[1507] in linux-announce channel archive
beta 2 tk/tcl version of slrn0.8.4 (news reader)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lars Wirzenius)
Sat Jan 13 17:44:06 1996
Date: Sun, 7 Jan 1996 21:19:01 +0200
From: Lars Wirzenius <wirzeniu@cc.helsinki.fi>
To: linux-announce@vger.rutgers.edu
From: dmw@csn.net (Dave Warner)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce
Subject: beta 2 tk/tcl version of slrn0.8.4 (news reader)
Organization: SuperNet Inc. 303-296-8202 Denver Colorado
Approved: linux-announce@news.ornl.gov (Lars Wirzenius)
Followup-to: comp.os.linux.development.apps
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ANNOUNCE -- beta 2 tk/tcl version of slrn0.8.4
----------------------------------------------
This second beta release consists of a patch file to be applied
to the slrn0.8.4 release and can be obtained from:
ftp://ftp.csn.net/dmw/tkslrn0.8.4.patch.gz
Also get ftp://ftp.csn.net/dmw/tkslrn.rc.beta2 which is an update
to tk/tkslrn.rc that didn't make it into the patch file.
Please use the error handling mechanism to send me mail about
any errors you encounter and feel free to mail me any comments
you may have.
Caveats:
- I only tested this on my linux 1.2.13 system but I've fixed
all known bugs reported by users of beta 1,
- Manually resizing the window is not recommended, it doesn't
work correctly yet
Changes from beta 1 are:
- Based on slrn0.8.4
- Various bug and buglet fixes, improvements to make tkslrn
more robust
- Now handles command line options with better initialization
error handling
- A probably overly elaborate configuration scheme which
allows on-line configuration of ~/.slrnrc and ~/.tkslrnrc
files; currently configurable are:
- flags (e.g. slrnrc author_display, beep, etc.),
- variables (e.g. slrnrc decode_directory, replyto, etc.),
- emphasis (e.g. slrnrc/tkslrnrc color command)
- windows (e.g. foreground/background colors and font for
selected windows)
Binding configuration coming later
- Menus for group, header, and article preferences (e.g.
toggle_scoring, toggle_sorting, toggle_headers, etc.)
- Hook providing full access to tk/tcl for adding additional user
specified buttons, menus, etc. (see proc WindowsCreatedHook
in tk/tkslrn.rc for example);
this hook is in addition to the makebutton tkslrnrc command
- Hook providing full access to tk/tcl to do additional user
specified processing on the displayed article (see proc
ArticleEndHook in tk/tkslrn.rc for example)
Below is the text of the beta 1 announcement.
Currently implemented functions are:
- Scrollable tk text widgets for group, header, and article
windows with top status, bottom status, and help lines;
- Scrollable tk text widget for a tty window which shows what
slrn prints to stdout (this disappears after the first group
window display);
- A window for displaying prompts and reading responses;
- A 'Help' menubutton to display/print group bindings and help,
article bindings and help, FAQ, KILL_FAQ, and man page;
- tk error handling a la exmh -- I swiped and modified the exmh
error.tcl so bug reports can be filed easily (set maintainer
in ~/.tkslrnrc);
- Hard coded vi and emacs bindings (still questionable) for motion
commands as well as PgUp, PgDn, Home, End, Up, Down. All other
bindings that are hard coded into slrn are hard coded into tkslrn
as well;
- Still reads and processes the ~/.slrnrc file
- Hard coded buttons/menus for a few group, header, and article
functions and a 'Groups' button which is bound to art_quit;
- Clicking mouse button 1 in the group window selects a group --
the functions under the 'Preferences' button operate on the
selected group. Double clicking replaces the group window with
the header window for the selected group (the 'Headers' button
does the same thing);
- Clicking mouse button 1 in the header window selects the article --
the functions under the header window 'Preferences' button operate
on the selected header. Double clicking mouse button 1 reads the
selected article and displays it in the article window;
- Clicking mouse button 2 in the header window toggles threading
and selects the first article. Double clicking mouse button 2
reads the selected article and displays it in the article window;
- A ~/.tkslrnrc file to define additional key and mouse bindings,
additional buttons, X resources for fonts and colors, and
overriding slrn colors to use X colors;
- Perhaps the most interesting ~/.tkslrnrc feature is that users can
write a tcl/tk script defining new functionality and bind it to keys
and/or a button. See the tk/tkslrn.rc file for examples.
Required:
- slrn (ftp://space.mit.edu/pub/davis/slrn/slrn0.8.4.tar.gz);
- slang (ftp://space.mit.edu/pub/davis/slang/slang0.99-24.tar.gz)
required to build slrn;
- tcl7.4 or greater and tk4.0 or greater, distribution at
(ftp://ftp.aud.alcatel.com/ftp.smli.com/...)
Also used and included in this release is the great et package
developed by D. Richard Hipp (drh@vnet.net).
To install:
- install slrn, slang, tcl, and tk if you heven't already;
- copy tkslrn.patch.gz to your slrn directory and cd there;
- 'zcat tkslrn.patch.gz | patch -p0' to apply the patches;
- follow the slrn INSTALL instructions if you haven't already
installed it;
- edit Makefile to reflect paths for tk/tcl library and header
files and install directories (steps 7. and 8.);
- 'make tkslrn' -- 'make slrn' makes the original and 'make' or
'make all' makes both.;
- copy the slrn.rc and tk/tkslrn.rc to your home directory as
.slrnrc and .tkslrnrc and customize them (optional, things will
run without this but you're stuck with the defaults);
- try it out with './tkslrn';
- 'make install' does what you'd expect
Where from here?
- fix bugs found and respond to suggestions made by brave and
intrepid beta testers;
- improved error handling
- improved error performance
- some of the bindings are a little wierd; I'll fix the ones I
know about and would appreciate suggestions on all of them (of
course you should be able to override them in the ~/.tkslrnrc
file, but I'd like a good set of defaults);
- optimize screen handling to take advantage of tk capabilities;
- expand the .tkslrnrc to provide more elaborate specification of
buttons and menus, key bindings, mouse button bindings, and
whatever other behavior and appearance things make sense
(ideas???);
- document;
- follow slrn releases and provide new patches as appropriate;
- ideas???
- --
| Dave Warner | e-mail: dmw@csn.org |
| 151 Sky Trail Road | Voice: (303)443-9589 |
| Boulder, CO 80302 | FAX: (303)443-9589 |
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