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Opera Portable for Mac (USB)

By Daniel Aleksandersendaniel. Friday, January 21, 2011 4:47:00 PM

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I’m pleased to announce that Mac users now will be able to put Opera on a USB stick (or encrypted disk image) and carry their bookmarks and settings, mail, and everything else with them.

Linux/FreeBSD and Windows users can sit this one out, and skip straight to the changelog.

Mac user, please stay with me. You can install Opera to /Applications like you have always done, or you can put it on a external USB stick or an encrypted disk image and have your preferences go with you.

The rest of the blog post will cover technical details about the changes relevant if you are running more than one copy of Opera on your Mac.

If your unsure where your preferences are stored, open the opera:about page to see the full paths.

Opera Portable for Mac Installation
  1. Download and mount the disk image
  2. Drag Opera from the disk image to an USB stick or external drive
  3. Open Terminal.app and drag Opera from the USB stick and drop it ontop of the Terminal window
  4. Press backspace once then type /Contents/MacOS/Opera -createsingleprofile (should read …Opera.app/Contents…) then press Enter

You only have to run this once and it will create a hidden folder /Volumes/volume-name/.operaprofile/ that will contain all your bookmarks and settings, mail, and the disk cache. With Unite you can think of it as an instant-on server in your pocket. smile There is also a short-form -csp.

Managing multiple installations of Opera
We’ve put an end to the use of the PrefsSuffix file to manage multiple installations. The -pd (personal directory) option have also been deprecated as we never used personal directories. Replacing it is -ps (preference suffix) which works as -pd used to do.

The default suffix for preview released changed with this build from ‘110’ to ‘Next’. You can rename your preference directories to mirror this change if you want to preserve user-data from previous preview releases of Opera 11.

Please note that you cannot easily move between a stand-alone installation and a regular installation. This is not even supported. We don’t expect much trouble for you if you carefully move files between installations.

Update 28. January: A better explanation of managing user preferences and portable installations on Mac.

Known issues
  • If Opera crashes immediately on start-up than please opt to restart Opera without extensions.


WARNING: This is a development snapshot: It contains the latest changes, but may also have severe known issues, including crashes, and data loss situations. In fact, it may not work at all.

Download

Changelog

Core
  • CORE-32762 (Crash prevention for spell checking)
  • CORE-35898 (URI fragment identifier wasn't being exposed in all URIs)
  • CORE-35350 (Expose the widget object to extension scripts)

Desktop
  • DSK-324730 (Crash on printing Trafikanten.no)
  • DSK-309863 (Disk cache in Turbo mode prematurely emptied after bringing up a context menu)
  • DSK-321933 (Deactivate auto-reload in speed dials when the address changes)
  • DSK-322244 (Pinned tabs too wide with a collapsed tab stack)

Windows
  • DSK-324504 (No close button on tabs that are not selected)

Mac
  • DSK-326380 (Opera Portable/USB for Mac and single profile)
  • DSK-323299 (Optimize bookmark menu updating. Prevents freeze on keyboard input.)


Windows users can run Opera from USB by running the installer and changing the setting under Options: Install for: Stand-alone installation (USB). Linux/FreeBSD users can extract the tarballs directly to a USB thumb drive.

A second Opera 11.00 final build for Linux/FreeBSDAn update reminder to Ubuntu, Linux Mint and Debian users (or anyone else on a Debian based distro)

Comments

Marcelo R.trytobebad Friday, January 21, 2011 4:51:44 PM

I noticed a huge improvement in stability from previous 11.01 builds Win 7 x64. Awesome job, thanks!

Spadar ShutSpShut Friday, January 21, 2011 4:54:02 PM

CORE-35350 (Expose the widget object to extension scripts) up

Good pace, guys!

Gereford Friday, January 21, 2011 4:57:36 PM

Wow! Thx. Testing.

Adrianapa240 Friday, January 21, 2011 4:57:48 PM

Can't wait to try out this on my school's Macs, since I do most of my work at foreign computers everyday.

Paul SkinnerPaulSkinner Friday, January 21, 2011 5:08:00 PM

So can we please have an example of how to remove the Preferences suffix on Mac now?

I like to run these dev builds in the normal stable directory structure.

I was getting used to the PrefsSuffix file sad

Charles McCathieNevilechaals Friday, January 21, 2011 5:09:19 PM

Whee! To clarify...

in step 3 above, I drag the Opera that is on my USB drive over the terminal?

Paul SkinnerPaulSkinner Friday, January 21, 2011 5:11:08 PM

Is it:

Drag installed Opera in to terminal, press backspace, then type: /Contents/MacOS/Opera -ps ""

?

nimu_channimuchan Friday, January 21, 2011 5:15:19 PM

Many thanks!!up

Paul SkinnerPaulSkinner Friday, January 21, 2011 5:20:14 PM

Originally posted by chaals:

Whee! To clarify...

in step 3 above, I drag the Opera that is on my USB drive over the terminal?


Yes.

mopi1978 Friday, January 21, 2011 5:43:18 PM

crash when this build starts, have 2 roll back to previous build sad
w7x64

Vladimyr IvanovVladimyr Friday, January 21, 2011 5:56:49 PM

Russian installer has a scroll bar in the quick help, but text is not scrollable sad

http://files.myopera.com/Vladimyr/files/noscroll.png -

SteveKong Friday, January 21, 2011 6:21:51 PM

Yes, could you provide an example how to get Opera running with a preference folder of my choice? (Preferably without using the terminal at each start!)

+1

Originally posted by PaulSkinner:

So can we please have an example of how to remove the Preferences suffix on Mac now?


XenoAntaresXAntares Friday, January 21, 2011 6:22:55 PM

Probably alongside DSK-322244, DSK-326335 seems to be fixed. Thanks.

Olegxlol Friday, January 21, 2011 6:28:42 PM

1. If the "Enable special effects" in <Appearance> in the state <off>, we can see "hover" artifacts - broken buttons, broken panels.
2. Bring back the ability to change bg color in skin Section [Panel Treeview Skin.focused] - are not working correctly.
In earlier versions everything worked.

Daniel Aleksandersendaniel Friday, January 21, 2011 6:32:49 PM

Originally posted by SteveKong:

Yes, could you provide an example how to get Opera running with a preference folder of my choice? (Preferably without using the terminal at each start!)

You have to use the Terminal and the -ps <suffix> argument on each start-up.

Starting with this build, the -csp argument takes president over any suffix set in the build [but not manually set]. If you install Opera on your local machine in this mode, than your settings will be stored in ~/.operaprofile without a suffix for preview- and final releases.

Originally posted by PaulSkinner:

So can we please have an example of how to remove the Preferences suffix on Mac now?

You cannot remove it.

If you really want to prevent it than there is an unsupported way of doing it: rm /path-to/Opera.app/Contents/Resources/Next

mascot3502ankitbhimani Friday, January 21, 2011 6:34:04 PM

Mod edit: Noise removed.

DarNDarn71 Friday, January 21, 2011 6:46:30 PM

Originally posted by zoquete:

unusable, crashes immediatly all the time after upgrading.


Same here (w7 x64). Got it working by closing all tabs quickly before crash, leaving only Speed Dial open. Minimal restart did not work.

edit: Minimal restart does work if you don't send a report. If you do send a report, the crash page causes a crash. Seems pretty much any page causes a crash... Unusable indeed.

wannadance Friday, January 21, 2011 7:10:29 PM

On win7 32bit no crash at all so far

Daniel Aleksandersendaniel Friday, January 21, 2011 7:13:52 PM

The crash you’re all seeing is related to the change with extensions. Please try temporarily disabling them as a work-around for this snapshot.

Сергей СавинSergey2key Friday, January 21, 2011 7:28:51 PM

crash without extensions...

Chianti Friday, January 21, 2011 7:41:23 PM

Originally posted by daniel:

The crash you’re all seeing is related to the change with extensions. Please try temporarily disabling them as a work-around for this snapshot.



That didn't work for me. Even with extension disabled, when I try to visit any page it crashes.

Debian Squeeze 32bit


No crashes on Ubuntu 64bit till now, with extension ENABLED.

Bala7 Friday, January 21, 2011 7:53:15 PM

Moderator edit: This comment has been removed for breaching our terms of use.

minho Friday, January 21, 2011 7:58:56 PM

Testing. up

minho Friday, January 21, 2011 8:25:35 PM

Sometime there is not any favicon in tabs awww
http://files.myopera.com/minho/albums/3631672/favicons%20fot%20tabs.png
win xp pro sp3

Miketaussick Friday, January 21, 2011 8:34:27 PM

DSK-323299 (Optimize bookmark menu updating. Prevents freeze on keyboard input.)


Thanks God! Works perfect! star jester

zoquete Friday, January 21, 2011 8:43:02 PM

Originally posted by daniel:

The crash you’re all seeing is related to the change with extensions. Please try temporarily disabling them as a work-around for this snapshot.


I have no extension installed

disinvis Friday, January 21, 2011 9:02:32 PM

>DSK-322244 (Pinned tabs too wide with a collapsed tab stack)
Thank you very much!!!
Now I'm again love you!

kapsi Friday, January 21, 2011 9:40:19 PM

I have no crashes so far.

RX-3200 Friday, January 21, 2011 9:42:28 PM

DSK-326124 - fixed for me, but some users sayed that it's not fixed for them...
2ALL: check your opera:config#UserPrefs|BrowserJavaScript - it may be =0 from previous bilds

DSK-326125 - not fixed

vansmith Friday, January 21, 2011 10:25:28 PM

The background of the disk image in OS X says "Opera 10.6." Not an issue with quality but something to note. wink

CHEF-KOCH Friday, January 21, 2011 10:38:25 PM

DSK-287845: Re-editing e-mail drafts forces unwanted hard line wraps
DSK-160078: Drafts and sent mail displayed formatted when editing

This is still not fixed, is it so hard to fix this?
I can't belive this.

cheers

Ja`Nusz WuPLUser Friday, January 21, 2011 10:38:30 PM

"DSK-322244 (Pinned tabs too wide with a collapsed tab stack)"

When You repair alone pinned tabs, to be normal size with text, not only icon?

blaxima Friday, January 21, 2011 11:03:32 PM

Not having any of the crash issues that other windows users are having.
-Win xp sp3 with 8 extentions enabled and some js user scripts

Still too memory hungry for my liking although I have noticed that it leaks it at a slower rate now.

and this

Originally posted by blaxima:

http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/

Only a quarter of the flash video is visible. This has been a problem in all of the 11 builds

*DSK-326322

Log in does not work either from any cbc.ca page
*DSK-326422


Also, http://imageshack.us/ when I went to upload the above image the browse button that should be next to the bar disappears. It reappears when I resize the browser itself but clone the tab and the button disappears again until resized.

Win xp sp3


The CBC is a major news/information outlet for an entire country so it would be nice to get it working correctly.

Amundamundgjersoe Friday, January 21, 2011 11:19:23 PM

Originally posted by ankitbhimani:

memory issues persist zzz waiting for a build with that long list of fixes sherlock


You might be wanting to wait for regular released updates then, and not snapshots. And you might have to tell something about what you mean by "memory issues" if you'd like someone to actually investigate your problems.

LoganNeckSpazm Friday, January 21, 2011 11:20:55 PM

Crash on this site after a minute going through pictures slide.
http://chicago.metromix.com/restaurants/essay_photo_gallery/reader-favorites-18-pizza/2413167/content

Win7 64

Almir CésarSlayerBRwo Friday, January 21, 2011 11:37:30 PM

DSK-324504 (No close button on tabs that are not selected)

Thanks.

DoveD555 Friday, January 21, 2011 11:52:35 PM

Great!
Daniel,
will these command switches (-name) work for Win builds (opera.exe -name)???
I would wish if so !!! Please !

DoveD555 Saturday, January 22, 2011 12:03:28 AM

>>> CORE-35350 (Expose the widget object to extension scripts)

Does it mean that we can finally have a widget like an extension in one process with the browser ???

highstream Saturday, January 22, 2011 12:11:34 AM

Just closed this build for the first time and opera.exe process stayed open. Hadn't see that for a few builds.

operic Saturday, January 22, 2011 12:30:38 AM

after restart, opera opens the tab that was closed before closing opera.
this old bug is very annoying mad

Lycus HackerEmoLycusHackerEmo Saturday, January 22, 2011 1:27:52 AM

better integration with kde.

when I click the right mouse button in opera, this should show the menu but there are times this does not appear

also happens with the menu button and also with the buttons on the menus of the web pages.

Blasfemo Saturday, January 22, 2011 1:45:23 AM

i have problem with the hotmail.com
when i click in the emails, they dont open neither the message nor folders

minho Saturday, January 22, 2011 1:51:15 AM

Originally posted by Blasfemo:

i have problem with the hotmail.com
when i click in the emails, they dont open neither the message nor folders


Unconfirmed.
win xp pro sp3

jteloffthegrid Saturday, January 22, 2011 2:34:42 AM

My Last Pass extension says this version does not have html 5 database support. Is that an option I can turn on? It must have been in the version I updated from.

Hector Macias Ayalahectormacias Saturday, January 22, 2011 2:53:58 AM

Originally posted by operic:

after restart, opera opens the tab that was closed before closing opera.
this old bug is very annoying



Go to preferences and change it, thats no bug.


Very funny I havent had a single crash the whole day, ubuntu 10.10 x64. opera 11.01.1179, all services enabled and running just fine.

Ryandi Sandicoyomoyo Saturday, January 22, 2011 6:27:40 AM

Originally posted by hectormacias:

Very funny I havent had a single crash the whole day, ubuntu 10.10 x64. opera 11.01.1179, all services enabled and running just fine.



Me too, no crash since 1164. Archlinux i386.

d-u-a-l Saturday, January 22, 2011 9:18:19 AM

There's some problems with mail-client. It seems, that headers in mail sidebar redraw only when I click on them RMB. Except that, I cannot find messages in Incoming and Outgoing mail folders for each mail account

Ruarí Ødegaardruario Saturday, January 22, 2011 10:30:25 AM

Originally posted by minho:

Why smooth scrolling is disabled by default on linux? confused

Because it performs very badly under some environments. If you want it, just switch it on

minho Saturday, January 22, 2011 10:53:37 AM

Originally posted by ruario:

Because it performs very badly under some environments. If you want it, just switch it on


Scrolling performance is very bad also with smooth scrolling disabled.cry
Linux Mint 10 32 bits with Gnome.

oxymor0n Saturday, January 22, 2011 10:56:38 AM

Originally posted by mopi1978:

crash when this build starts, have 2 roll back to previous build sad
w7x64



confirm sad
although on win xp, sp3, x86

problem seems to be youtube channels!?! I don't get it..

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