Linterna Mágica

See the available translations of this page See the table of contents See the first section

Download version 0.0.13-2

Watch video on the web in a brand new way: "You don't need a glint, the magic lantern is ignited!"

Translations: български

What is Linterna Mágica?

What is Linterna Mágica?

Linterna Mágica listen pronounciation is "tiny" (at least it started that way) script written in JavaScript for the Greasemonkey extension. It searches web pages for flash objects with links to video clips and replaces them with <object> tag that is playable by browser video plugin. The program is named after an early version of a projection apparatus - Laterna Magica. The name was taken by another project, so the Spanish translation is used now.

Why it exists?

The short answer: I had spare time and was curious is it going to work.

The long answer: Free software flash plugins like Gnash and Swfdec do not work well with video flash players on every site. On top of that:

  • Even with free plugin you run a lot of proprietary software as ActionScript
  • Even the free software plugins use too much resources
  • Flash is proprietary technology
  • Flash is not a web standard
  • Most of the flash objects in a page contain useless stuff

Playback of video clips in a browser is technically possible since the existence of the <object> tag (around 1999; maybe even before that?!). To watch a video inside a browser the user always needs a plugin (HTML5 changes that a bit). Why it should be flash plugin?

Most of the time I do not have Gnash or Swfdec installed. I do not care about flash, except sometimes for video clips. I got tired of using Bash/Perl/Python... scripts to download video clips and watch them. Linterna Mágica was born.

Who made Linterna Mágica?

Original idea and programming:
Ivaylo Valkov <ivaylo@e-valkov.org>
Design:
Anton Katsarov <anton@katsarov.org>

Support

Supported extensions

Linterna Mágica is tested with:

Supported browsers

Linterna Mágica is tested with:

  • Epiphany

    Epiphany versions older than 2.30 might have problems with Greasemonkey.

  • Free software versions of Firefox

    Free software versions of Firefox that support the Greasemonkey extension should work. Only GNU IceCat, Web Browser/ABrowser and Iceweasel are tested.

  • Midori
  • Iceape/Seamonkey
  • Chromium

Supported video plugins

Plugins that can handle "video/flv" and "video/mp4" should work right away. Some plugins provide an API which is used in Linterna Mágica to support web controls, but this will require modifications to the code, if the plugin is not listed as supported. There is a configuration option to switch between controls provided by the plugin and Linterna Mágica.

These plugins are known to work:

  • Totem plugin.

    Versions older and equal to 2.30 does not have full API support for web controls. Newer versions of Totem have been patched (#623790, #618929) and should work.

  • VLC plugin
  • gecko-mediaplayer plugin

    Note: Have in mind that gecko-mediaplayer depends on mplayer for playback. Mplayer is free software by itself, but it can load and recommends binary only codecs. The completely free (as in freedom) distribution of GNU/Linux, Trisquel provides clean version of mplayer.

  • Xine plugin

Probably these plugins are available in your GNU/Linux distribution as a package.

You can test your browser plugins and the installation of Linterna Mágica at the test page.

Supported websites

Linterna Mágica is programmed in such a way that it might work (and it does) with web sites not specifically tested and supported. This is achieved by regular expressions, patterns and similarities between video sharing and posting sites. The main idea is that very little should be needed to support a new site - few changes in a regular expression, adding an address from where the clip should be extracted and so on. By default Linterna Mágica runs on every site, but that might not be suitable for you. Read the documentation to find out how to stop this.

Some of the most popular video sharing sites are known to work:

  • youtube.com
  • vimeo.com
  • metacafe.com
  • dailymotion.com
  • blib.tv
  • video.google.com (video.google.*)
  • vbox7.bg (Bulgarian)

There are more than 30 web sites, found with random web searches that are known to work. Web sites that have the video link somewhere in the HTML/JavaScript code, or it can be extracted through some ID, should work. If that is not the case, probably it will be very easy to support them. See the WEBSITES file in Linterna Mágica source tarball for all known working sites and more information.

Not supported websites

Websites that use RTMP to transfer the video are not supported.

For the moment flash objects embedded in remote web sites do not work. Since version 0.0.9 some remote objects are detected and a link to the web page of the video is provided.

Linterna Mágica is not working with specific browser or plugin or operating system. Is it possible to support it?

Only free software will be supported. Explicit support for non-free software will not be provided. If Linterna Mágica is working with non-free software you must be very "lucky". Yes, that is sarcasm!

License

Linterna Mágica is free software. You can distribute it and or modify it under the terms of the GNU GPL version 3 or later. You can see the license in the COPYING file in Linterna Mágica source tarball or at the GNU project web page: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html.

All the supported browsers and plugins are distributed under a free software license.

Downloads

Stable releases

Version:
0.0.13-2
Release date:
1 April 2013
Description:
  • Fixed support for YouTube. (Bug #38561)
Links:
Version:
0.0.13-1
Release date:
17 February 2013
Description:
  • Fixed support for YouTube. (Bug #38334)
  • Added version string to the name in the Greasemonkey interface. Old versions must be manually uninstalled now. (Bug #38336)
Links:
Version:
0.0.13
Release date:
06 January 2013
Description:
  • The interface had changed, hopefully for the better. (Task #12203)
  • As part of the interface changes, the update notifier is visible outside the player interface as well.
  • Fixed support for Dailymotion clips.
  • Fixed support for Facebook clips.
  • As part of the interface changes and YouTube design changes, resulting in bugs, the HD link selection menu is rendered inside the player interface.
  • Fixed support for Vimeo clips. Improved (with Linterna Mágica in mind) clip navigation, so all clips load. (Bug #36852)
  • Fixed dual playback when the proprietary Adobe Flash player is installed. (Bug #36888)
  • Added partial support for Viddler. (Part of bug #36627)
  • Improved time and volume slider behaviour. (Bug #36760)
  • Added proper information for the 3GP container in YouTube.
  • Added partial (kind of) support for YouTube live streams. Some seamed to work, but most browser video plugins are unable to handle such streams. The extracted links can still be downloaded with wget, and then watched with player while still downloading. (Bug #36759)
Links:
Version:
0.0.12-6
Release date:
22 December 2012
Description:
  • YouTube bug-fix release.
Links:
Version:
0.0.12-5
Release date:
09 December 2012
Description:
  • In the 0.0.12-5 bug-fix release of Linterna Mágica the following issues were resolved: #37881.
Links:
Version:
0.0.12-4
Release date:
11 November 2012
Description:
  • In the 0.0.12-4 bug-fix release of Linterna Mágica the following issues were resolved: #37691, #37661 and #37630.
Links:
Version:
0.0.12-3
Release date:
06 October 2012
Description:
  • Fixed support for YouTube clips. (Bug #37514)
Links:
Version:
0.0.12-2
Release date:
19 September 2012
Description:
  • Fixed support for YouTube clips. YouTube made some changes and clips URLs must have a signature present in them. (Bug #37357)
Links:
Version:
0.0.12-1
Release date:
04 August 2012
Description:
  • Fixed support for YouTube MP4 clips. Syntax error broke execution since 0.0.11. (No bug report. More information at Identi.ca)
  • With version 0.0.12-1, xz compressed files are intorduced for download. They will be available for future releases as well.
Links:
Version:
0.0.12
Release date:
10 June 2012
Description:
  • Fixed support for Facebook clips. Added HD links support. (Bug #36618, was Support #108050)
  • Added support for PRI.org. (Bug #36620, was Support #108039)
  • Fixed browser freeze and bloating in various pages. (Bug #36622, was Support #108039)
  • Fixed support for the Scriptish userscripts extension. (Bug #35996)
  • Added support for Kickstarter clips. (Task #11838)
  • Added a file (HACKING_INTRO) with basic introduction to Linterna Magica's internals. It should help potential new developers.
Links:
Version:
0.0.11-2
Release date:
12 April 2012
Description:
  • Fix for the interface displacement for clips that YouTube displays as unavailable. (Bug #35992; Support ticket #108009)
Links:
Version:
0.0.11-1
Release date:
6 March 2012
Description:
  • Fixed support for clips in YouTube that do not load, because of the missing video formats warning.
  • Fixed support for Vbox7. (Bug #35727)
Links:
Version:
0.0.11
Release date:
5 February 2012
Description:

Midori versions 3.5, 3.6 and 4.0 behave odd with Linterna Magica and Vimeo. The Linterna Magica object keeps getting resized vertically. All other versions behave as they should. It seems there is nothing that could be done and the bug is in Midori. Sorry.

  • Documentation rewritten in Texinfo. Check the documentation section on the site. (Task #11313)
  • Fixed support for YouTube. (Support ticket #107941)
  • Fix for the HD links list in YouTube. The HD list on all pages is at the bottom bar. (Bug #34465)
  • Fix for YouTube features that require login (like buttons and others). (Bug #35312)
  • It is not necessary to close the HD list, it hides on blur. (Task #11312)
  • Translations are now handled the standard way with PO files. Check documentation. (Task #11386)
  • Fixed time ticker on HD link change. (Bug #34194)
  • Fixed time ticker in YouTube.
  • Fix for inaccurate hour and minutes for some clips.
  • Fixed loading in Dailymotion. (Bug #34960)
  • Added support for The Public Domain Review. Initial support for Flowplayer. (Task #11341)
  • Added support for Indieflix. Initial support for JW Player.
Links:
Version:
0.0.10-2
Release date:
26 November 2011
Description:
  • Fixed syntax error that prevented loading in Epiphany.
  • Temporary fix for the HD links list in YouTube. (Bug #34465)
  • Fixed loading for some YouTube video clips. (Bug #34891)
  • Added support for more YouTube video formats: clips converted to 3D, higher resolution clips.
Links:
Version:
0.0.10-1
Release date:
07 September 2011
Description:
  • Bug-fix release for IceCat 6.0 and 6.0.1. Also fixes Iceweasel and Firefox with the same versions. (Bug #34138)

  • In IceCat and other versions of Firefox you MUST set "dom.ipc.plugins.enable" to "false" under "about:config", so embedded Totem and gecko-mediaplayer players can load. This will turn off out of process plugins.

Links:
Version:
0.0.10
Release date:
07 August 2011
Description:

The new and improved Linterna Mágica. Now with Phonograph! (In other words, it should play audio clips as well.)

  • There are many new features and options. There are also some changes. You should read the documentation section, if you made any configurations to previous versions, or used the "Linterna Mágica user config" utility script with trunk.
  • A lot of code clean up and framework changes. This improves maintainability and future support for new sites. (Tasks #11216, #11193, #11122)
  • Added configuration option to set preferred quality of the video, if there are high definition links found. Read the documentation. (Task #11085)
  • Added possibility to switch between HTML5 players, in sites that provide them and Linterna Mágica. Works the same way as the switch for Gnash/Swfdec. By default HTML5 players have the highest priority. (Task #11064)
  • Added possibility to keep configurations in separate userscript file. This way your settings will remain intact when newer version is installed. Read the documentation. (Task #11055)
  • Translated strings are exported and kept in separate userscript files. This reduces the file size of the main userscript. Most users will need only one language, if they want any translation at all. (Task #11056)
  • Added link in the about box to the bug tracker. (Task #11060)
  • Added link in the about box to the microblog at Identi.ca. (Task #11059)
  • Added audio streams support. Theoretically, audio clips should be found and played. (Task #11058)
  • Selected high definition links are marked and visible to the user. (Task #11063)
  • Support for remote clips from Google Video. (Task #11061)
  • Added support for yourlisten.com (audio clips).
  • Added support for livestream.com (Task #11211)
  • Improved support for The Onion (http://theonion.com). (Support ticket #107708)
  • Added support for Khan Academy (khanacademy.org).
  • Added indention to debug messages according to debug level in the console and the web logger.
Links:
Version:
0.0.9-7
Release date:
15 June 2011
Description:
  • Fixed Blip.tv support. (Bug #33556)
  • Added support for Blip.tv clips in remote sites support. Linterna Mágica plays clips from Blip.tv in remote sites right away, thanks to Blip.tv's JSONP API. You don't have to visit the dedicated clip page at Blip.tv. (Task #11062)
  • Added support for That Guy with the Glasses (http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/), thanks to Blip.tv support in remote pages.
  • Added support for The Onion (http://theonion.com). (Support ticket #107708)
  • Fixed HD links visibility in YouTube. (Bug #33504)
Links:
Version:
0.0.9-6
Release date:
24 May 2011
Description:
  • Note: There are bugs already. See the news section.
  • Dailymotion works without Gnash installed again. (Bug #33324)
  • YouTube clips in remote web sites, embedded with youtube-nocookie.com should be detected. (Bug #33306)
  • The Linterna Mágica button under clips detected in remote web sites should not overlap images and text from the original page anymore. (Bug #33303)
Links:
Version:
0.0.9-5
Release date:
10 May 2011
Description:
  • Fixed HD links in Dailymotion.
  • Fixed overlapped web controls for YouTube user and channel pages.
  • Fullscreen playback with Totem and MPEG4/QuickTime files (for example, some video clips at Blip.tv).
Links:
Version:
0.0.9-4
Release date:
26 April 2011
Description:
  • This is a bug-fix release. Fixed web buttons in GNU IceCat 4 and other versions of Firefox (bug #331206)
Links:
Version:
0.0.9-3
Release date:
26 March 2011
Description:
  • Fixed support for YouTube. Added support for YouTube video clips marked as offensive (bug #32866)
Links:
Version:
0.0.9-2
Release date:
15 March 2011
Description:
  • The major improvement is for web pages in languages written from right to left. (bug #32740)
  • Links to the homepage should not send referrer in GNU IceCat and other versions of Firefox anymore. (bug #3272)
  • Improvements in the update script. (bug #32764)
  • Added support for youtube-nocookie.com
Links:
Version:
0.0.9-1
Release date:
04 March 2011
Description:
  • YouTube changed something just after version 0.0.9 was released. This is mainly YouTube bug-fix release.
  • Pages loaded with HTTPS work.
  • Default interval to check for updates changed to one week.
Links:
Version:
0.0.9
Release date:
01 March 2011
Description:
  • Fixed blocking in YouTube with GNU IceCat and Abrowser, while parsing scripts (without Gnash/Swfdec). Other Firefox versions should work too. Viewing YouTube without Gnash/Swfdec should work in every supported browser.
  • You do not need HTML5 capability or Gnash/Swfdec with GNU IceCat and Abrowser while viewing Vimeo.
  • Added support for public video clips at Facebook. If they use the same logic for video clips available after login, Linterna Mágica should work with them too. I never had Facebook account, and I am not planning to make one just for testing. For video clips available after login you depend on Facebook mercy.
  • Fixed support for Daylimotion. Only clips hosted at Dailymotion work. As always.
  • Fixed support for Vimeo with clips encoded in MPEG4 while using Totem plugin.
  • The major change from development point of view is that the source code is split into JavaScript, CSS and image files. The user script is build with make, grep, sed, base64 (and other GNU Coreutils). What this means is that the user script is not the source code anymore. This will help maintenance. The split is one step closer to separate extensions for every browser. This is a crazy idea, that I have, which will let us have more freedom and capabilities compared to the user script.
  • Added updates checker. Linterna Mágica version 0.0.9 will notify you when there is new release. You can disable this feature or set custom interval that should be used to check for updates.
  • Added capability to read debug messages trough the interface of Linterna Mágica.
  • A lot of other fixes that were too much to remember and were not tracked.
  • Objects with flash embedded in remote sites with video clips from Vimeo, YouTube, Dailymotion and Vbox7 are detected and a link to the web page of the video is provided.
  • The userscript is little bit smaller. This is achieved by stripping comments and optimizing the embedded PNG images, but new code made it almost insignificant.
  • Version 0.0.9 is reviewed for hosting at Savannah. The process started with 0.0.8-2, but it overlapped with the new release. If accepted, the project will have mailing list and bug tracker. Even the web page might be moved there.
Links:
Version:
0.0.8-2
Release date:
18 December 2010
Description:
YouTube bug-fix release.
Links:
Version:
0.0.8-1
Release date:
24 September 2010
Description:
Documentation fixes. There are no source code changes or new features added.
Links:
Version:
0.0.8
Release date:
28 August 2010
Description:
This is the first public and stable version.
Links:
Versions:
from 0.0.1 to 0.0.7
Release date:
Never publicly released
Description:
Development and testing versions
Links:
Not available

Unstable releases

Version:
svn daily builds
Release date:
Every day after 00:30 (EET and EEST timezones)
Description:
These versions are automatically build from the svn repository and contain the latest fixes and features. Only userscripts are provided.
Links:

The daily builds are not stable!!! Even the builds from the stable branch might be considered unstable. If possible use a stable version from the the list of stable releases.

When enough issues are fixed in the stable branch a new bug-fix release is available (for example 0.0.9-4). This branch is stable enough to be used, but If possible, use a stable version.

The version in trunk is the one under active development.

If you decide to use unstable version, it is recommended to disable any other version of Linterna Mágica that is installed. If you can't disable userscripts with your current version of the Greasemonkey extension (or the browser implementation for userscripts), then uninstall any other version. These builds do not check for updates, even if configured to do so.

Source from svn

You can download the source code of any version from the svn repository at our project page at Savannah.

If you want the latest version in development, use: 

		  
    svn co svn://svn.savannah.nongnu.org/linterna-magica/trunk linterna-magica-trunk

The trunk version never checks for updates.

If you want the latest code for specific version (in this case 0.0.9), use: 

		  
    svn co svn://svn.savannah.nongnu.org/linterna-magica/branches/0.0.9 linterna-magica-0.0.9

Each version under branches has the latest fixes for the branch. The version of Linterna Mágica is set to the version of the latest released (or to be released) bug-fix version. This is the latest, not the first released version from the branch.

If you want specific bug-fix release (in this case 0.0.9-3), use: 

		  
    svn co svn://svn.savannah.nongnu.org/linterna-magica/tags/0.0.9-3 linterna-magica-0.0.9-3

The versions under tags are the stable releases.

Utilities

Name:
Linterna Mágica user config
Description:
Keep your configuration in separate userscript file. This way your preferences will stay intact when new version is installed. This works with builds from trunk and versions above 0.0.10. Read the documentation to find out how to use this script.
Links:

The following link is not an actual version. It is meant to test crawlers and robots handling by Awstats on Savannah. This is used only for the purpose of download statistics. Please do not click this link. Normally this text and the links should not be visible in your browser, unless you had disabled CSS.

Fake version

Documentation

The following links are for the documentation of the latest stable version. Documentation for older releases is provided with the source code archive of every version in our Savannah download area.

Screenshots

Test Linterna Mágica

You can test your browser plugins and the installation of Linterna Mágica at the test page.

Report bugs

You can report bugs at the project's page at Savannah. Use the Bugs tracker, the "Tech Support Manager"/"Support" is now deprecated.

Mailing lists

The mailing lists are available in the Mailing lists section at our Savannah project page.

Donations

Linterna Mágica is free software and can be downloaded, shared and modified freely. It respects your software freedom by allowing you to watch videos on the web entirely with free software. If you like it, find it useful and have the desire to spend some money, then please, consider making a donation. If you are interested, use the buttons at the bottom of the page.

The project currently accepts donations with Flattr and PayPal. If you have any other suggestions or preferred ways to make donations, you could write to <ivaylo@e-valkov.org> or the mailing list.

People have donated in the past on Flattr, but moving the web site to Savannah/nongnu.org and one mistake, required the project registration to be changed, so the Flattr counter is now reset to zero (2011-08-09).

If you already made a donation, thank you!

ThinkPenguin had sponsored Linterna Mágica. Thanks!

A special thanks goes to ThinkPenguin for making the first substantial donation to the project in the amount of €100.

News

25 August 2013

  • The source code repository of the project will be migrated from SVN to Git soon.
  • The website source code repository will be migrated from CVS to Git soon.
  • The website domain will change from linterna-magica.nongnu.org to linternamagica.org soon.

1 April 2013

  • Bug-fix release 0.0.13-2 is available for download.

17 February 2013

  • The survey is now over. The final results are available.
  • Bug-fix release 0.0.13-1 is available for download.

06 January 2013

  • A survey about Linterna Mágica is being conducted until 15th of February 2013. If the survey code did not render automatically, you can still be part of the survey. To participate, or view the results, please visit the Linterna Magica survey page at e-valkov.org.
  • New stable release 0.0.13 is available for download.

22 December 2012

  • New bug-fix 0.0.12-6 release that fixes YouTube.

09 December 2012

  • Since the beginning of December the website is running the free software JavaScript tracker for web analytics from the Piwik project. There is an option at the bottom right corner of the page to disable tracking. From my understanding and interpretation of Piwik's documentation it is partially disabled - no personalization cookie.
  • New bug-fix 0.0.12-5 release that fixes YouTube's new interface released.

07 December 2012

  • YouTube changed their interface. Linterna Mágica (trunk) is not loading. By examining the debug messages I can conclude that the links are being extracted, but the object height & width are not. This causes the replacement object to not be created. Bug-fix release to be available soon.

11 November 2012

  • Bug-fix release 0.0.12-4 is now available.

06 October 2012

  • Bug-fix release 0.0.12-3 is now available.

19 September 2012

  • Bug-fix release 0.0.12-2 is now available.

04 August 2012

  • Bug-fix release 0.0.12-1 is now available.

18 July 2012

  • There is a ThinkPenguin web button in the footer area as a gratitude for their donation.

10 June 2012

  • Stable version 0.0.12 released.

12 April 2012

  • Bug-fix version 0.0.11-2 released.

6 March 2012

  • Bug-fix version 0.0.11-1 released.

6 February 2012

  • On the 18th of January the project page was going to be part of the blackout against SOPA, but we failed. When the page design was ready, Savannah servers were already in blackout and the automatic update of project pages did not occur. The following links are the announcements at Identi.ca and an image of the page design : link 1, link 2 and link 3.

5 February 2012

  • New stable release 0.0.11 is now available.
  • Thanks to the migration to Texinfo, the manual of the latest stable release will be available in various formats in the documentation section.
  • Documentation in HTML format is now available on separate web page.

26 November 2011

  • New bug-fix release 0.0.10-2 is now available.

07 September 2011

  • Linterna Mágica 0.0.10-1 was released. Release info available in the "Downloads" section.

07 August 2011

  • Linterna Mágica 0.0.10 was released. Release info available in the "Downloads" section.
  • If you used the "Linterna Mágica user config" script with version from trunk or daily svn build, you will have to download it's new version or update it manually. The file got minor changes to support all configuration options in version 0.0.10. This is its first official stable release. I do not intend to update it in the future. Read the documentation about this feature.
  • The 0.0.9 version is now deprecated. No more bug-fix releases will be available. The new stable version is 0.0.10.

15 June 2011

  • Linterna Mágica 0.0.9-7 is out. Release info available in the "Downloads" section.
  • Linterna Magica has finally switched entirely to Savannah. The website is transferred there. A work-around for download statistics for JavaScript files (userscripts) had been found, so the switch is possible.
  • Savannah mirror servers update the files from the "Downloads" section on 24 hours. If you have problems downloading the files, please use the "Direct link" button.

09 June 2011

  • There are few bugs in version 0.0.9-6 already. If you have found more bugs and report them, they will be fixed for version 0.0.9-7.
  • Bug-fix versions are released Tuesdays (timezone EET/EEST).

24 May 2011

  • Linterna Mágica 0.0.9-6 is out. Release info available in the "Downloads" section.

10 May 2011

  • Linterna Mágica 0.0.9-5 is out. Fixed HD links in Dailymotion. Fixed overlapped web controls in YouTube. Fullscreen playback with Totem and MPEG4 clips.
  • New download options were added a week ago. You can download automatically build versions from svn. Check the "Downloads" section.

26 April 2011

  • Linterna Mágica 0.0.9-4 is out. Fixed web buttons in GNU IceCat 4 and other versions of Firefox.

26 March 2011

  • Linterna Mágica 0.0.9-3 bug-fix release is out.

15 March 2011

  • The project is now hosted at Savannah. Check our project page at Savannah. We have users mailing list, bug tracker and svn repository there. The web page is still not moved there and it is not clear is it going to be.
  • Linterna Mágica 0.0.9-2 bug-fix release is out.

04 March 2011

  • YouTube changed something just after version 0.0.9 was released. New YouTube bug-fix release 0.0.9-1 available.

01 March 2011

  • After nearly a month of development and fixes, Linterna Mágica version 0.0.9 is out. Lots of new goodies. Enjoy!

13 February 2011

  • New version coming soon.

18 December 2010

  • Linterna Mágica version 0.0.8-2 is out. Youtube is working again.
  • There is a new configuration option. Read the documentation.

10 December 2010

  • Linterna Mágica does not work in Youtube anymore. Bug-fix release coming soon.
  • We have a group on identi.ca

24 September 2010

Follow us on Identi.ca

Author: Ivaylo Valkov <ivaylo@e-valkov.org>
Design: Anton Katsarov <anton@katsarov.org>

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