From e70bf9a60124cfa1066e31f1826c0c867de4dbcd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Pavel Roskin Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2003 16:19:44 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Remove references to OS/2. Many minor fixes. New questions about autoindent and linking with X. --- FAQ | 202 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----------------------- 1 file changed, 126 insertions(+), 76 deletions(-) diff --git a/FAQ b/FAQ index 64f2bdb2d..b6980d0c4 100644 --- a/FAQ +++ b/FAQ @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ GNU Midnight Commander -Questions and Answers +Frequently Asked Questions The newest version of this document is available at http://cvs.gnome.org/lxr/source/mc/FAQ?raw=1 @@ -11,7 +11,9 @@ Questions and Answers + 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? + + 1.7 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? @@ -23,11 +25,13 @@ Questions and Answers + 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"? @@ -40,20 +44,24 @@ Questions and Answers + 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 + + 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? + + 6.4 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? @@ -62,28 +70,35 @@ Questions and Answers + 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? @@ -100,13 +115,15 @@ Questions and Answers 1.2 Does it run on my machine? - Yes, Midnight Commander can run on almost any machine, including Unix - clones, Windows 95/NT and OS/2. Midnight Commander does not run on - Macintosh. + 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: - Midnight Commander uses GNU Autoconf which can automatically - configure Midnight Commander for use on almost any (if not every) - Unix clone. Following configurations have been tested: * i386-*-linux1.x, 2.x * alpha-linux-linux2 * sparc-linux-linux2.x @@ -124,9 +141,6 @@ Questions and Answers * mc88110-aviion-dgux5.4R2.01 * i386-*-sco3.2v4.2 * i386-*-sco3.2v5 - * i386-*-windows-nt-3.51, 4.0 - * i386-*-windows95 - * i386-*-os2 Windows 95/NT port can be compiled with Microsoft Visual C++, Borland C++, RSX and Mingw32. @@ -142,19 +156,20 @@ Questions and Answers 1.4 What else do I need to run MC? - You need an Unix compatible operating system. Support for Windows 95/NT - and OS/2 is incomplete - you should be prepared to fix things. + 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 installed. It's available - at ftp://ftp.gtk.org/pub/gtk/. Only GLib versions 1.2.x will be - currently detected. + 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 (we recommend only version 4.1 and above). + ncurses version 4.1 and above. 1.5 Is GNU Midnight Commander Public Domain? Copyrighted? @@ -178,6 +193,16 @@ Questions and Answers 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? @@ -185,18 +210,21 @@ Questions and Answers 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. + 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. + 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. + 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? @@ -235,9 +263,9 @@ Questions and Answers the keys this way in the Options menu. The convention for PC keyboards is that F11-20 always means Shift with F1-10 - Note! Windows 95/NT and OS/2 ports use 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. + 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? @@ -286,6 +314,7 @@ Questions and Answers dialog. However, most actions cannot be redefined to use different keys. + 3 Mouse 3.1 How do I enable mouse support? @@ -304,6 +333,7 @@ Questions and Answers 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 @@ -534,12 +564,22 @@ enough? 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? @@ -549,8 +589,12 @@ enough? 6.2 How can I access command line history? - You can browse previous commands with M-p and M-n. Alternatively, you - can summon the command history listbox by pressing F9 c h. + 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. @@ -583,16 +627,11 @@ enough? 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 - Windows 95/NT and OS/2 ports do NOT support virtual file systems. This - means you haven't got ftp, zip or tar support on Windows 95/NT and - OS/2. - - This chapter describes the behavior of the 4.1.x versions of the - Midnight Commander. The behavior of the 4.5.x versions is somewhat - different. More on that when the 4.5.x versions get more stable. + 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? @@ -612,9 +651,9 @@ enough? 7.2 How do I get out of a tar archive? - Just press enter on the toplevel ".." file or chdir to a non-tar - directory. Just typing "cd" with no parameters is enough (it will take - you to your home directory). + 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? @@ -650,16 +689,17 @@ enough? 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 works with a web browser, it won't work + 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 + most people were used to. The newer versions use internal editor by default. To use the internal editor with an old version, select Configuration @@ -679,9 +719,9 @@ enough? 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 + 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). @@ -695,7 +735,7 @@ enough? 8.2 Is there any way to 'bookmark' favorite ftp-fs links? - Use the directory hotlist. Just press control-backslash. If your + 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. @@ -703,7 +743,7 @@ enough? 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 Windows 95/NT and OS/2 ports. MC looks its + 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. @@ -715,26 +755,33 @@ into drive D:"? 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. + 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, there is something wrong with your terminfo database - or shared S-Lang library. For better terminfo databases see chapter - 4. For a better S-Lang library, upgrade to a newer version or keep - using the "--with-included-slang" option. + 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. - This problem can also be caused by gpm as noted by Luis Espinoza: + 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. - In regards to why Midnight Commander does nothing when invoked. I - recently had the same problem. At the same time gpm was not loading - properly with my patched kernel (now 2.0.33 from 2.0.30). - Downloading version 1.13 of gpm, and got it working :-) MC still - appeared locked.... However moving the mouse, brought MC to life. - The mouse I am using is a Kensington Expert Mouse (Trackball). 9 Development @@ -782,21 +829,22 @@ into drive D:"? 9.2 Do I dare to use a development version? - I am afraid you have to answer to this question yourself. Development - versions seldom cause data loss but they have usually got many bugs. - It's up to you to judge whether new features outweigh the bugs. + 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 + 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 + 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 @@ -829,6 +877,7 @@ into drive D:"? 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 @@ -868,11 +917,12 @@ answer? 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 + 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.