KSonny4/linux-utils-1

Utilities I use to simplify my life in the Linux system.

linux-utils

My Linux configuration and utilities

I am using the latest Fedora installation.

Installation

• Clone this repository.
• Install the necessary software.
• Run the setup.sh script which will symlink config files to their respective locations.
• Once Firefox has been configured, manually symlink the user-overrides.js file to ~/.mozilla/firefox/<profile-directory>.

Backup

Before reinstalling the system, backup the following:

• Firefox profile: ~/.mozilla/firefox/<profile-directory>:
  • places.sqlite;
  • bookmarkbackups;
  • favicons.sqlite;
  • sessionstore.jsonlz4.
• Thunderbird profile: ~/.thunderbird/<profile-directory>.
• Saved passwords: ~/.password-store.
• Downloads directory: ~/Downloads.
• Documents directory: ~/Documents.
• Pictures directory: ~/Pictures.
• Work directory: ~/Work.
• OpenVPN script: /etc/openvpn/scripts/update-systemd-resolved.
  • The script addresses some issues encountered when connecting to work VPN. However, it sometimes breaks DNS settings. These must then be restored by executing sudo nvim /etc/resolv.conf, replacing the content by nameserver <dns-server-address> and restarting the network manager by sudo service NetworkManager restart.
  • This file needs executable permissions.
• Export GPG keys.
  • gpg --armor --export-secret-keys <key-id> > <path-to-backup>/private.key
  • gpg --export-ownertrust > <path-to-backup>/ownertrust.txt
  • To restore, perform the following:
    • gpg --import <path-to-backup>/private.key
    • gpg --import-ownertrust <path-to-backup>/ownertrust.txt
• Export SSH keys.
  • Export the ~/.ssh directory.
  • To restore, copy the directory back, cd into it, run the ssh agent (eval $(ssh-agent)) and perform the following (for each private & public key pair):
    • chmod 600 id_rsa
    • chmod 644 id_rsa.pub
    • ssh-add id_rsa
  • In case the added keys are not persistent and you are required to enter the private key password on every git push, add AddKeysToAgent yes to the top of ~/.ssh/config.

System installation

• Update packages.
  • sudo dnf distro-sync -y && sync
• Update firmware.
  • sudo fwupdmgr refresh && sudo fwupdmgr update --verbose
• Enable SSD trimming.
  • sudo systemctl enable fstrim.timer
• Download a hosts file.
  • sudo wget -O '/etc/hosts' 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/StevenBlack/hosts/master/alternates/fakenews-gambling/hosts' && sync
  • The hosts script can be used here.
• Backup LUKS headers.
• Configure the touchpad on the X Window System.
  • Put the following inside /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/90-touchpad.conf.

    Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "touchpad"
        MatchIsTouchpad "on"
        Driver "libinput"
        Option "Tapping" "on"
        Option "NaturalScrolling" "on"
    EndSection
    

Software

The following software should then be installed.

Window manager

• i3, i3lock, i3status
  • sudo dnf install i3 i3lock i3status
• feh
  • sudo dnf install feh
• arandr
  • sudo dnf install arandr
• rofi
  • sudo dnf install rofi
• lxappearance
  • sudo dnf install lxappearance
  • Set the Adwaita-dark theme to kill the blinding white flash when opening a new tab in Firefox.
• dunst
  • sudo dnf install dunst
• maim
  • sudo dnf install maim
• xclip
  • sudo dnf install xclip

Internet

• Firefox
• Thunderbird
  • Thunderbird and Gmail
  • IMAP settings for Gmail
  • Install the No Message Pane Sort addon.
• Transmission

Development

• git
  • sudo dnf install git
• neovim
  • sudo dnf install neovim
  • vim-plug
• Emacs
  • sudo dnf install emacs
  • Note: My configuration requires Emacs >= 27.
• Make
  • sudo dnf install make
• IntelliJ IDEA
• PyCharm

System utilities

• Alacritty
  • sudo dnf install alacritty
• Fira Code
  • sudo dnf install fira-code-fonts
• bash-completion
  • sudo dnf install bash-completion
• ShellCheck
  • sudo dnf install ShellCheck
• tmux
  • sudo dnf install tmux
• fzf
  • sudo dnf install fzf
• ag
  • sudo dnf install the_silver_searcher
• htop
  • sudo dnf install htop
• sensors
  • sudo dnf install lm_sensors -y && sudo sensors-detect --auto
• pass
  • sudo dnf install pass
  • Download the bash completion file and put it into /etc/bash_completion.d named pass.
  • pass-extension-tail
  • pass-update
• Virtual Machine Manager
  • sudo dnf install virt-manager
• Docker
  • Instead of using dnf, follow the official instructions. The most-recent version is needed to get a proper cgroups support.
  • Create the docker group: sudo groupadd docker.
  • Add the current user to the group: sudo usermod -aG docker $USER.
  • Relog.

Media

• VLC
• cmus

Communication

• Discord
• Telegram

Firefox configuration

This section addresses the configuration of the Firefox browser.

Post-installation cleanup

• Create a new profile. Importing data from an old profile is addressed towards the end of this section.
• Remove system addons
  • Either cd /usr/lib/firefox/browser/features or cd /usr/lib64/firefox/browser/features followed by sudo rm *.xpi
  • Note that this must be redone every time Firefox is updated

Addons

1. Clear URLs

• Prevent tracking injection over history API: enabled

2. Facebook Container
3. Firefox Multi-Account Containers

• Create the desired containers, visit all matching sites in these containers and check Always open in this container
• Then (if you wish) visit them again and check Remember my decision to always open them in the assigned container

4. uBlock Origin

• Settings
  • Hide placeholders of blocked elements: enabled
  • I am an advanced user: enabled -> set suspendTabsUntilReady to true -> I am an advanced user: disabled
  • Privacy
    • Enable all
  • Default behavior
    • Disable cosmetic filtering: disabled
• Filter lists -- check the following
  • Auto-update filter lists
  • Parse and enforce cosmetic filters
  • My filters
  • Built-in
  • Ads
    • EasyList
  • Privacy:
    • EasyPrivacy
    • Fanboy’s Enhanced Tracking List
  • Malware domains: all
  • Annoyances
    • AdGuard Annoyances
    • EasyList Cookie
    • Fanboy's Annoyance
    • uBlock filters - Annoyances
  • Multipurpose
    • Dan Pollock's hosts file
    • Peter Lowe's Ad and tracking server list
  • Regions, languages
    • CZE, SVK: EasyList Czech and Slovak
    • RUS: RU AdList
  • Custom: Import this file for cryptominer blocking -- simply paste the link (not the file contents) to the 'custom' field.

5. Temporary Containers

• General
  • Automatic mode: enabled
• Isolation
  • Navigation
    • Target Domain: Different from Tab Domain & Subdomains
  • Mouse Click
    • Middle Mouse: Different from Tab Domain & Subdomains
    • Ctrl/Cmd + Left Mouse: Different from Tab Domain & Subdomains
    • Left Mouse: Different from Tab Domain & Subdomains

6. Vimium-FF

• Add the following two rules to the blacklist. They are to disable vimium-ff in Jupyter notebooks, typically found on such URLs.
  • https?://localhost*;
  • https?://\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}*;

Configuration

• I use ghacks-user.js
• Once the user-overrides.js file from this repository is symlinked to the Firefox profile directory, run the updater.sh script within the same directory.
• The user-overrides.js file includes most of the about:preferences contents. The only exception is the Search engines section which must be manually edited.
  • Select DuckDuckGo as the default search engine, remove all engines except DuckDuckGo and Wikipedia and set d and w as their respective keywords.

Import data

• Consult this document where each profile element can be found.
• I transfer Bookmarks, Downloads and Browsing History (files places.sqlite, bookmarkbackups and favicons.sqlite) and Stored session (file sessionstore.jsonlz4).

Cleanup

• Finally, after having fully configured Firefox, press Ctrl+Shift+Del and clear everything except Browsing & Download History.