fx_cast

Firefox extension that implements the Chrome sender API and exposes it to web apps to enable cast support. Communication with receiver devices is handled by a native application (bridge). Check the implementation notes for more info.

Note: No full public release yet! Pre-release beta version is incomplete and likely buggy.

Installing

Note: Currently supported on macOS, Windows and Linux.

Install the Firefox extension (from within Firefox) and companion bridge application via the installer packages. These are two separate downloads that can be found on the website or in the GitHub releases section.

On Linux platforms, it may be necessary to configure local hostname resolution.

Package managers

• Arch Linux (AUR) - https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/fx_cast/

  yay -S fx_cast
  

Usage

Most websites won't load the cast API unless the browser presents itself as Chrome. The extension includes a whitelist for sites that should be given a Chrome-compatible user agent string. Whitelist entries are specified as match patterns. To whitelist all sites, add <all_urls> to the whitelist, though this is not recommended and could cause breakage on random sites.

Whitelisted sites should then display a cast button as in Chrome, provided they're compatible with the extension/Firefox.

The Cast... menu item is visible in the page, toolbar button and tools menus, and provides access to the receiver selector at any time to stop an existing session or start screen mirroring or file casting.

HTML5 media elements also have a different Cast... context menu item that triggers the media sender, though this won't work for media using EME/MSE.

Building

Requirements

• Node.js v12.x.x
• Native build tools (see here)
• Bonjour/Avahi (on Windows/Linux respectively)

Cross-compiling native depedencies may be possible, but isn't tested or supported. Build script options are provided for building/packaging on other platforms, but assume they won't work. Packaging on Linux for other Linux package formats should work fine.

Installing dependencies

Windows:

• Bonjour SDK for Windows
• NSIS

Debian / Ubuntu:

sudo apt install libavahi-compat-libdnssd-dev dpkg rpm
# Runtime: avahi-daemon

Fedora:

sudo dnf install avahi-compat-libdns_sd-devel dpkg rpm-build
# Runtime: avahi nss-mdns

Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -S avahi dpkg
yay -S rpm-org

Instructions

git clone https://github.com/hensm/fx_cast.git
cd fx_cast
npm install
npm run build

# Install manifest for dist/ build. Installs to
# user-specific location and overrides a system-wide
# install. Call `remove-manifest` to restore previous state.
npm run install-manifest
npm run remove-manifest

This will build the ext and app, outputting to dist/:

• dist/app/

  ... contains the built bridge with launcher script and manifest with the path pointing that script. The install-manifest script copies this manifest to the proper location (or adds its current location to the registry on Windows).

• dist/ext/

  ... contains the unpacked extension.

Watching ext changes:

npm run watch --prefix ./ext

Launch Firefox with built extension (run in separate terminal):

npm run start --prefix ./ext

Extension build script arguments

• --package
  Should package with web-ext.
• --watch
  Should run webpack in watch mode.
• --mirroringAppId "<appID>"
  Provide an alternative default mirroring receiver app ID.
• --mode "production", "development"
  Run webpack in a different mode. Defaults to "development" unless combined with --package.

Bridge build script arguments

• --usePkg
  Creates a single executable instead of a launcher script.
• --package
  Builds and creates installer packages for distribution.
• --arch "x64","x86"
  Select platform arch to build for. Defaults to current platform arch.
• --skipNativeBuilds
  macOS only. Skips native receiver selector build.

32-bit on Windows

Building a 32-bit version is only supported for Windows. If you're building from a 64-bit system, you'll also need to rebuild any native dependencies as 32-bit.

npm clean-install --prefix ./app --arch=ia32  # If on a 64-bit system

npm run build:app -- -- --arch=x86 --usePkg   # If building without packaging
npm run package:app -- -- --arch=x86          # ... else if packaging

Packaging

Build and package extension and bridge application for current platform:

npm run package

• dist/app/

  ... contains the installer package: fx_cast_bridge-<version>-<arch>.(pkg|deb|rpm|exe)

• dist/ext/

  ... contains the built extension archive: fx_cast-<version>.xpi.

Packaging examples:

npm run package:ext # Packaging extension
npm run package:app # Packaging bridge application

# Linux platforms
npm run package:app -- -- --packageType=deb
npm run package:app -- -- --packageType=rpm

Bridge package script arguments

Note: Includes the build script arguments.

• --packageType "deb","rpm"
  Select the package type. Defaults to deb. Only relevant when building for Linux.

Testing

Testing requires geckodriver (or chromedriver for Chrome parity testing). See selenium-webdriver installation instructions (ignore npm install).

The test script expects a compatible installed bridge version and an extension archive at dist/ext/.

Test results will be displayed in the terminal and within the opened browser tab. Chrome may take some time to initialize the media router component before the cast API is available for testing.

npm run build --prefix ./app
npm run install-manifest
npm run package --prefix ./ext
npm test
SELENIUM_BROWSER=chrome npm test

Video Demos

Netflix / HTML5:

Credit

Note: Since it seems to be causing confusion, this project does not use electron. The electron-chromecast library was only used as a reference for the initial implementation of the API shim.

• electron-chromecast
• node-castv2
• icons8

Donation

PayPal

To donate via PayPal: