mirror of
https://github.com/MidnightCommander/mc
synced 2024-12-23 12:56:51 +03:00
98ff71d81f
panel, the old way of using it was an historic relic. - This now works properly with the GNOME edition. - Finished/fixed the implementation of the desktop-remove-icon functionality. - Raster's new multi-ok window. For some reason this is not getting loaded. I am compiling gdb 4.17 now, as it is better for egcs output. Miguel.
935 lines
36 KiB
Plaintext
935 lines
36 KiB
Plaintext
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Midnight Commander
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Questions and Answers
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The newest version of this document is available at
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http://mc.blackdown.org/mc/answers0.html
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* 1 Getting started
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+ 1.1 What is Midnight Commander?
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+ 1.2 [UPDATED] Does it run on my machine?
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+ 1.3 Does it work with my terminal?
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+ 1.4 What else do I need to run MC?
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+ 1.5 Is Midnight Commander PD? Copyrighted?
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+ 1.6 Where can I get Midnight Commander?
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+ 1.7 I don't have FTP access. Where can I get MC?
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* 2 Keyboard
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+ 2.1 What does documentation mean with the C-?, M-? and F?
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keys?
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+ 2.2 [UPDATED] Why don't function keys (or some other key)
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work?
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+ 2.3 How do I use function keys F11 to F20?
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+ 2.4 Why does the ESC key behave funny?
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+ 2.5 How can I add the plus sign (+) on the command line?
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* 3 Mouse
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+ 3.1 How do I enable mouse support?
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+ 3.2 How do I cut and paste text with mouse?
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* 4 Display
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+ 4.1 Why do I keep getting "Terminal not powerful enough for
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SLang"?
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+ 4.2 [UPDATED] Why don't line drawing characters work?
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+ 4.3 Can one use latin-1 characters without losing the lines?
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+ 4.4 I have problems with entering/viewing national
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characters!
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+ 4.5 How can I get colors?
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+ 4.6 My color_xterm goes completely (or partially) black!
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+ 4.7 Where can I get color_xterm?
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+ 4.8 I got colors working with MC but the other programs don't
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work at all anymore!
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+ 4.9 Why are there both terminfo and termcap? Wouldn't one
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database be enough?
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* 5 Graphical user interface
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+ 5.1 Xview and Tk editions?
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* 6 Command line problems
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+ 6.1 How do I stay in the last directory when I exit Midnight
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Commander?
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+ 6.2 How can I access command line history?
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+ 6.3 How can I complete commands, file names, variable names
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and so on?
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+ 6.4 [NEW] I am using ksh. Can I use functions defined in the
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.kshrc within MC?
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+ 6.5 [NEW] Is there any way to include additional options or
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hot keys to MC?
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* 7 Virtual file systems
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+ 7.1 How can I see the contents of a tar archive?
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+ 7.2 How do I get out of a tar archive?
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+ 7.3 How do I do anonymous ftp with MC?
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+ 7.4 How do I do non-anonymous ftp with MC?
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+ 7.5 How do I close an ftp connection?
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+ 7.6 Why aren't the contents of ftp panel updated?
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+ 7.7 [NEW] What kind of proxy server works with Midnight
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Commander?
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* 8 Other common problems
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+ 8.1 [UPDATED] How do I get the internal editor to work?
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+ 8.2 Why doesn't "mcedit newfile" work?
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+ 8.3 [UPDATED] Is there any way to 'bookmark' favourite ftp-fs
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links?
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+ 8.4 When copying the directories lose their original date,
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uid and gid!
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+ 8.5 [UPDATED] Why I keep getting: "There is no disk in the
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drive. Please insert a disk into drive D:"?
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+ 8.6 [NEW] When I start Midnight Commander, nothing happens!
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+ 8.7 [NEW] When I try to view a file MC hangs!
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* 9 Development
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+ 9.1 Who has written Midnight Commander?
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+ 9.2 Do I dare to use a development version?
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+ 9.3 How can I report a bug/request for a feature?
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+ 9.4 How can I join the development?
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* 10 More information
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+ 10.1 [UPDATED] This document didn't answer my question. Where
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else can I look for an answer?
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+ 10.2 What mailing lists are there for Midnight Commander?
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+ 10.3 Where should I look on the World Wide Web for MC stuff?
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+ 10.4 Are the mailing lists archived anywhere?
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* 11 Administrivia
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+ 11.1 Authorship
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+ 11.2 [UPDATED] File formats
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+ 11.3 Feedback is invited
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+ 11.4 Disclaimer and copyright
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1 Getting started
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1.1 What is Midnight Commander?
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The Midnight Commander is a user-friendly yet powerful file manager
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and visual shell, useful to novice and guru alike. It provides a
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clear, user-friendly, and somewhat protected interface to a Unix
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system while making many frequent file operations more efficient and
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preserving the full power of the command prompt. You will wonder how
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you could ever live without it.
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For more thorough description take a look at the announcement of
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Midnight Commander 4.0.
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1.2 [UPDATED] Does it run on my machine?
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Yes, Midnight Commander can run on almost any machine, including Unix
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clones, Windows 95/NT and OS/2. Midnight Commander does not run on
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Macintosh.
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Midnight Commander uses GNU autoconfigure which can automatically
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configure Midnight Commander for use on almost any (if not every) Unix
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clone. Following configurations have been tested:
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* i386-*-linux1.x, 2.x
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* alpha-linux-linux2
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* sparc-linux-linux2.x
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* sparc64-linux-linux2.1
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* mips-sgi-irix5.x, 6.x
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* mips-dec-ultrix4.3
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* rs6000-ibm-aix3.2.5
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* sparc-sun-sunos4.1
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* sparc-sun-solaris2.3, 2.4, 2.5
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* sparc-sun-netbsd1.0
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* hppa-hp-hpux9
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* hppa-hp-hpux7
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* m68k-apple-aux
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* unixware
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* mc88110-aviion-dgux5.4R2.01
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* i386-*-sco3.2v4.2
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* i386-*-sco3.2v5
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* i386-*-windows-nt-3.51, 4.0
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* i386-*-windows95
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* i386-*-os2
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See http://mc.blackdown.org/mc/download.html.
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There is also a preliminary Ms-Dos port at
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http://mc.blackdown.org/cgi-mc/download/DOS/.html (but no Ms-Dos
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binary).
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Windows 95/NT port is compiled with Microsoft Visual C++ but it might
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be possible to use cygwin32 or djgpp instead.
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1.3 Does it work with my terminal?
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Yes, it does.
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Because Midnight Commander is a full screen program it doesn't run on
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dummy terminals but anything more advanced will do (like vt100). If
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your terminal works with vi, emacs, elm or pine it will work with
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Midnight Commander.
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The XView and Tk editions currently under development will require an
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X terminal.
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1.4 What else do I need to run MC?
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You need an Unix compatible operating system or Windows 95/NT or OS/2.
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If you want to use mouse on the Linux console you need General Purpose
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Mouse server from iride.unipv.it: /pub/gpm/. You need nothing extra to
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use mouse on xterm.
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To compile the XView edition (currently under development) you need
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XView library. Xpm library and X11 non-rectangular shape extensions
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are recommended.
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To compile the Tk edition (currently under development) you need
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Tk-4.0 libraries. Compilation of the Tk version won't be easy. Contact
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Miguel for details.
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If you do not want to use the slang library you could try using
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ncurses (we recommend only version 4.1 and above).
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You can get it along with other curses libraries, too, but results may
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not be pretty or even usable.
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1.5 Is Midnight Commander PD? Copyrighted?
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Midnight Commander is under GNU Public License which basically means
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that you may freely copy, change and distribute it, but that you may
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not impose any restrictions on further distribution, and that you must
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make the source code available. This is not the same as Public Domain.
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For details, the GNU license is included in the Midnight Commander
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source distribution (the COPYING file).
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Midnight Commander is nowadays officially a part of GNU project. All
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the authors of the Midnight Commander have given all their rights on
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the program to the Free Software Foundation.
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1.6 Where can I get Midnight Commander?
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See http://mc.blackdown.org/mc/download.html. There are about seventy
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download sites. Note that the newest files might not be present on all
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the download sites yet.
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In short: the main site is ftp://ftp.nuclecu.unam.mx/linux/local/ and
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the sunsite.unc.edu mirrors have MC in the
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/pub/Linux/utils/file/managers/mc directory.
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1.7 I don't have FTP access. Where can I get MC?
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Most Linux CD-ROMs include Midnight Commander. For example, Slackware,
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Yggdrasil, S.U.S.E., Jurix, RedHat, Caldera and Debian.
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2 Keyboard
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2.1 What does documentation mean with the C-?, M-? and F? keys?
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Midnight Commander documentation uses emacs style names for keyboard
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keys.
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C stands for the Ctrl key. For example, C-f means that you should hold
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down the Ctrl key and press the f key.
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M stands for the Meta key. Your terminal might call it Alt or Compose
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instead of Meta. For example, M-f means that you should hold down the
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Meta/Alt/Compose key and press the f key. If your terminal doesn't
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have Meta, Alt or Compose or they don't work you can use Esc. For M-f
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press the Esc key and then press the f key.
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F? stands for a function key. If your terminal doesn't have function
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keys or they don't work you can use Esc. For example, for F3 press the
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Esc key and then press the 3 key.
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2.2 [UPDATED] Why don't function keys (or some other key) work?
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Your terminfo or termcap database has missing or incorrect definations
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for function keys. Type "mc -V" to see what terminal database is being
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used. If the result is "using the S-Lang library with terminfo
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database" you should install one of the enhanced terminfo databases
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included in the Midnight Commander source distribution. For example,
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if you are using xterm type "tic xterm.ti".
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If the result is "using the S-Lang library with termcap database" you
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should fix your /etc/termcap database.
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Best terminfo database is bundled with ncurses 4.2
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You can select whether Midnight Commander will use terminfo or termcap
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database by giving --with-terminfo or --with-termcap option to the
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configure. Default is terminfo if found, otherwise termcap.
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If you don't have permissions to edit terminal databases you can use
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Learn keys feature of Midnight Commander instead. Press Esc 9 o k and
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follow instructions.
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If all else fails you can emulate function keys by first pressing the
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ESC key and then one of the number keys. For example, if you want to
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produce F9, press ESC, then 9. If you don't have a ESC key on your
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keyboard you can try alt-9 or meta-9.
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2.3 How do I use function keys F11 to F20?
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These can mapped to function keys F1 to F10 with Shift held. eg.
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function key F13 can be activated by pressing Shift-F3. You can define
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the keys this way in the Options menu. The convention for PC keyboards
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is that F11-20 always means Shift with F1-10
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Note! Windows 95/NT and OS/2 ports use F11 and F12 keys to change the
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current disk drive. In this case F11 and F12 mean the real F11 and F12
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keys, not shift-F1 and shift-F2.
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2.4 Why does the ESC key behave funny?
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Midnight Commander uses the ESC key as a prefix for simulating the
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Meta and Alt keys (for terminals which don't have Meta or Alt, see the
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three previous questions). For example, pressing ESC-a is the same as
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pressing Meta-a. In addition most terminals use ESC for internal
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representation of arrow keys, function keys and other enhanced keys.
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If you want to use ESC to cancel things you have to press it twice i.
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e. ESC-ESC. If you find this cumbersome you can generally use F10 to
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cancel. Alternatively turn on the old_esc_mode setting in the
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~/.mc.ini file. The old_esc_mode setting makes ESC work as a prefix
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only if another key is pressed within 0.5 seconds. After 0.5 seconds
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the ESC key cancels. There is no way to make ESC cancel immediately
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(if we want to be able to use arrows keys and function keys).
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X terminals allow more control over keyboard, so these ESC limitations
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might not concern the forthcoming XView and Tk editions of the
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Midnight Commander.
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2.5 How can I add the plus sign (+) on the command line?
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Press C-q first, then press the + sign.
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The plus key is the hotkey for the select files command. If you want
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to add a literal plus on to the command line you must quote it by
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pressing C-q first.
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Another common key which needs the C-q prefix is backslash "\".
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3 Mouse
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3.1 How do I enable mouse support?
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Invoke mc like this (without quotes): "mc -x". If this doesn't work
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upgrade to a terminal which compatible with the Xterm mouse sequences.
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Alternatively, on Linux console you can use GPM.
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3.2 How do I cut and paste text with mouse?
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Hold down shift key while using mouse to cut'n'paste.
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4 Display
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4.1 Why do I keep getting "Terminal not powerful enough for SLang"?
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This means that your terminfo databases do not contain the correct
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definitions for your terminal.
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You could try using a different terminal setting. If you use csh or
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tcsh:
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setenv TERM vt100
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or if you use sh, bash, ksh or zsh:
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export TERM=vt100
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If this doesn't help you can recompile MC to use termcap instead of
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terminfo:
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./configure --with-termcap
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make
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4.2 [UPDATED] Why don't line drawing characters work?
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Since version 4.0.13 there's the commandline option -a to force use of
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+, |, - for line drawing (only available when compiled with SLang).
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Use this -a option if any of the suggestions below doesn't help.
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In general, there are three subcases:
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* Lines are shown as ASCII characters like this
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+---------+
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+---------+
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This also happens when you use the -a option. Other than that possible
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reason is 1, 2 or 3 (see below).
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* Lines are shown as lower case characters like this
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lqqqqqqqqqk
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x x
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mqqqqqqqqqj
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Possible reason is 2 or 3 (see below).
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* Lines are shown as blanks or missing characters. Possible reason
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is 3 or 4 (see below).
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The reason for the problem is one of following:
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1. Your curses library might not support line drawing characters.
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Slang, Ncurses and System V curses do support them, BSD curses
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doesn't. MC uses Slang by default so this is not usually a
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problem.
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2. Your terminal might not support line drawing characters. Vt100
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compatible terminals, rxvt, xterm and color_xterm do support them.
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3. Your terminfo or termcap database might have missing or incorrect
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definations for line drawing characters. Set the acsc variable in
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the terminfo database like this:
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acsc=a\376k\277l\332m\300j\331n\305w\302v\301u\264t\303q\304x\263h
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\2600\333
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Don't forget issue 'tic' command. This supposes you are using pc
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character set. The octal values might be different for other
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character sets. If you are using termcap instead of terminfo, you
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should modify above solution appropriately.
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4. Your terminal font might not support line drawing characters. Try
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changing the font.
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Here is Miguel's answer to Torben on this subject.
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Torben:
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When I load consolefonts/iso01.f16, I get perfectly right national
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characters, but the line drawing characters in mc get wrong. Is it
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a mc problem, or is it a problem with the font? (I guess it is).
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Is there a trick?
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Miguel:
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First of all, we should determine whether the font has line drawing
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characters or not.
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If it has line drawing characters, then a new terminfo entry should
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be written for this specific case. Let's call this linux-iso01. The
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acsc variable should be modified to reflect which characters are
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used to do the line drawing.
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If it does not have line drawing characters, then we should get rid
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of the switch to acsc sequences and make the acsc sequence be just
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a mapping to the ugly +, -, |, - characters.
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You can get your terminfo definition by running the infocmp
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program, making the proper changes and running the tic program to
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compile your new terminfo database.
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4.3 Can one use latin-1 characters without losing the lines?
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Yes, you need a correct font and a correct termcap/terminfo database.
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For font, if you use xterm try "xterm -fn fixed".
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For termcap/terminfo database, change the acsc capability in the
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database.
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4.4 I have problems with entering/viewing national characters!
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Upgrade to version 4.0.12 or newer.
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From the Options - Display Bits dialog select Full 8 bits or ISO
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8859-1. In addition, select 8 bit input from the same dialog.
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4.5 How can I get colors?
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Invoke mc like this (without quotes): "mc -c".
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If you get colors, be happy.
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If your terminal stays black and white, your terminal doesn't support
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color. You might want to upgrade to a terminal which compatible with
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the ANSI color sequences.
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If your terminal goes compelety black, see the next question.
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More detailed answer:
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First, check that your terminal supports color. Color_xterm, rxvt and
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Linux console do support, most other terminals don't. You can test
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color support with following simple C program:
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#include <stdio.h>
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int main (void){
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printf ("\033[32m Hello world! \033[m\n");
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return 0;
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}
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Compile and run it. If you see "Hello world!" text in green your
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terminal supports color, otherwise not (however, for color_xterm see
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also the next question).
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Second, check that you are using Ncurses or the Slang library (type
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"mc -V" to find out), in addition some System V curses implementations
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do support color, most don't.
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With Slang library you can force color support by setting the
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environment variable COLORTERM to any value.
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Third, if you use ncurses library, check that your terminfo database
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supports color. If not you should install one of the enhanced terminfo
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databases included in the Midnight Commander source distribution.
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Fourth, you might want to set the TERM environment variable so that
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you use the correct terminfo database or termcap entry.
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If you use color_xterm (or rxvt) the correct value might be
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xterm-color, xtermc or simply xterm.
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If you use Linux console the correct value for TERM is linux or
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console.
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4.6 My color_xterm goes completely (or partially) black!
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Some color_xterm terminals define all colors as black instead of the
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standard ANSI colors. This makes them go completely black when you try
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to use Midnight Commander with colors.
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You will have to override the defaults. Create a file "color.defaults"
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which has the following contents:
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color_xterm*color0: Black
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color_xterm*color1: Red
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color_xterm*color2: Green
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color_xterm*color3: Yellow
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color_xterm*color4: Blue
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color_xterm*color5: Magenta
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color_xterm*color6: Cyan
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color_xterm*color7: White
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color_xterm*background: White
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color_xterm*foreground: Black
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|
|
(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 color_xterm?
|
|
|
|
Try ftp.x.org: /contrib/utilities/colour_xterm.tar.gz.
|
|
|
|
Alternatively, rxvt is a better choice, see
|
|
http://mc.blackdown.org/cgi-mc/download/rxvt/.html
|
|
|
|
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://www.digital.de/people/jmh/Unix_Haters/unix-haters.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 and Tk editions?
|
|
|
|
Get the newest development version, give the "--with-xview" or
|
|
"--with-tk" option to the configure and otherwise compile as usual.
|
|
See Download.
|
|
|
|
Xview and Tk editions are work in progress, they are not as robust as
|
|
the text mode edition.
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
|
|
You can browse previous commands with M-p and M-n. Alternatively, you
|
|
can summon the command history listbox by pressing F9 c 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 [NEW] 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 [NEW] 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
|
|
http://mc.blackdown.org/mc/manual-d.html#8 for more info.
|
|
|
|
Another way to add functionality is the external panelize feature. See
|
|
http://mc.blackdown.org/mc/manual-d.html#4 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
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
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 doubleclick 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 chdir 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 [NEW] What kind of proxy server works with Midnight Commander?
|
|
|
|
Midnight Commander only supports ftp-like ftp proxies. Common WWW
|
|
proxies (like Squid) are not supported yet because they make ftp
|
|
connections look like http connections.
|
|
|
|
8 Other common problems
|
|
|
|
8.1 [UPDATED] How do I get the internal editor to work?
|
|
|
|
The F4 key defaults to an external editor because thats what most
|
|
people are used to. To use the internal editor, 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 existance 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 Why doesn't "mcedit newfile" work?
|
|
|
|
This is a known bug.
|
|
|
|
If the newfile doesn't exist, mcedit fails.
|
|
|
|
Start mcedit with no parameters, this will create a blank file. Then
|
|
save the file with whatever name you like.
|
|
|
|
8.3 [UPDATED] Is there any way to 'bookmark' favourite 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.
|
|
|
|
8.4 When copying the directories lose their original date, uid and gid!
|
|
|
|
This is a known bug. At moment only files preserve their original
|
|
settings when copying, not directories.
|
|
|
|
Uid and gid is fixed since 4.0.1. "Preserve UIDs/GIDs" in the copy
|
|
dialog needs to be checked and you must be root.
|
|
|
|
Date problem is supposed to be fixed with 4.0.13.
|
|
|
|
8.5 [UPDATED] 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
|
|
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 everytime 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.
|
|
|
|
8.6 [NEW] 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-our-slang" and "--with-termcap" options and recompile. If this
|
|
helps, there is something wrong with your terminfo database or shared
|
|
slang library. For better terminfo databases see chapter 4. For a
|
|
better slang library, upgrade to a newer version or keep using the
|
|
"--with-our-slang" option.
|
|
|
|
8.7 [NEW] When I try to view a file MC hangs!
|
|
|
|
This is known bug. A quick fix is "chmod 666 /dev/tty". For a more
|
|
complete fix, see http://mc.blackdown.org/mc/maillist/97-10/98.html.
|
|
|
|
This bug will probably be fixed in 4.1.6.
|
|
|
|
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, retired)
|
|
* Janne Kukonlehto (joined Sep 27 1994, retired Mar 8 1995, nowadays
|
|
Janne is the webmaster of the Midnight Commander web site)
|
|
* 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 Davis has made his S-Lang library
|
|
available to us and answered many questions about it.
|
|
|
|
The photographs of the authors are available as:
|
|
|
|
http://mc.blackdown.org/mc/about.html
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
|
|
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 outweight the 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@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx or
|
|
mc@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx. 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@nuclecu.unam.mx.
|
|
Before you start coding check the latest development version. It might
|
|
be that your feature has already been implemented.
|
|
|
|
Note that the authors of the 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 [UPDATED] This document didn't answer my question. Where else can I look
|
|
for an answer?
|
|
|
|
Read messages from the Discussion (mailing list archive), search the
|
|
web site 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@nuclecu.unam.mx.
|
|
|
|
10.2 What mailing lists are there for Midnight Commander?
|
|
|
|
Following mailing lists discuss about Midnight Commander:
|
|
|
|
mc
|
|
General discussion of the Midnight Commander
|
|
|
|
mc-digest
|
|
The mc list, in digest format
|
|
|
|
mc-announce
|
|
Major announcements about the Commander
|
|
|
|
mc-patch
|
|
The latest Commander patches
|
|
|
|
mc-devel
|
|
Technical development discussion
|
|
|
|
mc-chat
|
|
Non-MC related chatting by the developers (contact Miguel to
|
|
subscribe)
|
|
|
|
To subscribe, send e-mail to majordomo@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx with
|
|
the following line in the body of the message:
|
|
|
|
subscribe <list-name> [optional-address]
|
|
|
|
Replace <list-name> with the name of the list you want to subscribe
|
|
and [optional-address] with your email address.
|
|
|
|
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://mc.blackdown.org/mc/
|
|
|
|
The WWW page features MC screen shots, photographs of the authors,
|
|
mailing list archive and a few other things.
|
|
|
|
10.4 Are the mailing lists archived anywhere?
|
|
|
|
The mc and mc-devel lists are archived on the World Wide Web page (see
|
|
the previous question). Other lists are not currently archived though
|
|
Miguel keeps a private archive. Contact him if you want copies of past
|
|
messages.
|
|
|
|
11 Administrivia
|
|
|
|
11.1 Authorship
|
|
|
|
Questions and Answers is written by Janne Kukonlehto. Parts of it
|
|
originate from Ian Jackson, Miguel de Icaza, Dugan Porter, Norbert
|
|
Warmuth and Paul Sheer.
|
|
|
|
11.2 [UPDATED] File formats
|
|
|
|
This document is available in HTML, postscript and PDF formats at
|
|
http://mc.blackdown.org/mc/answers0.html.
|
|
|
|
This document is available in ASCII format in the Midnight Commander
|
|
source package.
|
|
|
|
11.3 Feedback is invited
|
|
|
|
Send your comments about this document to janne@mc.blackdown.org
|
|
|
|
Send your comments about the Midnight Commander to mc@nuclecu.unam.mx
|
|
|
|
11.4 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 the Midnight Commander source distribution).
|
|
Questions and Answers is not public domain.
|
|
__________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
This document is maintained by Janne Kukonlehto
|
|
<janne@mc.blackdown.org>.
|
|
|