files

Raw Source

What is pWebArc browser extension/add-on?

pWebArc (Personal Private Passive Web Archive) is a browser add-on (extension) that passively collects and archives dumps of HTTP requests and responses to your own private archiving server (like the dumb archiving server) as you browse the web.

This is most similar to archiveweb.page but pWebArc follows “archive everything now, figure out what to do with it later” philosophy, not forcing you to manually enable it in each new tab. Also, pWebArc works both on Firefox- and Chromium-based browsers.

Basically, you install this, enable it, run the archiving server, and forget about it until you need to refer back to something you’ve seen before.

See higher-level README if the above makes little sense, or if you want to see in-depth comparisons to archiveweb.page and other similar and related software.

Screenshots

Screenshot of browser’s viewport with extension’s popup shown.
Screenshot of extension’s help page. The highlighted setting is referenced by the text under the mouse cursor.

Installation

On Firefox/Tor Browser/etc

On Chromium/Chrome

What does it do exactly? I have questions.

For general technical design description see the appropriate section in higher-level README.

For extension’s technical details see the “Help” page (local interactive version available via the “Help” button in the extension settings drop-down pane) and the FAQ there.

If your question is unanswered by these, then open an Issue on GitHub or write me an e-mail.

Building and installing from source

Build

On Firefox, Tor Browser, etc

  1. As a temporary add-on

    • Bulid it.
    • In the browser, go to about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox, click “Load Temporary Add-on” button, and select ./extension/dist/pWebArc-firefox-v*/manifest.json.
    • Then you might need to go into about:addons and enable “Run in Private Windows” for pWebArc if your Firefox is running in Private-Windows-only mode.
    • To get the debugger console go to about:debugging and press extension’s “Inspect” button.
  2. Installing an unsigned XPI

    • Bulid it.
    • Make sure your browser supports installation of unsigned add-ons (Firefox ESR, Nightly, Developer Edition, and Tor Browser do).
    • Go to about:config, set xpinstall.signatures.required to false.
    • Go to about:addons, click the gear button, select “Install Add-on from File”, and select the XPI file in ./extension/dist directory (or do File > Open File from the menu and then select the XPI file, or drag-and-drop the XPI file into the browser window).

On Chromium, Chrome, etc

  1. As an unpacked extension

    • Bulid it.
    • Go to Extensions > Manage Extensions in the menu, enable “Developer mode” toggle, press “Load Unpacked”, and select ./extension/dist/pWebArc-chromium-v* directory (navigate into it and then press the “Open” button).
    • Then press “Extensions” toolbar button and pin “pWebArc”.
    • To get the debugger console press “Inspect views” link after the extension’s ID.
  2. As CRX

    • You can build it, but
    • installing the CRX manually does not appear work in modern version of Chromium/Chrome.