Knowledge Base

LWSP upgrade for Luanti 5.17.0

bgstack15 — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 12:40:00 GMT

Luanti's recent release of version 5.17.0 added a feature that validates ContentDB package author using a simple regex, but Luanti WebServices Proxy overloads the author field with the backend server connection information, so I had to update LWSP to fix this.

The validations fit entirely in this block, in file builtin/mainmenu/content/contentdb.lua

for i = #packages, 1, -1 do
    local package = packages[i]
    if not (type(package.author) == "string" and
            type(package.name) == "string" and
            type(package.type) == "string" and
            type(package.release) == "number" and
            package.author:match("^[%w _%-.]+$") and
            package.name:match("^[a-z0-9_]+$")) then
        core.log("warning", "ContentDB: Dropping invalid package: " .. dump(package))
        table.remove(packages, i)
    end
end

So it's lua, thankfully, which is way easier for me to read than C++. An easy fix would be to adjust the client lua file to add a colon and tilde in the package author regex.

package.author:match("^[%w _%-.~:]+$") and

But seeing as how nobody else will adjust their client configs to allow that, so I adjusted lwsp to split author and host+proto with _AT_ rather than ~, and also replace a colon with _colon_. It's longer and a little less pretty, but it matches the vanilla client expectations. Not everyone who might use lwsp will use a stackrpms build of Luanti.

Librewolf 154 problem and downgrade problems

bgstack15 — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 12:40:00 GMT

I don't have a good story today. I was a few months behind on my Librewolf releases, so I wanted to work on that. So last week I got 154.0.1 packaged.

And today I finally installed it, and then I learned the settings panel is completely empty! It's broken. But the app compiles and operates. I needed to tweak some settings, and I couldn't find them in about:config, so I wanted to use the about:preferences. It's only broken in my build, which I'm sure has something to do with my debianized-firefox+librewolf-patches process.

So in the meantime, I downgraded back to 150.0.1 and restored my browser profile from backup (that I take monthly). But my browser had deleted the extensions for passkeys, and I need passkeys unfortunately. So I had to go find those again. Apparently, the files had been deleted from the profile directory. It was shockingly hard to get ahold of the .xpi files directly; the Firefox extensions website really wants to have the browser use the file rather than letting you download it: "The appification of stuff" instead of letting a power user download the file and use it.

When I was able to have it try to use the file (begrudgingly directly from the website), the browser said it was corrupted and would not work. So it didn't even save the file anywhere.

I started panicking, because I absolutely need a passkey for certain sites. They would not let me log in with a password.

Remember, this was the previous version of the browser that had worked 1.5 hours ago before updating.

I reset my browser profile to fresh and tried the extensions again; I can just import my history and bookmarks if I have to. Unfortunately, it still thought the files were corrupted. So I started investigating those. I eventually found a way to "install addons temporarily" which showed me one error message.

Internal error: Invalid string format contentSecurityPolicySandbox

Well, that string didn't exist anywhere in these xpi files, and also I hadn't changed any settings about that. Even a fresh 150.0.1 profile malfunctioned too.

I started poking at the patches (more) to see if anything was related to that string, and I couldn't find anything.

For some reason, when I blanked the profile a second time, then I could install the extensions again. And then when I restored my backup of the browser profile, all of a sudden it was back, with the extensions working.

So for now, everything is working for me again, but on an old version of the browser.

And I still have to fix the debianized librewolf build process so that the settings page works. I don't know what level of effort that will take. I don't want to give up on debianizing librewolf. I'm sure the Debian people have good reasons to debianize Firefox, and I want that, plus the librewolf bits.

Run thumbnailer for arbitrary paths

bgstack15 — Sun, 30 Aug 2026 13:07:00 GMT

For some reason, it's complex to tell a thumbnailer program to index arbitrary paths, such as a single directory or even single file. I don't relish using dbus, but begrudgingly use it to accomplish some goals. I'm pragmatic, to a degree.

Apparently tools like tumbler need dbus to receive messages about what paths to index.

So I vibecoded some syntax for dbus commands and some filetypes for a find operation, and wrote some functions that I find useful.

files/2026/listings/thumbnail_functions.sh (Source)

#!/bin/sh
# File: thumbnail_functions.sh
# Location: https://bgstack15.ddns.net/blog/posts/2026/08/30/run-thumbnailer-for-arbitrary-paths/
# Author: bgstack15
# Startdate: 2026-08-17-2 19:29
# Title: Functions for Thumbnail Operations
# Purpose: Store all thumbnail operations in one location
# History:
# Usage:
#    source this file, and call the functions you want
#    . thumbnail_functions.sh
#    thumbnail_dir ~/Downloads
# Reference:
#    man busctl
# Improve:
# Dependencies:
#    A thumbnailer implementation, perhaps tumbler
# Documentation:
#    Running these commands in other windows:
#       busctl --user monitor org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Thumbnailer1
#       G_MESSAGES_PREFIXED= G_MESSAGES_DEBUG=all /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/tumbler-1/tumblerd
#    Bare command:
#       busctl --user call org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Thumbnailer1 /org/freedesktop/thumbnails/Thumbnailer1 org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Thumbnailer1 Queue asasssu 2 file:///home/bgstack15/Downloads/godzilla.jpg file:///home/bgstack15/Downloads/mary-had-a-little-lamb.jpg 2 "image/jpeg" "image/jpeg" "xx-large" "" 0
#       gdbus call --session --dest org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Thumbnailer1 --object-path /org/freedesktop/thumbnails/Thumbnailer1 --method org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Thumbnailer1.Queue "['file:///home/bgstack15/Downloads/godzilla.jpg']" "['image/jpeg']" "normal" "[]" "0"
#       WARNING: dbus-send does not correctly handle commas in the filenames. I was unable to discover how to escape the comma.
#       dbus-send --dest=org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Thumbnailer1 /org/freedesktop/thumbnails/Thumbnailer1 org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Thumbnailer1.Queue array:string:"file:///path/to/your/file.jpg" array:string:"image/jpeg" string:"normal" string:"leave-on-disk" uint32:0

thumbnail_dir() {
    _dir="${DIR:-${1:-.}}"
    _size="${THUMBNAIL_SIZE:-${2:-normal}}"
    _recursive="${RECURSIVE}"
    _max_depth="${MAX_DEPTH:-1}"
    if test -z "${_recursive}" ;
    then
        if echo " ${@} " | grep -qiE -e ' -r | --recursive ' 1>/dev/null 2>&1 ;
        then
            # safety max depth.
            _max_depth=10
        fi
    fi
    _infiles="$(
        find "${_dir}" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth "${_max_depth}" -type f \( \
            -iname '*.png' -o -iname '*.jpg' -o -iname '*.jpeg' -o -iname '*.webp' -o -iname '*.gif' \
            -o -iname '*.bmp' -o -iname '*.tif' -o -iname '*.tiff' -o -iname '*.svg' -o -iname '*.avif' \
            -o -iname '*.heic' -o -iname '*.ico' -o -iname '*.jp2' -o -iname '*.jxl' -o -iname '*.apng' \
            \) -print0 \
        | sed -r -e 's/ /%20/g;' | xargs -0 -I{} printf '%s ' "{}"
    )"

    _uris="$(
        for _word in ${_infiles} ; do
            printf '"file://%s" ' "${_word}"
        done
    )"

    _mimetypes="$(
        for _word in ${_infiles} ; do
            _n="$( echo "${_word}" | sed -r -e 's/%20/ /g;' )"
            file -b --mime-type "${_n}" | xargs -I{} printf '%s ' "{}"
        done
    )"

    _len="$( printf '%s\n' "${_infiles}" | wc -w )"
    eval busctl --user call org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Thumbnailer1 /org/freedesktop/thumbnails/Thumbnailer1 \
        org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Thumbnailer1 Queue \
        "asasssu" \
        "${_len}" "${_uris}" \
        "${_len}" "${_mimetypes}" \
        "${_size}" \
        "\"\"" \
        0
}

thumbnail_file() {
    _file="${FILE:-${1}}"
    _size="${THUMBNAIL_SIZE:-${2:-normal}}"
    _mimetype="$( file -b --mime-type "${_file}" 2>/dev/null )"
    _file="$( echo "${_file}" | sed -r -e 's/ /%20/g;' )"
    busctl --user call org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Thumbnailer1 /org/freedesktop/thumbnails/Thumbnailer1 \
        org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Thumbnailer1 Queue \
        "asasssu" \
        "1" "file://${_file}" \
        "1" "${_mimetype}" \
        "${_size}" \
        "" \
        0
}

So now I can run the following, to force the thumbnailer to interpret a directory.

. ./thumbnail_functions.sh
thumbnail_dir ~/Downloads

mcl_villager_cheats now includes a "reload trades" button

bgstack15 — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 13:05:00 GMT

I was inspired by some recent conversations about an upcoming new Luanti mod about randomizing the trades a villager offers, and I wrote my own implementation! It involved copying the entirety of the villager code from Mineclonia (ContentDB) and adding a small patch. Well, and the logic for changing the trades too.

The concept of rotating trades of a villager can be done in-game, for a villager who has never traded, by removing his job block and replacing it. This button short-circuits that. And my implementation leaves it possible even after the villager has participated in a trade. So yes, it's cheating, but that's in the name of the mod. I don't even have a configuration setting for disabling it if the villager xp > 0 (that is, he has traded at all). I could add it, if anybody is interested.

files/2026/listings/diff-villager.patch (Source)

Date: 2026-08-11
Message: The difference between Mineclonia villager.lua and mcl_villager_cheats villager.lua
Last-Version: 0.123.0
Author: bgstack15
Command: diff -aur ~/.minetest/games/mineclonia/mods/ENTITIES/mobs_mc/villager.lua ~/.minetest/mods/mcl_villager_cheats/villager.lua
--- .minetest/games/mineclonia/mods/ENTITIES/mobs_mc/villager.lua	2026-07-26 14:20:37.152618130 -0400
+++ .minetest/mods/mcl_villager_cheats/villager.lua	                2026-08-11 11:52:24.416485282 -0400
@@ -711,6 +711,12 @@
  list[current_player;main;3.97,7.98;9,1;]
 
 ]]
+-- stackrpms,6
+fs_footer_template = fs_footer_template ..
+	"image_button[4.0,0.2;1.0,1.0;mcl_villager_cheats_reload.png;reload;]" ..
+	"tooltip[reload;Randomize available trades" ..
+	core.colorize("#47f424","\n(" .. core.get_current_modname() .. ")") ..
+	";#000000;#ffffff]"
 
 -- arg 1 = %s = wanted
 -- arg 2 = %s = wanted tooltip
@@ -903,6 +909,15 @@
 
 core.register_on_player_receive_fields (function (player, formname, fields)
 	if formname == "mobs_mc:trading_formspec" then
+		--stackrpms,9
+		if fields.reload then
+			local trader = trading_players[player]
+			if trader and is_valid (trader) then
+				mcl_villager_cheats.reload_trades(trader)
+				local entity = trader:get_luaentity ()
+				entity:reload_trades()
+			end
+		end
 		if fields.quit then
 			return_fields (player)
 			local trader = trading_players[player]
@@ -942,6 +957,11 @@
 		type = "detached",
 		name = inv_name,
 	})
+	-- stackrpms,5 Need to remove the previous inventory, so this new inventory
+	if inv then
+		core.remove_detached_inventory(inv_name)
+		inv = nil
+	end
 	if not inv then
 		inv = core.create_detached_inventory (inv_name, inv_class,
 							  playername)
@@ -6783,4 +6803,5 @@
 -- Villager spawning.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-mcl_mobs.register_egg ("mobs_mc:villager", S("Villager"), "#563d33", "#bc8b72", 0)
+-- stackrpms,2 Do not run this again
+--mcl_mobs.register_egg ("mobs_mc:villager", S("Villager"), "#563d33", "#bc8b72", 0)

Mineclonia in Devuan Ceres needs SDL2

bgstack15 — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 13:25:00 GMT

In Devuan Ceres (unstable), I had a problem with Mineclonia (my build of Luanti). Shift+left click would not move items in the inventory screens. A shift+left click normally moves the entire stack (to whichever destination). Shift+middle click still works. So somehow it's just shift+left click.

I was not the first to discover this bug.

Come to find out, in Devuan unstable, libsdl2-2.0-0 version 2.32.70+ds-1 is a sdl2-compat layer for sdl3. That is, it uses SDL3 but with the bindings for sdl2 so an application can use it like it uses sdl2.

Apparently I wanted to install libsdl2-classic which is real SDL2. And then I need to add this to my invocation of my game:

SDL_DYNAMIC_API='/usr/$LIB/sdl2-classic/libSDL2-2.0.so.0' mineclonia

I can live with that. I'm sure libsdl2-classic will go away eventually, but then also eventually hopefully they'll fix their bug in SDL3.

git submodule instructions

bgstack15 — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 13:12:00 GMT

For some reason I can't ever get this right, and have to search it over and over. Shamelessly ripped from Pull latest changes for all git submodules - Stack Overflow.

If you failed to git clone --recurse-submodules <repo>, then you can initialize with this command inside the repo directory.

git submodule update --init --recursive

Update with this.

git submodule update --recursive

Reduce file size of images in Linux

bgstack15 — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 12:38:00 GMT

This is a quick and dirty method that is going to lose quality of an image, and all metadata. Do this if you're just in a hurry to share something without full info. It will replace the input file, so do this only on a copy!

jpegoptim --max=85 --strip-all input.jpg

References

Straight from Reduce File Size of Images in Linux - CLI and GUI methods | DigitalOcean

AoE2DE CaptureAge on Linux for 2026

bgstack15 — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:10:00 GMT

I ended up having to use a fuller script from TeknoHamster.

I also had to do some crazy tricks with protontricks or winetricks to run protontrikcs 813780 d3dcompiler_47. I think what ended up working was adjusting the script to run a winetricks command in the WINEPREFIX.

files/2026/listings/captureage.sh (Source)

	`#!/usr/bin/env bash`
	`# Taken directly from https://gist.githubusercontent.com/TeknoHamster/d8b2f90a1cd618074aa1e35c81e7bc4b/raw/972832a3e37ef32d255804d19aae99550ec9fb26/captureage from https://gist.github.com/TeknoHamster/d8b2f90a1cd618074aa1e35c81e7bc4b`

	`APPID=813780`
	`STEAM_PATH="${STEAM_PATH:-$HOME/.local/share/Steam}"`
	`PROTON_NAME="${PROTON_NAME:-Proton - Experimental}"`

	`export PROTON_LOG=1`
	`export STEAMAPPS="$STEAM_PATH/steamapps"`
	`export STEAM_COMPAT_DATA_PATH="$STEAMAPPS/compatdata/$APPID"`
	`export STEAM_COMPAT_CLIENT_INSTALL_PATH="$STEAM_PATH"`
	`export WINEPREFIX="$STEAM_COMPAT_DATA_PATH/pfx"`
	`export GAME_DIR="$STEAMAPPS/common/AoE2DE"`
	`export GAME_DIR_WIN='S:\common\AoE2DE'`
	`export CAPTUREAGE_STATE="$WINEPREFIX/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Roaming/CaptureAge/persistedState_prod.json"`
	`export CAPTUREAGE_EXE_WIN='C:\users\steamuser\AppData\Local\Programs\CaptureAge\CaptureAge.exe'`
	`export CAPTUREAGE_DIR_WIN='C:\users\steamuser\AppData\Local\Programs\CaptureAge'`
	`export STEAM_COMPAT_INSTALL_PATH="$GAME_DIR"`
	`export STEAM_COMPAT_LIBRARY_PATHS="$STEAMAPPS"`
	`export PROTON_SET_GAME_DRIVE=1`
	`# Adjust the path to the proton executable used by Age of Empires II`
	`export PROTON_EXEC="${PROTON_EXEC:-$STEAMAPPS/common/$PROTON_NAME/proton}"`
	`# export WINEDEBUG=warn+all # This is for debug logs`
	`# export OBS_VKCAPTURE=1 # Enable this for OBS Videogame capture`

	`prepare_prefix() {`
	`local game_dir_win`
	`local game_dir_escaped`

	`game_dir_win="$GAME_DIR_WIN"`
	`game_dir_escaped="${game_dir_win//\\/\\\\}"`

	`mkdir -p "$WINEPREFIX/dosdevices"`
	`ln -sfn "$STEAMAPPS" "$WINEPREFIX/dosdevices/s:"`

	`if [ -f "$WINEPREFIX/user.reg" ]; then`
	`GAME_DIR_ESCAPED="$game_dir_escaped" perl -0pi -e 'BEGIN{$r=$ENV{GAME_DIR_ESCAPED}} s#"Install Location"="[^"]*"#"Install Location"="$r"#g' "$WINEPREFIX/user.reg"`
	`fi`

	`if [ -f "$CAPTUREAGE_STATE" ]; then`
	`tmp_state="$(mktemp)"`
	`jq --arg dir "$game_dir_win" '.lastUsedGameDirectory = $dir' "$CAPTUREAGE_STATE" > "$tmp_state" && mv "$tmp_state" "$CAPTUREAGE_STATE"`
	`fi`
	`}`

	`reg_add() {`
	`"$PROTON_EXEC" run reg add "$@"`
	`}`
	`#This creates Windows registries to make the Spectate with CA button work`
	`register_captureage() {`
	`local protocol_command`

	`protocol_command="\"$CAPTUREAGE_EXE_WIN\" \"%1\""`

	`for root in HKCU\\Software\\Classes HKLM\\Software\\Classes; do`
	`reg_add "$root\\captureage" /ve /d "URL:captureage" /f`
	`reg_add "$root\\captureage" /v "URL Protocol" /d "" /f`
	`reg_add "$root\\captureage\\shell\\open\\command" /ve /d "$protocol_command" /f`
	`done`

	`for root in HKCU HKLM; do`
	`reg_add "$root\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\App Paths\\CaptureAge.exe" /ve /d "$CAPTUREAGE_EXE_WIN" /f`
	`reg_add "$root\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\App Paths\\CaptureAge.exe" /v "Path" /d "$CAPTUREAGE_DIR_WIN" /f`
	`done`
	`}`

	`#install capture age (only needed once). Adjust the location to point to the installer you downloaded.`
	`#"$PROTON_EXEC" run "$PWD/CaptureAgeSetup.exe"`

	`# run capture age`
	`# Older version of CA:DE were installed in AppData/Local/Programs/CaptureAge . If it doesn't launch for you, check this path`
	`prepare_prefix`
	`register_captureage`
	`"$PROTON_EXEC" run "C:/users/steamuser/AppData/Local/Programs/CaptureAge/CaptureAge.exe"`

onfoss.org from browser history

bgstack15 — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 12:41:00 GMT

I was on a travel laptop and I was looking through my browser history. I found this really awesome site I didn't recall visiting: onfoss.org. This is some group of people who get together to virtual LAN party!

This is really fascinating, that I didn't remember this at all! This place links to so many free and libre software titles. I've only heard of some of them.

I already play some of them.

SuperTuxKart
VoxeLibre, a game in the Luanti engine
0 A.D.

I've heard of a few that I haven't played.

And loads I haven't heard of before!

There's so many here that I hadn't heard of before! Most of them are first-person shooters, and I play only a couple of those. But they're all FLOSS, which is very important!

Idea: use protonup for Lego Universe

bgstack15 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 12:42:00 GMT

I have not formalized this process, but I tested it at least once: you can use protonup to get a Wine (Proton) environment for running Lego Universe.

I use Devuan GNU+Linux, release Ceres (unstable) which is based on Debian Sid (unstable), and the current package for wine is version 10.0~repack-12, but 10.0~repack-6 is the last wine package that runs Lego Universe client. I suspect it is an oversight, related to the combining of 32-bit and 64-bit/wow64 stuff I don't understand, and people in Debian unstable don't seem to test or care about.

If you want to fetch 10.0~repack-6, set this in file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/snapshot.list:

# 2025-11-02-1 16:05 Fix DLU Lego Universe client
deb [check-valid-until=no] http://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian/20251001T203719Z/ unstable main

So for over half a year now I've had to pin an old version of wine, albeit the same upstream version string but a different repack in my Linux distro. I dislike having to pin to old versions of things (that are too big for me to compile myself).

If I ever need to upgrade wine to current (and they haven't fixed the 32-bit/64-bit whatever), I could use protonup to easily fetch GE-Proton.

To install protonup, I had to use a virtual environment.

python3 -m venv ~/venv1
. ~/venv1/bin/activate
pip install protonup
protonup --releases | tail # find highest version
protonup -t GE-Proton11-1

It will prompt to confirm the installation, and also print the deployed directory.

[INFO] Installed in: /home/bgstack15/.steam/root/compatibilitytools.d/GE-Proton11-1

Use that for PROTONPREFIX or WINEPREFIX when running an application.