OverbiteNX — The Overbite Project

OverbiteNX is an experimental addon to allow Firefox 59+ to (as) seamlessly (as possible) access legacy Gopher resources like any other URL in Firefox. To get around limitations in WebExtensions, OverbiteNX uses the Onyx native Gopher component to access the network on its behalf. This component is open source and can be built from scratch if you'd prefer not to run an untrusted binary.

OverbiteNX is strictly experimental. If you are concerned about the use of a binary component, even one that you can build yourself, you should use our companion addon OverbiteWX, which strictly uses WebExtensions APIs. However, OverbiteWX cannot directly access the network and can only use pre-existing public HTTP-to-Gopher proxies. Eventually when these APIs are added OverbiteWX will be upgraded to support them, but until then, if you prefer not to use a third-party service you now have another choice.

How to install:

1. Download or build the Onyx native component according to the instructions. You can download a pre-built installer, or view the source code and instructions on Github. Pre-built binaries are available for Windows (32-bit, compatible with 64-bit) or macOS 10.12+.
2. Install the extension. You may need to disable OverbiteWX if it is already installed, as it may conflict.
3. Click on a Gopher link, or browse to any URL starting with gopher://
4. The first time this is done, Firefox will ask if you want to use OverbiteNX to browse the site, along with a checkbox to remember this setting (strongly suggested). Select it and allow it to continue, and the Gopher site will load and be contacted.

Known issues:

• This is a test release. Copious debugging output will be made to the browser log. Once confidence of functionality is assured, this debugging output will be removed. If you want to report an issue with Onyx or OverbiteNX, please include this output.
• The URL bar will not show the gopher:// URL, but rather a system-dependent internal extension URL. However, history and favourites will have the correct URL in them.
• Proxies are not yet supported. If you must use a proxy connection to reach the Internet, Onyx will not be able to connect to any sites.

OverbiteNX will hopefully be only a bridging extension, but will enable users uncomfortable with the use of a proxy the choice for continuing to access the useful and rapid services still available in Gopherspace.