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How to browse *.jar (or *.zip) file contents from within firefox?

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I would like to browse some jar archives (basically zip files) that are on my local disk, that have HTML content. Is it possible to browse these transparently through firefox using the `file://` protocol? When I try to do this, Firefox prompts me to save the file. I want to specifically avoid having to save and uncompress the file manually.

I would like to browse some jar archives (basically zip files) that are on my local disk, that have HTML content. Is it possible to browse these transparently through firefox using the `file://` protocol? When I try to do this, Firefox prompts me to save the file. I want to specifically avoid having to save and uncompress the file manually.

All Replies (7)

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FF is just a Browser and to view such files requires different software to do that.

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There were some add-ons that would work with such files.

Go to the Mozilla Add-ons Web Page {web Link} (There’s a lot of good stuff here) and search for what you want.

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WestEnd said

FF is just a Browser and to view such files requires different software to do that.

FF is however able to render directory contents (with the file:// protocol) as well as several file types e.g. pdf files with in-built viewers. Why wouldn't it be able to do this?

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Firefox has code to extract and/or read inside some zip archives -- extensions with a .xpi extension are zip archives -- but this is not made available for use in a tab. Why not? Who knows...

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cor-el trɔe

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Until recently I was using rekonq with KDE-KIO-slaves to browse zipped HTML. But since the 18.04 LTS Kubuntu dropped that browser. So I'm looking for an alternative, that can either read zips natively or has an interface with kio-slaves.

private_lock trɔe

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private_lock said

I'm looking for an alternative, that can either read zips natively or has an interface with kio-slaves.

I don't think that is built into Firefox.