mc/FAQ

GNU Midnight Commander
Frequently Asked Questions

   The newest version of this document is available at
   http://savannah.gnu.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs/mc/mc/FAQ?rev=HEAD&content-type=text/plain

     * 1 Getting started
          + 1.1 What is Midnight Commander?
          + 1.2 Does it run on my machine?
          + 1.3 Does it work with my terminal?
          + 1.4 What else do I need to run MC?
          + 1.5 Is GNU Midnight Commander Public Domain?  Copyrighted?
          + 1.6 Where can I get GNU Midnight Commander?
          + 1.7 I don't have FTP access.  Where can I get MC?
          + 1.8 I cannot compile MC.  What should I do?

     * 2 Keyboard
          + 2.1 What does documentation mean with the C-?, M-? and F?
            keys?
          + 2.2 Why don't function keys (or some other key) work?
          + 2.3 How do I use function keys F11 to F20?
          + 2.4 Why does the ESC key behave funny?
          + 2.5 How can I add the plus sign (+) on the command line?
          + 2.6 C-o doesn't work!
          + 2.7 What 'keys' are the "a1" and "c1" keys mentioned in the
            manual?
          + 2.8 How do I change the key bindings?

     * 3 Mouse
          + 3.1 How do I enable mouse support?
          + 3.2 How do I cut and paste text with mouse?
          + 3.3 How do I get the extension dependent pop-up menu to
            pop up?

     * 4 Display
          + 4.1 Why do I keep getting "Terminal not powerful enough for
            SLang" or "Terminal not powerful enough for SLsmg"?
          + 4.2 Why don't line drawing characters work?
          + 4.3 Can one use latin-1 characters without losing the lines?
          + 4.4 I have problems with entering/viewing national
            characters!
          + 4.5 How can I get colors?
          + 4.6 My color_xterm goes completely (or partially) black!
          + 4.7 Where can I get xterm or rxvt?
          + 4.8 I got colors working with MC but the other programs don't
            work at all anymore!
          + 4.9 Why are there both terminfo and termcap?  Wouldn't one
            database be enough?

     * 5 Graphical user interface
          + 5.1 Xview, Tk and Gnome editions?
          + 5.2 Why is MC linked with X libraries?

     * 6 Command line problems
          + 6.1 How do I stay in the last directory when I exit Midnight
            Commander?
          + 6.2 How can I access command line history?
          + 6.3 How can I complete commands, file names, variable names
            and so on?
          + 6.4 I am using ksh.  Can I use functions defined in the
            .kshrc within MC?
          + 6.5 Is there any way to include additional options or hot
            keys to MC?

     * 7 Virtual file systems
          + 7.1 How can I see the contents of a tar archive?
          + 7.2 How do I get out of a tar archive?
          + 7.3 How do I do anonymous ftp with MC?
          + 7.4 How do I do non-anonymous ftp with MC?
          + 7.5 How do I close an ftp connection?
          + 7.6 Why aren't the contents of ftp panel updated?
          + 7.7 What kind of proxy server works with Midnight Commander?

     * 8 Other common problems
          + 8.1 How do I get the internal editor to work?
          + 8.2 Is there any way to 'bookmark' favorite ftp-fs links?
          + 8.3 Why I keep getting: "There is no disk in the drive.
            Please insert a disk into drive D:"?
          + 8.4 When I start Midnight Commander, nothing happens!
          + 8.5 When I try pasting to the internal editor, it indents
            the amount of indenting increases with each line!

     * 9 Development
          + 9.1 Who has written Midnight Commander?
          + 9.2 Do I dare to use a development version?
          + 9.3 How can I report a bug/request for a feature?
          + 9.4 How can I join the development?

     * 10 More information
          + 10.1 This document didn't answer my question. Where else can
            I look for an answer?
          + 10.2 What mailing lists are there for Midnight Commander?
          + 10.3 Where should I look on the World Wide Web for MC stuff?
          + 10.4 Are the mailing lists archived anywhere?

     * 11 Legal issues
          + 11.1 Authorship
          + 11.2 Feedback is invited
          + 11.3 Disclaimer and copyright


1 Getting started

1.1 What is Midnight Commander?

   GNU Midnight Commander is a user-friendly yet powerful file manager
   and visual shell, useful to novice and guru alike. It provides a
   clear, user-friendly, and somewhat protected interface to a Unix
   system while making many frequent file operations more efficient and
   preserving the full power of the command prompt. You will wonder how
   you could ever live without it.

   For more thorough description take a look at the announcement of
   Midnight Commander 4.0.

1.2 Does it run on my machine?

   GNU Midnight Commander runs on POSIX (Unix-like) operating systems,
   such as GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, Solaris, HP-UX and others.  It
   can also be compiled under Cygwin on Windows.  There is an unfinished
   Windows port.

   GNU Midnight Commander uses GNU Autoconf which should automatically
   configure it for every Unix clone.  Following configurations have
   been tested:

     * i386-*-linux1.x, 2.x
     * alpha-linux-linux2
     * sparc-linux-linux2.x
     * sparc64-linux-linux2.1
     * mips-sgi-irix5.x, 6.x
     * mips-dec-ultrix4.3
     * rs6000-ibm-aix3.2.5
     * sparc-sun-sunos4.1
     * sparc-sun-solaris2.3, 2.4, 2.5
     * sparc-sun-netbsd1.0
     * hppa-hp-hpux9
     * hppa-hp-hpux7
     * m68k-apple-aux
     * unixware
     * mc88110-aviion-dgux5.4R2.01
     * i386-*-sco3.2v4.2
     * i386-*-sco3.2v5

   Windows 95/NT port can be compiled with Microsoft Visual C++, Borland
   C++, RSX and Mingw32.

1.3 Does it work with my terminal?

   Yes, it does.

   Because Midnight Commander is a full screen program it doesn't run on
   dummy terminals but anything more advanced will do (like vt100). If
   your terminal works with vi, emacs, elm or pine it will work with
   Midnight Commander.

1.4 What else do I need to run MC?

   You need a POSIX (Unix compatible) operating system.  Native support
   for Windows is incomplete - you should be prepared to fix things.

   To compile any edition you need to have glib 1.2.x or newer
   installed.  It's available at ftp://ftp.gtk.org/pub/gtk/.  If you
   don't have glib installed already, please note that glib 2.x is much
   harder to compile, so your first choice should be glib 1.2.10.

   If you want to use mouse on the Linux console you need the gpm daemon
   from ftp://ftp.systemy.it/pub/develop/. You need nothing extra to use
   mouse on xterm.

   If you do not want to use the S-Lang library you could try using
   ncurses version 4.1 and above.

1.5 Is GNU Midnight Commander Public Domain? Copyrighted?

   Midnight Commander is under GNU Public License which basically means
   that you may freely copy, change and distribute it, but that you may
   not impose any restrictions on further distribution, and that you must
   make the source code available.  This is not the same as Public Domain.
   For details, the GNU license is included in GNU Midnight Commander
   source distribution (the COPYING file).

   Midnight Commander is now officially a part of the GNU project.
   All the authors of GNU Midnight Commander have given all their rights
   on the program to the Free Software Foundation.

1.6 Where can I get GNU Midnight Commander?

   The main site is ftp://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/stable/sources/mc/

1.7 I don't have FTP access. Where can I get MC?

   Most GNU/Linux distributions include GNU Midnight Commander. For
   example, Debian, Mandrake, Red Hat, Slackware and SuSE.

1.8 I cannot compile MC.  What should I do?

   Make sure you have read the INSTALL file in the sources.  Report the
   error messages exactly as they appear, mention the versions of your
   OS, your compiler and whatever else software you think is relevant. 
   If you have compile problems in the VFS code, try disabling it by
   using "--without-vfs" switch.  As the last resort, you can use
   precompiled binaries from the GNU Midnight Commander website.


2 Keyboard

2.1 What does documentation mean with the C-?, M-? and F? keys?

   GNU Midnight Commander documentation uses emacs style names for
   keyboard keys.

   C stands for the Ctrl key.  For example, C-f means that you should
   hold down the Ctrl key and press the f key.

   M stands for the Meta key.  Your terminal might call it Alt or
   Compose instead of Meta. For example, M-f means that you should hold
   down the Meta/Alt/Compose key and press the f key.  If your terminal
   doesn't have Meta, Alt or Compose or they don't work you can use Esc.
   For M-f press the Esc key and then press the f key.

   Sometimes Ctrl and Alt are used instead of C and M for simplicity. 
   Keep in mind that Alt can actually be Meta on some keyboards.

   F? stands for a function key. If your terminal doesn't have function
   keys or they don't work you can use Esc.  For example, for F3 press
   the Esc key and then press the 3 key.

2.2 Why don't function keys (or some other key) work?

   Your terminfo or termcap database has missing or incorrect definitions
   for function keys. Type "mc -V" to see what terminal database is being
   used. If the result is "using the S-Lang library with terminfo
   database" you should install one of the enhanced terminfo databases
   included in GNU Midnight Commander source distribution. For example,
   if you are using xterm type "tic xterm.ti".

   If the result is "using the S-Lang library with termcap database" you
   should fix your /etc/termcap database.

   Better termcap and terminfo databases are available here:

     http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/terminfo/
     ftp://dickey.his.com/ncurses/

   You can force Midnight Commander to use the termcap database by
   giving --with-termcap option to the configure script.  The default
   is to use terminfo.

   If you don't have permissions to edit terminal databases you can use
   Learn keys feature of Midnight Commander instead. Press Esc 9 o k and
   follow instructions.

   If all else fails you can emulate function keys by first pressing the
   ESC key and then one of the number keys. For example, if you want to
   produce F9, press ESC, then 9. If you don't have a ESC key on your
   keyboard you can try alt-9 or meta-9.

2.3 How do I use function keys F11 to F20?

   These can mapped to function keys F1 to F10 with Shift held. e.g.
   function key F13 can be activated by pressing Shift-F3. You can define
   the keys this way in the Options menu. The convention for PC keyboards
   is that F11-20 always means Shift with F1-10

   Note!  The native Windows port uses F11 and F12 keys to change the
   current disk drive.  In this case F11 and F12 mean the real F11 and
   F12 keys, not shift-F1 and shift-F2.

2.4 Why does the ESC key behave funny?

   Midnight Commander uses the ESC key as a prefix for simulating the
   Meta and Alt keys (for terminals which don't have Meta or Alt, see the
   three previous questions). For example, pressing ESC-a is the same as
   pressing Meta-a. In addition most terminals use ESC for internal
   representation of arrow keys, function keys and other enhanced keys.
   If you want to use ESC to cancel things you have to press it twice i.
   e. ESC-ESC. If you find this cumbersome you can generally use F10 to
   cancel. Alternatively turn on the old_esc_mode setting in the
   ~/.mc.ini file. The old_esc_mode setting makes ESC work as a prefix
   only if another key is pressed within 0.5 seconds. After 0.5 seconds
   the ESC key cancels. There is no way to make ESC cancel immediately
   (if we want to be able to use arrows keys and function keys).

2.5 How can I add the plus sign (+) on the command line?

   Press C-q first, then press the + sign.

   The plus key is the hotkey for the select files command. If you want
   to add a literal plus on to the command line you must quote it by
   pressing C-q first.

   Another common key which needs the C-q prefix is backslash "\".

2.6 C-o doesn't work!

   Maybe C-o is a stty control character on your terminal. See man stty
   for details on how to list and change stty control characters.

2.7 What 'keys' are the "a1" and "c1" keys mentioned in the manual?

   The "a1" key is the key which has the "a1" caption on it.

   The "c1" key is the key which has the "c1" caption on it.

   If you have to ask what these two keys are your keyboard hasn't
   probably got them. Actually, I have never seen a keyboard which has
   got them.

2.8 How do I change the key bindings?

   There is no generic way to reconfigure the key bindings.  You can use
   the "Learn Keys" dialog to assign keys to some actions listed in that
   dialog.  However, most actions cannot be redefined to use different
   keys.


3 Mouse

3.1 How do I enable mouse support?

   Invoke mc like this (without quotes): "mc -x". If this doesn't work
   upgrade to a terminal which compatible with the Xterm mouse sequences.

   Alternatively, on Linux console you can use gpm.

3.2 How do I cut and paste text with mouse?

   Hold down shift key while using mouse to cut and paste.

3.3 How do I get the extension dependent pop-up menu to pop up?

   It was developed for the GNOME edition. The text-mode edition doesn't
   support this feature yet.


4 Display

4.1 Why do I keep getting "Terminal not powerful enough for SLang" or
    "Terminal not powerful enough for SLsmg"?

   This means that your terminfo databases do not contain the correct
   definitions for your terminal.

   You could try using a different terminal setting. If you use csh or
   tcsh:

     setenv TERM vt100

   or if you use sh, bash, ksh or zsh:

     export TERM=vt100

   If this doesn't help you can recompile MC to use termcap instead of
   terminfo:

     ./configure --with-termcap
     make

4.2 Why don't line drawing characters work?

   Since version 4.0.13 there's the command line option -a to force use of
   +, |, - for line drawing (only available when compiled with S-Lang).
   Use this -a option if any of the suggestions below doesn't help.

   In general, there are three cases:
     * Lines are shown as ASCII characters like this

      +---------+
      |         |
      +---------+

       This also happens when you use the -a option. Other than that
       possible reason is 1 or 2 (see below).

     * Lines are shown as lower case characters like this

      lqqqqqqqqqk
      x         x
      mqqqqqqqqqj

       Possible reason is 1 or 2 (see below).

     * Lines are shown as blanks or missing characters. Possible reason
       is 2 or 3 (see below).

   The reason for the problem is one of following:

    1. Your terminal might not support line drawing characters. Vt100
       compatible terminals, rxvt, xterm and color_xterm do support them.
    2. Your terminfo or termcap database might have missing or incorrect
       definitions for line drawing characters. Set the acsc variable in
       the terminfo database like this:
       acsc=a\376k\277l\332m\300j\331n\305w\302v\301u\264t\303q\304x\263h
       \2600\333
       Don't forget issue 'tic' command. This supposes you are using PC
       character set. The octal values might be different for other
       character sets. If you are using termcap instead of terminfo, you
       should modify above solution appropriately.
    3. Your terminal font might not support line drawing characters. Try
       changing the font.

   Here is Miguel's answer to Torben on this subject.

   Torben:

     When I load consolefonts/iso01.f16, I get perfectly right national
     characters, but the line drawing characters in mc get wrong. Is it
     a mc problem, or is it a problem with the font? (I guess it is).

     Is there a trick?

   Miguel:

     First of all, we should determine whether the font has line drawing
     characters or not.

     If it has line drawing characters, then a new terminfo entry should
     be written for this specific case. Let's call this linux-iso01. The
     acsc variable should be modified to reflect which characters are
     used to do the line drawing.

     If it does not have line drawing characters, then we should get rid
     of the switch to acsc sequences and make the acsc sequence be just
     a mapping to the ugly +, -, |, - characters.

     You can get your terminfo definition by running the infocmp
     program, making the proper changes and running the tic program to
     compile your new terminfo database.

4.3 Can one use latin-1 characters without losing the lines?

   Yes, you need a correct font and a correct termcap/terminfo database.

   For font, if you use xterm try "xterm -fn fixed".

   For termcap/terminfo database, change the acsc capability in the
   database.

4.4 I have problems with entering/viewing national characters!

   Upgrade to version 4.0.12 or newer.

   From the Options - Display Bits dialog select Full 8 bits or ISO
   8859-1. In addition, select 8 bit input from the same dialog.

4.5 How can I get colors?

   Invoke mc like this (without quotes): "mc -c".

   If you get colors, be happy.

   If your terminal stays black and white, your terminal doesn't support
   color. You might want to upgrade to a terminal which compatible with
   the ANSI color sequences.

   If your terminal goes completely black, see the next question.

   More detailed answer:

   Check that your terminal supports color. color_xterm, rxvt and Linux
   console do support, most other terminals don't. You can test color
   support with following simple C program:

    #include <stdio.h>

    int main (void){
        printf ("\033[32m Hello world! \033[m\n");
        return 0;
    }

   Compile and run it. If you see "Hello world!" text in green your
   terminal supports color, otherwise not (however, for color_xterm see
   also the next question).

   Check whether you are using Ncurses or the S-Lang library (type
   "mc -V" to find out).

   With S-Lang library you can force color support by setting the
   environment variable COLORTERM to any value.

   If you use ncurses library, check that your terminfo database supports
   color. If not, you should install one of the enhanced terminfo
   databases included in GNU Midnight Commander source distribution.

   You might want to set the TERM environment variable so that you are
   using the correct terminfo database or termcap entry.

   If you use color_xterm (or rxvt) the correct value might be
   xterm-color, xtermc or simply xterm.

   If you use Linux console the correct value for TERM is linux or
   console.

4.6 My color_xterm goes completely (or partially) black!

   Some color_xterm terminals define all colors as black instead of the
   standard ANSI colors. This makes them go completely black when you try
   to use Midnight Commander with colors.

   You will have to override the defaults. Create a file "color.defaults"
   which has the following contents:

    color_xterm*color0:           Black
    color_xterm*color1:           Red
    color_xterm*color2:           Green
    color_xterm*color3:           Yellow
    color_xterm*color4:           Blue
    color_xterm*color5:           Magenta
    color_xterm*color6:           Cyan
    color_xterm*color7:           White
    color_xterm*background:       White
    color_xterm*foreground:       Black

   (replace color_xterm with the name of your color_xterm, color_xterm
   mentions its name in its title bar)

   Now type:

    xrdb -merge color.defaults

   Alternatively you can add the suggested contents of the color.defaults
   file to your .Xdefaults or .Xresources file (or what ever the name of
   your X configuration file is). Or you can replace your non-ANSI
   color_xterm with an ANSI color_xterm.

4.7 Where can I get xterm or rxvt?

   xterm is included with the X Window System, so you probably already
   have it if you have X. This version is not actively maintained, but
   Thomas Dickey maintains his more advanced version of xterm at
   ftp://dickey.his.com/xterm/

   rxvt has its own site http://www.rxvt.org/ - get the latest version
   there.

4.8 I got colors working with MC but the other programs don't work at all
anymore!

   Midnight Commander uses terminfo database (if available) but many
   other programs use termcap database. If you set the TERM environment
   variable to a value which has no corresponding entry in termcap
   database those programs stop working. You should add the new value of
   TERM to the termcap database.

   Example: If you have set TERM to xterm-color locate from /etc/termcap
   the line which starts:

    xterm|vs100|xterm terminal emulator

   Change it to start:

    xterm|xterm-color|vs100|xterm terminal emulator

4.9 Why are there both terminfo and termcap? Wouldn't one database be
enough?

   You might want to read the Unix-Haters Handbook at
   http://catalog.com/hopkins/unix-haters/handbook.html. It lists many
   more reasons why Unix sucks.

   You can configure which terminal database you want to use with the
   "--with-termcap" and "--with-terminfo" flags of configure. If you
   don't specify them, the configure script will try to use terminfo if
   available otherwise it will use termcap.


5 Graphical user interface

5.1 Xview, Tk and Gnome editions?

   Xview and Tk and GNOME editions have been removed from the sources.

5.2 Why is MC linked with X libraries?

   GNU Midnight Commander is linked with X libraries to read key
   modifiers from the X Server.  It may be helpful to distinguish
   between keys that the terminal emulator reports in the same way, e.g.
   PgUp and Ctrl-PgUp.  Versions of GNU Midnight Commander after 4.6.0
   will load X libraries dynamically on the systems that support it.


6 Command line problems

6.1 How do I stay in the last directory when I exit Midnight Commander?

   See the description of the -P option in the Options section of the
   manual.

6.2 How can I access command line history?

   Alt-h shows the last commands you executed from the command line. 
   Duplicates are suppressed from the history.  Commands executed from
   the subshell prompt are not shown.

   You can put previous commands to the command line with Alt-p.  Alt-n
   moves you forward in history.

   Since version 4.1.15 all the input widgets have permanent history. You
   can summon the history listbox by pressing M-h.

6.3 How can I complete commands, file names, variable names and so on?

   Just press M-Tab. Press M-Tab again to get a listbox if there are
   multiple possible completions.

6.4 I am using ksh. Can I use functions defined in the .kshrc within MC?

   Sorry, MC only supports bash, tcsh and zsh functions. Ksh functions
   are not supported because ksh lacks the necessary hooks needed for
   subshell integration.

   Switch to bash or zsh. They are both quite compatible with ksh. Your
   ksh functions should work as such or after minimal changes.

6.5 Is there any way to include additional options or hot keys to MC?

   Yes, F2 invokes an user menu which fully configurable. You can add
   any shell commands to the user menu. See the mc(1) man page for more
   info.

   Another way to add functionality is the external panelize feature.
   See the mc(1) man page for more info.

   And finally, you can code any feature you want yourself. MC source
   code is free which means you can change it anyway you want. There are
   some limitations to make sure MC stays free. See GNU General Public
   License for details.


7 Virtual file systems

   Note! Virtual file systems are supported by Unix ports only.  The
   native Windows port doesn't support virtual file systems.

7.1 How can I see the contents of a tar archive?

   If you use keyboard just move the selection bar on the tar file and
   press enter.

   If you use mouse just double-click on the tar file.

   If these procedures don't work, your .mc.ext file is faulty. Replace
   it with one from the MC source distribution.

   You can also enter a tar archive by typing "cd tar:filename.tar.gz"
   where filename.tar.gz is the name of the archive.

   The recognized suffixes for tar archives are .tar, .tar.gz and .tgz.
   If your tar archive uses different suffix you have to rename it.

7.2 How do I get out of a tar archive?

   Just press enter on the toplevel ".." file or change to a non-tar
   directory.  Just typing "cd" with no parameters is enough (it will
   take you to your home directory).

7.3 How do I do anonymous ftp with MC?

   Just type "cd ftp://hostname" where hostname is the name of the host
   you want to connect. Alternatively, select FTP link from the Left or
   Right menu and type the name of the host you want to connect.

7.4 How do I do non-anonymous ftp with MC?

   Non-anonymous ftp works just like the anonymous ftp but you give the
   login name with the host name. For example, type "cd
   ftp://username@hostname".

7.5 How do I close an ftp connection?

   Just chdir to a non-ftp directory. Just typing "cd" with no parameters
   is enough (it will take you to your home directory).

   Internally Midnight Commander closes ftp connection only after a
   timeout. This isn't visible to the end user.

7.6 Why aren't the contents of ftp panel updated?

   Update is skipped because there would be a serious performance
   penalty. Constantly updating directory panels through a ftp connection
   would take too much time.

   You can use C-r to force an update.

7.7 What kind of proxy server works with Midnight Commander?

   There are two kinds of ftp proxies: proxies for ftp clients and
   proxies for web browsers.

   Midnight Commander only supports ftp proxies which are meant for ftp
   clients.  Common WWW proxies (like Squid) are not supported.  A rule
   of thumb is that if a ftp proxy requires a web browser, it won't work
   with Midnight Commander.


8 Other common problems

8.1 How do I get the internal editor to work?

   The F4 key used to default to an external editor because that was what
   most people were used to.  The newer versions use internal editor by
   default.

   To use the internal editor with an old version, select Configuration
   from the Options menu and check the 'use internal edit' option.

   Alternatively add the line
     use_internal_edit=1

   under the [Midnight-Commander] section in your .mc.ini file (which is
   in your home directory).

   To make the editor work all the time, go to the default/* section in
   the file lib/mc/mc.ext file and remove the line

       Edit=%var{EDITOR:vi} %f

   The internal editor will now be invoked for anything not specified
   elsewhere in the mc.ext file.

   Make sure that you edit the correct mc.ext file.  The Midnight
   Commander first checks the existence of $HOME/.mc.ext.  If this file
   is missing MC will use $prefix/lib/mc/mc.ext instead ($prefix can be
   changed with configure before compilation and it defaults to
   /usr/local).

   When you run `F9/Command/Extension file edit' for the very first time
   Midnight Commander copies the system-wide mc.ext from $prefix/lib/mc
   into your home directory because you need write access in order to
   change it.

   And please don't forget that "make install" overwrites
   $prefix/lib/mc/mc.ext.

8.2 Is there any way to 'bookmark' favorite ftp-fs links?

   Use the directory hotlist.  Just press control-backslash.  If your
   national keyboard layout doesn't have backslash key, just press the
   control key with the key which is the backslash key in the English
   keyboard layout.

8.3 Why I keep getting: "There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a disk
into drive D:"?

   This is a known bug of the native Windows port.  MC looks its
   configuration files from the D:\MC directory and if the D: drive is a
   removable drive (like a CD ROM drive) and there is no disk in drive
   you get this message every time you try to do anything.

   Since version 4.0.6 you can specify the actual location of the
   Midnight Commander configuration files with the MCHOME environment
   variable.

8.4 When I start Midnight Commander, nothing happens!

   First, invoke MC without subshell support: "mc -u". If this helps
   check the shell you are using.  Subshell support works best with
   bash, although tcsh and zsh are also supported.  You might want to
   upgrade your shell to a newer version.  If you use something else
   than bash, tcsh or zsh, subshell support is disabled automatically.

   If disabling subshell doesn't help, try to reconfigure MC with
   "--with-included-slang" and "--with-termcap" options and recompile.
   If this helps, something is wrong with your terminfo database or
   shared S-Lang library.  For better terminfo databases see chapter 4
   of this FAQ.  For a better S-Lang library, upgrade to a newer version
   or keep using the "--with-included-slang" option.

   Another reason is problems with gpm.  Try using "--nomouse" option to
   see if it makes any difference.  Restarting gpm can help.  Sometimes
   it's enough to move the mouse.

   Also, if you have the DISPLAY environment variable set, but the X
   server is unreachable (e.g. it's firewalled), this can also cause a
   delay at startup.  Unset DISPLAY to see if that's the case.

8.5 When I try pasting to the internal editor, it indents the amount of
indenting increases with each line!

   Either turn of 'Return does autoindent' in the editor options or
   update GNU Midnight Commander to version 4.6.0 or above - it doesn't
   autoindent when you are holding Shift.


9 Development

9.1 Who has written Midnight Commander?

   Midnight Commander was started by Miguel de Icaza and he is the
   maintainer of the package. Other authors have joined the project
   later:
     * Mauricio Plaza (early releases)
     * Janne Kukonlehto (joined Sep 27 1994)
     * Radek Doulik (joined Oct 30 1994)
     * Fred Leeflang (joined Nov 2 1994)
     * Dugan Porter (joined Dec 1 1994)
     * Jakub Jelinek (joined Feb 8 1995)
     * Ching Hui (joined Jun 27 1995)
     * Andrej Borsenkow (joined Jul 1996)
     * Paul Sheer (joined Nov 1 1996)
     * Norbert Warmuth
     * Alex I. Tkachenko

   Alessandro Rubini has been specially helpful with debugging and
   enhancing of the mouse support. John E. Davis has made his S-Lang
   library available to us and answered many questions about it.

   Many people have contributed bug reports, feature suggestions and
   small code bits (alphabetical order):
     * Thomasz Cholewo
     * Juan Jose Ciarlante
     * Alexander Dong (OS/2 port, NT port updates)
     * Erwin van Eijk
     * Torben Fjerdingstad
     * Massimo Fontanelli
     * Juan Grigera (NT port)
     * Gerd Knorr
     * Sergey Ya. Korshunoff
     * Jean-Daniel Luiset
     * Wim Osterholt
     * Antonio Palama (old DOS port)
     * Thomas Pundt
     * Marcelo Roccasalva
     * Ilya Rybkin
     * Vadim Sinolits
     * Jon Stevens
     * Adam Tla/lka

9.2 Do I dare to use a development version?

   That's up to you to decide.  Development versions may have nasty bugs
   at some points of time.  It's up to you to judge whether the new
   features and fixes for the bugs you know outweigh the risk of unknown
   bugs.

9.3 How can I report a bug/request for a feature?

   You might first want to get the newest development version to see if
   the bug is fixed or the feature is added already.

   Send your report/request to mc-devel@gnome.org or mc@gnome.org. 
   These mailing lists are the most certain way to contact the
   developers.  Remember to mention if you are not on the mailing list
   to make sure that you will receive a copy of replies.

   Give as much details as possible.  A too long message is a lot better
   than a too short message.

   For segmentation faults a stack backtrace is appreciated. You can
   produce stack backtrace as follows:
     * If segmentation fault produced a core file:
         1. Load the core file by typing "gdb mc core" or "dbx mc core".
         2. Type "where".
         3. Cut and paste the results to your message.
     * If segmentation fault didn't produce a core file:
         1. Load mc by typing "gdb mc" or "dbx mc".
         2. Start mc by typing "run".
         3. Try to reproduce the segmentation fault by doing whatever you
            did last time when the segmentation fault occurred.
         4. Type "where".
         5. Cut and paste the results to your message.
         6. For the future you might want to check out what is the
            command in your shell to allow producing of the core files.
            Usually it is "limit coredumpsize unlimited" or "ulimit
            coredumpsize" or "ulimit -c unlimited".

9.4 How can I join the development?

   To join the development just code the feature you want to add and send
   your patch for inclusion. Email address is mc-devel@gnome.org.
   Before you start coding check the latest development version. It might
   be that your feature has already been implemented.

   Note that the authors of GNU Midnight Commander have given all their
   rights on the program to the Free Software Foundation. You will have
   to do the same if you contribute non-trivial patches. Otherwise we
   have to reject your patches in order to avoid copyright problems.


10 More information

10.1 This document didn't answer my question. Where else can I look for an
answer?

   Read messages from the Discussion (mailing list archive) or read the
   Manual.

   Upgrade to a newer version of Midnight Commander. Many problems are
   fixed in the new versions.

   If you still can't find an answer, post your question to the Midnight
   Commander mailing list. Its address is mc@gnome.org.

10.2 What mailing lists are there for Midnight Commander?

   Following mailing lists discuss about Midnight Commander:

   mc@gnome.org
          General discussion of GNU Midnight Commander
          To subscribe visit
          http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/mc/

   mc-devel@gnome.org
          Technical development discussion
          To subscribe visit
          http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/mc-devel/

10.3 Where should I look on the World Wide Web for MC stuff?

   There is a WWW page for Midnight Commander. The URL is:

     http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/

10.4 Are the mailing lists archived anywhere?

   The mc and mc-devel lists are archived on the World Wide Web. There are
   links to the archives on the mailing list pages (see 10.2).


11 Legal issues

11.1 Authorship

   Questions and Answers was written by Janne Kukonlehto.  Parts of it
   originate from Ian Jackson, Miguel de Icaza, Dugan Porter, Norbert
   Warmuth and Paul Sheer.

11.2 Feedback is invited

   Send your comments about this document and GNU Midnight Commander to
   mc@gnome.org

11.3 Disclaimer and copyright

   Note that this document is provided as is. The information in it is
   not warranted to be correct; you use it at your own risk.

   You can use Questions and Answers according to GNU Public License (see
   the COPYING file in GNU Midnight Commander source distribution).
   Questions and Answers is not public domain.