Relearn: Downloading Streamed Video to Mac

Recently, I needed to download a video stream to replay later with some edited clips to an audience. I haven't done this in a long time (via Firefox extension using Video Downloader on my old PC). Now I have a Mac and am using Google Chrome (but Video Downloader has restrictions via Chrome).

https://www.videodownloaderultimate.com/en/?p=professional

I went to this site which is probably good for PC users. But, I need a Mac solution.
https://www.videodownloaderultimate.com/en/?cid=chrome

So, here's an article I found helpful.
https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac-software/download-video-mac-3681116/
https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac-software/record-screen-mac-3527168/

Instructions

1. Open the screenshot toolbar by pressing Command + Shift + 5.
2. You can Record Entire Screen, or Record Selected Portion. Pick the one that you require.
3. If you select Record Entire Screen just click on the Record button that appears beside Option.
4. If you have more than one screen click and hold on this button and you will see the option Screen 1 and Screen 2. 
5. If you want to record a portion of the screen, select that area before triggering the recording.
6. When you have finished what you wanted to record, click the stop button that appears in the Menu bar (beside the timer), or press Shift+ Command + 5 again and press the stop button in the menu that appears.
7. The recording will appear in the bottom right corner of your screen. Click on it to open the video in Quick Look.
8. To edit your video clip, click on the trim button that appears beside Done. 
9. To trim the video clip, click on the yellow hold points at the beginning end of the recording and drag them inwards.
10. Click Done.

Cheers!

Resolve: Killing Zombie Processes created by Selenium

Problem

Here's my problem.

I'm working with Selenium 2.53 (an old version, I know) and Firefox 52.8. The Gecko (driver) version is whichever works with FF 52.8. Anyhow, I create a my test script, run the test script, and see the command invokes the call to run the test. However, my browser does not open. My terminal just sits at this command running the test. Eventually, my command ends and the test failed to run. I'm running this in a secure environment on a separate machine and can't copy/paste a screenshot here.

However, here's what the error looks like - if you're lucky enough to get one.

Results :
Tests in error:
my.test.script.TestPageAUT.enterMaxChars...
    Run 1:  .... >> WebDriver Unable to bind to locking port 70...

Solution

Here's my solution.

I knew from experience that a system process opened by the driver via Java is hanging. Since I'm running this on Linux, I had to make sure I used the right Linux commands to find the processes that are running (active). Throughout my research, I learned that Linux actually has processes that are zombies (not quite dead, but not live either) which are marked with "<defunct>" next to the process.

Once I found out the process ID (PID) of the zombie process, then I just needed to kill the parent process of the zombie (because I can't kill the zombie - which I think is weird). It would be nice to just kill the zombie and automatically the parents of the zombie also die. Anyhow, in this particular case I had to kill the most super parent of the zombie in order to completely make sure the zombie process for my selenium script is dead. Selenium runs via Java by triggering the gecko driver which controls a FF process. So, to kill the zombie FF process, need to kill the Java process controlling the zombie FF process which might have a grandparent Java process.

Double check the process is dead by showing the list of active processes and seeing that there is no zombie process in the list.

Steps/Commands

Here's how I did it.

Important Note: A "kill" command has no effect on a zombie process.

List all zombie processes (ID).
$ ps aux | grep -w Z

Find the parent PID.
$ ps -o ppid <defunct_PID>         

Kill the parent
$ kill -9 <parent_PID_of_defunct_PID>

Other Useful Commands

List all running processes.
$ ps

List the running processes with Firefox.
$ ps -A | grep firefox

For more details, list with these parameters.
$ ps aux | grep firefox

Find the parent process ID.
$ ps -o ppid= -p <defunct_PID>

You can try this (kill all firefox PIDs), but this didn't work for me.
$ kill $(pgrep firefox)

Reference

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16944886/how-to-kill-zombie-process (3rd answer, particularly)

Firefox Send

Thank you @mozilla!

Firefox Send is a nice, new feature offered by Mozilla's Firefox. Instead of summarizing here, check out their blog post or video (below).



https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2019/03/12/introducing-firefox-send-providing-free-file-transfers-while-keeping-your-personal-information-private/

(organization)
(source)