;;;;;
title: Auto-suggestions for DuckDuckGo in Conkeror
tags: conkeror, config
date: 2014-06-03 22:08
format: md
;;;;;

Recently [DuckDuckGo](https://duckduckgo.com) gave its UI a big
overhaul. One of the new parts of the UI is the auto-suggestions,
which are pretty cool, especially when working with `!bang` syntax. I
want that in my conkeror webjump! So I started looking...

Turns out that [Conkeror](http://conkeror.org) can work with
[OpenSearch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSearch) descriptions to
create webjumps and actually already has a DuckDuckGo OpenSearch XML
file. However, DuckDuckGo has a newer version of that file.

So, for starters you should download the proper XML
[file](https://duckduckgo.com/opensearch.xml). After this, you can
replace the `/usr/share/conkeror/search-engines/duckduckgo.xml`
file[<sup>1</sup>](#fn1) with the newly downloaded one and you'd be
done, ready to use the new auto-suggest
functionality[<sup>2</sup>](#fn2).

If, however, you don't like overwriting your package's files because
they may get overwritten again in the future[<sup>3</sup>](#fn3) or
you really don't think it's proper, you can also create a custom
webjump that does the same thing, which is what I did.

In case you are following my lead, first we'd need to put the
downloaded XML file somewhere. I suggest
`~/.conkerorrc/search-engines` because that way everything in your
configuration stays nice and contained, although you might want to put
it in your
`~/.conkeror.mozdev.org/conkeror/CODE.PROFILE/search-engines`, where
`CODE` is an eight-character alphanumeric sequence (as far as I can
tell) and `PROFILE` is the name of the profile you
use[<sup>4</sup>](#fn4), because that should already be included in
your `opensearch_load_paths`.

If you put the XML in your `.conkerorrc` you'll need to add that
directory to your `opensearch_load_paths`, so put something like the
following in your `init.js`, or whichever filename you use for your
conkeror init:

    opensearch_load_paths.push(make_file("~/.conkerorrc/search-engines"));

After Conkeror knows where to find your custom search engine
specifications you can create a webjump for it:

    define_opensearch_webjump("ddg", "ddg.xml");

Once you evaluate these lines or restart your Conkeror, you should
have a `ddg` webjump with auto-suggestion. Yay!

## Footnotes

1. <a name="fn1"></a> I have Conkeror installed in `/usr`, so if you
   have it installed somewhere else your path will be different.

2. <a name="fn2"></a> You might have to restart Conkeror first, I
   didn't test it without restarting.

3. <a name="fn3"></a> This can of course happen when, for example,
   your package manager updates your Conkeror installation.

4. <a name="fn4"></a> The default profile is named (appropriately)
   `default`.

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