Cluttermagnet Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 I've had this problem before. Being new to Linux, I have trouble locating things or remembering where they live on my drive. Even after a year's experience with Ubuntu, I have again forgotten where Firefox's bookmarks.html is stored in my file system in Ubuntu. I looked first. Wasted darned near 20 minutes and still haven't figured out where the file lives. It is taking me a long time to learn this file system because I just don't do this sort of thing often enough.BTW I was able to locate the file itself with a search. And I know it's there and working. All I need to know is the *exact address on my hard drive*. I'm going to make copies to put on other machines (after I do a thorough cleaning of my bookmarks using the Firefox bookmarks manager). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 Open up a terminal and issue : $ su$ <root password goes here># updatedb# exit$ locate bookmarks.html It'll show you exactly where it is.What the above does is this:To be able to search for the file you first have to update the 'search-database' with the updatedb command, being issued as root: that's why the su is used. Immediately thereafter you log out as root, no need to stay root any longer.You then issue the search command 'locate somefile' and the program searches for it.note: After the 'updatedb' command wait a few moment until the prompt comes back, in the mean time the program updates its database: this can take a couple of minutes to less than one second, depending on when you updated the database last time.On my MDV2008.1 (KDE) it is at:/home/my_username/.mozilla/firefox/some_number.default When doing this on my system it shows: $ locate bookmarks.html/home/my_username/.local/share/codeina/mozembed/bookmarks.html/home/my_username/.mozilla/firefox/some_number.default/bookmarks.html <------- this is the one/home/my_username/Deposit/ff_ext/bookmarks.html<------ my personal copy of it/usr/lib64/firefox-2.0.0.13/defaults/profile/bookmarks.html/usr/share/drakfirsttime/firefox/drakfirsttime/bookmarks.htmlFrom experience I know where to look, (the /home directory in the hidden (!) .mozilla directory), and sure it is there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urmas Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 Yup. Ubuntu Hardy/FF3:/home/my_username/.mozilla/firefox/some_number.default/bookmarks.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted May 12, 2008 Author Share Posted May 12, 2008 (edited) Thanks, striker-The search $ locate bookmarks.html did just fine. It is at /home/clutter/.mozilla/firefox/nnnn.default/bookmarks.html.Two things had thrown me off- the need to enable 'view hidden folders'; also just remembering that my profile is represented by a 'gobbledygook' arbitrary number. When I looked for it before, it was actually hiding in plain sight. I didn't realize/ remember that the unique 'garbage' number file should be opened. I'm rusty at this. I think that in Windows I used to get stronger clues because there was a higher level folder titled "preferences". Such a folder name is not in Ubuntu.Edit: Hmmm- actually, as I look at the search results more, I suspect the right one might be in /etc/firefox/profile/bookmarks.html. There were 3 results to my search. The one I listed above is probably just the tiny default bookmarks from Mozilla. My actual bookmarks has swollen to around 2.7M. It won't be too hard to figure out which one it is. :hysterical:Nope- the one in /etc/profile,,, is only 31K, and the one is /home/clutter/.firefox... is 2.7M, so that's the one. Edited May 12, 2008 by Cluttermagnet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted May 12, 2008 Author Share Posted May 12, 2008 (edited) Yup. Ubuntu Hardy/FF3:/home/my_username/.mozilla/firefox/some_number.default/bookmarks.html Thanks, Urmas-I had figured out the 'show hidden files' thing on my own, but the goobledygook number for the default profile folder had thrown me for a loop. Got it. I'm back up to speed (I guess). I got rusty... I just need to do work with files and folders more often. In 98SE, I pretty much knew them cold.BTW someone in this forum, you? striker? had listed a url to a real nice 'organizational chart' which shows a generic Linux file structure. I printed it out and have found it quite helpful.P.S. Hey, I'm up to 13 computers now. I just built a couple more. I have 2 of them 'out there' with other users. The rest are at home. Of those, 8 are pretty recent, P4 types. 6 of the 8 presently work, 2 are either being canibalized for parts and/or rebuilt. I think I'm going to farm out a couple more of them to others. I always talk up Linux OS's when the opportunity comes around. I have had 2 such conversations just in the past week. Heh! :thumbsup:Oh, and of course there either is or will be a copy of a Linux OS on each and every one. I think I have just 1 Windows only box left here. It is getting a copy of Mandriva or maybe Sidux very soon. And PClos on another one, and so on... Edited May 12, 2008 by Cluttermagnet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urmas Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 P.S. Hey, I'm up to 13 computers now. I just built a couple more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted May 12, 2008 Author Share Posted May 12, 2008 Yep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 I think you mean either one of those, the first one Urmas posted some time ago:http://geek2live.blogspot.com/2007/09/linu...-structure.htmlIt's not my fav because it's completely wrong, while using all uppercase... and you know how the filesystem structure in linux looks by now...So one which looks better is this one:http://www.debianadmin.com/linux-directory...e-overview.html ;)The best however (imo) is this oldie from the SuSE linux 8.2 User Guide which I still have here:http://www-uxsup.csx.cam.ac.uk/pub/doc/sus...l#sec:files.dirand another one from 10.1 can be found here:http://elibrary.fultus.com/technical/topic...l.html#sec.bash(scroll down to 3.1.2. Linux Directory Structure ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommyj12 Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 You may wanna check out foxmarks. I love it and it works across platforms for me. Saves them all to a server, and will sync them all together for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybormoron Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 (edited) another endorsement for foxmarks from me as well. it's a must have.another good trick is to email a copy to yourself. you need 2 web email accounts for this. just export the html file to your desktop (or wherever), send to your yahoo from gmail or vice versa. i have stuff that is 5 years old in my yahoo accounts, so i would say it works good. my problem is that i have so many bookmarks files i can't find what i'm looking for, lol. Edited May 12, 2008 by cybormoron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 The fastest backup ever: just copy your bookmarks.html to a SD card, works on all OS where you need it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 I'm going to make copies to put on other machines You don't have to search for the location to do this.Highlight Bookmarks and select Organize Bookmarks. Click on File then export and copy to a USB stick or SD card as striker mentioned. Mine still fit on a floppy, LOL.I archive them every few weeks just so I have a current copy.Then I can copy them (like to my new eeepc).To copy do the steps above but select import. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillD Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 In PCLos, Mandriva, etc., where you have a "home" folder, the bookmarks are easy to find in the .mozilla/firefox identity and you can copy them from there (or put them in) without this export, import nonsense. The problem with Ubuntu, finding home was a problem for me Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted May 13, 2008 Share Posted May 13, 2008 On my system:/home/vtel57/.mozilla/firefox/xqx2hvq4.default/bookmarks.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted May 13, 2008 Share Posted May 13, 2008 They are virtually always in your home/yourname/.mozilla. All you have to do is browse to there. USB is a slick way to do it. I kept a backup of mine on my gmail or yahoo account (any account that held the files on line) so I could access them from anywhere. I did the same thing with a copy of my boot up instructions and my file structure for each machine so I could repair, do whatever, easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
réjean Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 Hi Julia and all!I do the same regarding a copy of my bookmarks ( either/both my gmail and yahoo account ) this way I don't have to search for that grrr usb drive all the time and having a copy on both email accounts I know that I won't loose them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted May 16, 2008 Author Share Posted May 16, 2008 Thanks guys-A busy week here, but I did get all your great suggestions. Thanks!Striker, it was the first link which I had printed. Yes, the caps were annoying, but still it was a useful chart. The following links you provided are indeed better. I bookmarked all, and will print the rest. Teacher and Zlim, I did use a couple of USB flash drives to save bookmarks.html this time.Cyber and Tommy, I will look into Foxmarks. I like the cross platform idea. Neat!To everyone else- I eventually did find it, but I needed help. I find it amusing now, but it just goes to show how rusty I was. I think what threw me off is the lack of context in Ubuntu. I'm used to finding my profile in 98SE a little more clearly labeled, i.e. under an up-level folder labeled "Profiles", as I remember. Given that context, the random number stands out. Lacking that context, I kept blowing right by it. D'oh! (slaps self in forehead) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
striker Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 Thanks guys-A busy week here, but I did get all your great suggestions. Thanks!Striker, it was the first link which I had printed. Yes, the caps were annoying, but still it was a useful chart. The following links you provided are indeed better. I bookmarked all, and will print the rest. Teacher and Zlim, I did use a couple of USB flash drives to save bookmarks.html this time.Cyber and Tommy, I will look into Foxmarks. I like the cross platform idea. Neat!To everyone else- I eventually did find it, but I needed help. I find it amusing now, but it just goes to show how rusty I was. I think what threw me off is the lack of context in Ubuntu. I'm used to finding my profile in 98SE a little more clearly labeled, i.e. under an up-level folder labeled "Profiles", as I remember. Given that context, the random number stands out. Lacking that context, I kept blowing right by it. D'oh! (slaps self in forehead) Oh, you have those moments too ? Glad I'm not the only one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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