Arch Linux User Repository

@coxackie, with huge thanks to @xyzzy for pointing me in the right direction, I found the line that controls the UI ads.

Unzip xpui.spa, and open xpui.js with a text editor. Search for the following line - a=()=>({type:r.ADS_ENABLED}), and replace it - a=()=>({type:r.ADS_DISABLED}).

Save file, rezip it (Seems compression level doesn't matter too much, I used Ark, and left it at default). Then rename the xpui.spa in /opt/spotify/Apps to xpui.spa.bak, and paste in the modified version.

@Sanras could you please report back on what you did for this? I think one can make a separate aur package that provides a hook to potentially replace xpui.js in every occasion (reverting the change upon uninstall). Hopefully it does not change too much between versions.

@xyzzy, thanks for that info. I will look into it myself and see if I can remove the placeholder.

You say that it's a zip file, does it need a specific compression level when zipping it back up? I remember back when I was swapping my phone's boot animation, it wouldnt work unless the compression was set to "store" (no compression) level.

Another idea - since this would need to be done with every update, could I make a shell script to automate this? Of course, this depends on how much the xpui.js file changes each time.

@Sanras @matt17br: I removed the ad placeholder by modifying xpui.js in /opt/spotify/Apps/xpui.spa (zip file). Can't remember what exactly I changed, but there are some rather convenient properties you can look for (e.g. "ADS_ENABLED"). Getting rid of all the ads like that should be possible in principle, but would likely be a lot of work and the changes would also have to be reapplied after every update.

Yeah, I'm using the latest spotify package, and yep I also have the hardcoded rectangle thingy you mention, but oh well I just ignore it because the new spotify version feels much snappier on my system anyways.

@matt17br - yeah, you're right about that. I guess that can be pretty useful.

Also, I assume you're using the latest spotify package. Do you have the new UI? One issue I noticed is that with the new UI, there is a hard-coded spot for ad placement, so there is currently a blank rectangle right above the media controls, which is slightly annoying. Anything that can be done about this? Maybe roll back the package version? I do have 1.55 and and 1.42 in my yay cache.

@Sanras, updating worked fine on my system, no need to uninstall/reinstall. One advantage I see is that in order to update whitelist/config files etc. you do not need to rebuild the package every time, which is something you used to need to do in the C version. Check the github page "Configuration" section.

Is it fine to update from the C version to the rust version, or should I uninstall and then reinstall the package? I assume update is fine?

Also, does anyone know the reason for this change? I honestly only see disadvantages, because now I need to install the rust package, which just adds more space-eating bloat to my system.

@xyzzy a recent development means that there is a bit of an issue with the naming of the package. evidently, abba23 rewrote spotify-adblock in rust - see (here)[https://github.com/abba23/spotify-adblock]. According to the old C version (here)[https://github.com/abba23/spotify-adblock-linux], this package should be renamed to spotify-adblock-linux-git, and spotify-adblock-git should most probably point to the new rust version.

when you have VCS package like -GIT version, you need to rebuild it (makepkg command) to have the latest version, and if you use a AUR helper, you need to re-install it to have the latest one. Is your system, is your responsability , in Archlinux not all is "automagically".