How to Install Hindsight on OpenBSD

Hindsight is a command-line tool that allows you to easily query and analyze Firefox browsing history. This tutorial will guide you through the process of installing Hindsight on OpenBSD.

Step 1: Install Required Dependencies

Before installing Hindsight, you will need to make sure that your system has the required dependencies installed. Open a terminal and enter the following command to install the necessary dependencies:

sudo pkg_add python3 py3-setuptools py3-sqlalchemy py3-psycopg2 py3-dateutil

Step 2: Clone the Hindsight Repository

Next, clone the Hindsight repository to your local machine using the following command:

git clone https://github.com/mozilla-services/hindsight.git

Step 3: Install Hindsight

Navigate to the Hindsight directory and run the setup.py script to install the tool:

cd hindsight
sudo python3 setup.py install

Step 4: Configure the Database

Hindsight requires a PostgreSQL database to store Firefox browsing history. If you don't already have PostgreSQL installed on your system, install it using the following command:

sudo pkg_add postgresql-server

Once PostgreSQL is installed, you will need to create a new database for Hindsight. To do this, enter the following commands:

sudo su _postgresql
createdb -E UTF8 hindsight
exit

Step 5: Configure Hindsight

Next, you will need to edit the configuration file for Hindsight. Open the file hindsight.yml in your favorite text editor and modify the following settings:

  • database_user: The username for your PostgreSQL database (usually postgres)
  • database_password: The password for your PostgreSQL database
  • database_name: The name of the database you created in step 4 (hindsight)

Step 6: Import Firefox History into the Database

Once your database is configured, you can use Hindsight to import your Firefox browsing history into the database. To do this, run the following command:

hindsight firefox --database postgresql://<user>:<password>@localhost/<database_name>

Replace <user>, <password>, and <database_name> with the appropriate values for your PostgreSQL database.

Step 7: Query Firefox History with Hindsight

With your Firefox history imported into the database, you can now use Hindsight to query and analyze it. For example, to list all of the URLs visited on a specific date, run the following command:

hindsight query "select url from moz_places where date(visit_date/1000000,'unixepoch') = 'YYYY-MM-DD'"

Replace YYYY-MM-DD with the date you want to query.

Congratulations, you have successfully installed and configured Hindsight on OpenBSD!